Patty Garcia, the last minute congressional candidate running to replace her former boss, U.S. Rep. Jesus “Chuy” Garcia, formally kicked off her campaign on Nov. 12 in the produce section at the La Chiquita grocery store in Cicero where she worked as a teenager.
She filed her nominating petitions to get on the March 17 Democratic primary ballot just minutes before the 5 p.m. Nov. 3 filing deadline. A week before, Chuy Garcia had filed to run for a fifth term in Illinois 4th congressional district but is now expected to withdraw from the race. Patty Garcia and Chuy Garcia are not related.
She will be unopposed in the Democratic primary in the overwhelmingly Democratic district that ranges from the near southwest side of Chicago out to include nearly all of Riverside and Brookfield.
In the general election next November, she will be opposed by Lupe Castillo, a little-known Republican who is unopposed in the Republican primary, and Ed Hershey, a candidate from the Working Class Party. Chicago Alderman Byron Sancho-Lopez is exploring running in the general election as an independent.
At her announcement Patty Garcia was backed and applauded by a number of politicians and activists who have been part of the progressive movement Chuy Garcia has built over decades on the southwest side of Chicago
Rep. Garcia had been expected to be at the kickoff announcement but couldn’t be there because he had to be in Washington, D.C. that day to vote on the bill that ended the shutdown of the federal government. Garica, like most Democrats, voted against the bill.
Patty Garcia gave an impassioned and fiery speech to kick off her campaign. She first paid tribute to her immigrant parents.
“My mother crossed the border undocumented and pregnant with me,” Garcia said.
She made clear that opposing President Donald Trump and supporting immigrants, both documented and undocumented, would be a central focus for her.
“Trump has declared war on our community, on my community, on my neighbors, on my family, on the 4th District,” Garcia said. “And let me be clear, fuck ICE.”
Garcia called for the abolishment of the U.S. Immigration and Customs enforcement agency.
“It’s time to abolish ICE and hold Trump and his entire clan accountable.”
Patty Garica, 40, grew up in Little Village and Cicero. After graduating from Hubbard High School in Chicago she attended the University of Illinois where she eventually earned a PhD degree in educational policy. She then began working in politics for the Latino Center for Leadership Development where she helped train candidates for public office.
She has worked for Rep. Garcia for the past six years. She resigned her position as Garcia’s chief of staff on Oct. 31 after deciding that she would run to replace him in Congress.
The last-minute candidacy of Patty Garcia has generated criticism from those who say it is an example of the sort of machine politics that Chuy Garcia used to rail against.
One of Rep. Garcia’s Democratic colleagues in Congress, Marie Gluesenkamp Perez of Washington, made a speech in Congress saying that she planned to force a vote in the House of Representatives on a resolution condemning Rep. Garcia for “undermining the process of a free and fair election” and attempting to “anoint a heir.”
Chuy Garcia, 69, has said that he made a last-minute decision not to seek a fifth term in Congress after a visit to his cardiologist the day he filed. In media interviews, he also pointed to his recent adoption of a young grandchild and his wife’s health issues as reasons not to seek another term in Congress.
In response to a question after her announcement, Patty Garcia said that the decision that she would run was made just a few days before the filing deadline.
“Look it was a whirlwind, that last week before filing,” she said. “The final decision was essentially between that Thursday night [Oct. 30] and Friday morning [Oct. 31] so we literally had less than two days to collect everything and get on the ballot.”
“For those who are saying ‘oh, this was planned,’ it wasn’t,” Garcia said. “Those who know me know I plan, and I organize ahead.”
