Chuy García

In 1983, García was the campaign manager for labor organizer Rudy Lozano, who challenged longtime alderman Frank Stemberk of the 22nd Ward.[5] In the February 1983 election, Lozano came 17 votes short of forcing a runoff, which his supporters contended was due to voters with Spanish surnames being purged from the rolls, denying him the votes to force a runoff.[5] Lozano was murdered in June 1983, shot to death in his home. A reputed gang member was convicted of Lozano's murder, but his supporters still contend that he was assassinated for his labor and political activities.[5] In 1984, García challenged Stemberk for his place as a committeeman in the Cook County Democratic Party. Lozano's supporters rallied around him and he was endorsed by Mayor Harold Washington.[5] Stemberk was a supporter of alderman Edward Vrdolyak of the 10th Ward, who controlled the city council and opposed Washington's administration. The Chicago media dubbed this divide within city government the "Council Wars". With Lozano supporters taking to the race with a "religious fervor" and Washington campaigning heavily on García's behalf, he defeated Stemberk by 2,811 votes (40.62%) to 2,752 (39.77%), with activist and former labor union leader August Sallas taking 1,357 (19.61%).[5] Unlike other committeemen and women, García used his office to provide constituent services, which helped him maintain his high profile.[5] Washington also appointed him Deputy Commissioner of the Department of Water, a post he held from 1984 to 1986.[5]

García in 2015

Meanwhile, Washington's allies had sued the city in federal court, claiming that the ward map drawn up after the 1980 Census had unfairly dispersed black and Hispanic voters. At that time, whites were about 40% of the city's population, blacks were also about 40%, and Hispanics were about 15%, but there were 33 white aldermen, only 16 blacks and just 1 Hispanic. In December 1985, as a result of a November 1985 ward remap, judge Charles Ronald Norgle Sr. of the United States District Court for the Northern District of Illinois ordered a special election for March 18, 1986, in seven wards, including the 22nd.[5] The special elections gave Washington the opportunity to wrest control of the city council from Vrdolyak.[5] Stemberk chose not to run for reelection and García declared his candidacy.[5] In the nonpartisan election, García faced supermarket owner and Stemberk ally Guadalupe Martinez and beauty supply store owner Fred Yanez.[5] Yanez emphasised his military service and Martinez called García "100 percent Communist" and criticized him for selling garbage cans, which Martinez gave away for free.[5] García won by 3,293 votes (54.58%) to Martinez's 2,013 (33.37%) and Yanez's 727 (12.05%),[6] carrying 26 of the 27 precincts.[5] He was also reelected committeeman with 53.98% of the vote, carrying 24 of the 27 precincts.[5] His election and the victory of two other Washington supporters meant that Vrdolyak's supporters had a one-seat majority. Six weeks later, Washington ally Luis Gutiérrez won a runoff in the 26th Ward and the council was thus evenly split between Washington and Vrdolyak supporters. Washington had the ability to cast tie-breaking votes, Vrdolyak was stripped of his powers and the Council Wars ended.[5] García was reelected with 3,998 votes (53.59%) in 1987[7] and with 2,707 votes (52.36%) in 1991.[8] On the council, he served on the Budget and Government Operations; Committees, Rules, Municipal Code Revision and Ethics; Economic Development; Education; Finance; License; Ports, Wharves, and Bridges; Streets and Alleys; Traffic Control and Safety committees and chaired the Aviation committee.[5]

García at a Bernie Sanders rally in Los Angeles, California, May 2016

Democratic State Senator Howard W. "Howie" Carroll of the 1st district of the Illinois Senate was redistricted to the 8th district, and in 1992 García ran for the Illinois Senate in the 1st district, winning the open-seat Democratic primary with 8,604 votes (52.06%) to Donald C. Smith's 6,159 (37.26%) and Gilbert G. Jimenez's 1,765 (10.68%).[9] The primary was tantamount to election in the heavily Democratic 1st district, and in the general election, and García defeated Republican nominee Esequiel "Zeke" Iracheta, 21,314 votes (81.74%) to 4,762 (18.26%). He was Illinois's first state senator of Mexican descent.[10] García resigned from the city council and was succeeded by his protégé Ricardo Muñoz.

In the 1996 Democratic primary, García was challenged by Alderman Juan Soliz of the 25th Ward. Soliz, who had also been elected in the March 1986 special elections, had been supported by Vrdolyak, earning him Chicago Hispanics' ire. When Soliz was elected, he called for unity among Hispanic aldermen, a plea they ignored.[5] Soliz and García even celebrated their inaugurations by hiring separate mariachi bands to play outside the council chambers.[5] After Soliz was replaced as chair of the Aviation Committee by García, he derided it as a "racist move", though they were both Mexican-Americans.[5] García defeated Soliz, 6,839 votes (59.34%) to 4,686 (40.66%)[11] and was reelected unopposed in the general election.[12] In office, García helped shepherd "immigrant-friendly" health care and education reforms through the legislature.[13] He lost the 1998 Democratic primary election by Antonio Munoz, who was backed by the Hispanic Democratic Organization, Mayor Richard M. Daley's campaign group and political machine. Munoz defeated García by 6,924 votes (53.72%) to 5,964 (46.28%).[14] Alderman Ricardo Muñoz (no relation to Antonio Munoz), talking in 2010 about his mentor's defeat, said: "Part of the rationale that I think Chuy lost in '98 was that we got sloppy and they [Munoz and the HDO] got lucky. It rained all day, and we didn't have raincoats for our guys until 11 o'clock. By that time, they were frozen stiff. So we lost the field game."[15]

On November 27, 2017, six days before the deadline to file petitions to run in the 2018 election, Congressman Luis Gutiérrez pulled his petition, effectively choosing to retire at the conclusion of his 13th term.[38] The next day, García signaled his intention to run for the open seat. During Gutiérrez's press conference, he endorsed García as his successor.[39] Bernie Sanders also endorsed García.[30] Politico called Gutiérrez's sudden retirement "totally abnormal" and his endorsement of García a "coronation", as the district is so heavily Democratic that the primary is the real contest and the general election is effectively a formality.[40]

García won the Democratic nomination in March 2018 with 60% of the primary vote.[41] He defeated financial adviser Mark Wayne Lorch in the November 6 general election with 86% of the vote.[42]

García ran for reelection in 2020 and was unopposed in the primary. Christopher Lasky was the only Republican to file before the filing deadline. Lasky died on December 23, 2019, but remained the only candidate on the primary ballot and won posthumously. After the primary, party leaders chose local political activist Jesus Solorio as the new Republican nominee.[43] Garcia won the general election with nearly 85% of the vote.

During a congressional hearing in July 2019, García asked former ICE Acting Director Thomas Homan of the Trump administration family separation policy: "how [he] can possibly allow this to happen under [his] watch, [does he] not care? Is it because these children do not look like children that are around [him]?" Right-wing commentators widely condemned García's questions; Homan called them "disgusting".[44]

On December 10, 2019, García introduced the New Way Forward Act, an immigration reform bill.[45][46]

In July 2019, García voted against a House resolution condemning the Global Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions Movement targeting Israel. The resolution passed 398-17.[47]

In 2021, Garcia was one of eight Democrats to vote against the funding of Israel's Iron Dome missile defense system.[48]

• Committee on Financial Services
  • Subcommittee on National Security, International Development and Monetary Policy
  • Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations
• Committee on Natural Resources
  • Subcommittee on Indigenous Peoples of the United States
  • Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations
• Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure
  • Subcommittee on Highways and Transit
  • Subcommittee on Railroads, Pipelines, and Hazardous Materials[49]

• Congressional Hispanic Caucus
• Congressional LGBT Equality Caucus
• Congressional Progressive Caucus[50]