Patty Garcia Wins 4th Congressional District Race, Succeeding ‘Chuy’ Garcia

LITTLE VILLAGE — Patty Garcia is the new congresswoman for the 4th Congressional District, the only majority-Latino district in the Midwest.

Garcia won 70.6 percent of the vote, with 27.8 percent of votes counted, according to The Associated Press. The former chief of staff for retiring U.S. Rep. Jesus “Chuy” Garcia defeated independent Chris Getty, Republican candidate Lupe Castillo and Working Party candidate Ed Hershey.

Castillo earned 15.1 percent of the vote, while Getty and Hershey had 10.4 percent and 3.7 percent, respectively, according to the AP.

The 4th Congressional District, known as the “ear muffs” district for its shape, spans as far north as Franklin Park, west as Oak Brook, east as Pilsen and south as Burbank. In addition to Pilsen, it includes Little Village, Back of the Yards and most of the city’s Southwest Side as well as southwest suburbs such as Berwyn and Cicero. It is a longtime Democratic district.

About 65 percent of the district’s residents identify as Hispanic or Latino, and 85 percent of them are Mexican, according to 2024 American Community Survey data.

The race had turned out to be one of the most unique and controversial in the country, after Rep. Garcia dropped out of the race at the last minute, leaving only Patty Garcia on the ballot for the Democratic primary. The Democratic Mexican-American candidate, Rep. Garcia’s preferred successor, secured a smoother path to Congress after two independent contenders were kicked off the ballot this summer, leaving Getty along with a Republican and a Working Class Party candidate.

Patty Garcia has campaigned on a platform highlighting her experience working for the congressman, her progressive policy favoring working-class families and her strong stance to abolish U.S. Customs and Immigration Enforcement. The 4th District is home to over 700,000 people and its median household income is around $80,000, according to 2024 U.S. Census data.

On Tuesday morning, while greeting voters in Little Village alongside Gov. JB Pritzker and other Democratic state officials, Patty Garcia said she felt confident about the support she garnered during her campaign. Top state Democratic officials, including Pritzker, and over 50 unions backed her campaign, which had over 200 endorsements, according to her campaign website.

Still, from the start of her bid, Patty Garcia and her boss faced local and national criticism for using old-school machine tactics to make it on the ballot. Rep. Garcia filed nominating petitions, only to suddenly announce his retirement, which pave the way for his preferred successor to file unchallenged for the seat.

Patty Garcia’s opponents have accused her and Rep. Garcia of robbing residents of a real choice. She waved off the criticism, claiming other Democratic candidates could have filed to run against the congressman.

Four independent candidates emerged to contend for the seat.

“Look, nothing was ever handed to me … At the end of the day, regardless of whether someone voted for me or not, I’m going to represent everybody,” Patty Garcia said Tuesday.

This summer, Pilsen Ald. Byron Sigcho-Lopez and political organizer Mayra Macías, two strong Latino contenders running on Democratic platforms, and Getty, a suburban mayor, filed more than 10,000 petition signatures to appear as independents on the November ballot. A fourth candidate, Lyndsey Church, dropped her bid.

Sigcho-Lopez and Macías were later kicked off the ballot after state election officials ruled that they failed to collect the minimum number of signatures for independent candidates.

The decision came after three people objected to the candidates’ petition signatures, in what Sigcho-Lopez and Macías called an active effort to keep them off the ballot.

At a recent televised candidate debate, Patty Garcia dismissed her opponents’ concerns over being the congressman’s hand-picked successor. She said she was able to make it on the ballot in limited time thanks to 75 volunteers who gathered over 2,500 petition signatures.

“That speaks to the power of our organization and our movement to be able to motivate people to come out and give people a choice,” she said.

Now tasked with representing a majority-Latino district in Congress, Patty Garcia said her number one priority is abolishing ICE and holding the federal agency accountable for the deaths of immigrants like Silverio Villegas Gonzalez, who was fatally shot by immigration agents in Franklin Park last fall.

“When we launched our campaign, I was very blunt. I said, ‘F– ICE’ and that continues to be my position,” she said.

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