Democrat Chuy Garcia’s Hand-Picked Replacement Wins Sham Primary Unopposed

Democratic Illinois Rep. Chuy Garcia’s hand-picked replacement ran uncontested in the Chicago-based district’s Democratic primary Tuesday night due to what some critics have labeled a coronation effort by the outgoing congressman.

Patty Garcia, the representative’s chief of staff of no relation, won the primary without opposition, according to the Associated Press (AP), and is all but guaranteed to win the November general election in a seat that Kamala Harris won by 28 percentage points in 2024. She filed her paperwork to run for the seat in the final hours before the filing deadline, only for the incumbent to withdraw from his reelection campaign days after the deadline had passed.

Rep. Garcia’s move caused outrage among members in the House of Representatives, prompting a wave of criticism from his own party. Democratic Washington Rep. Marie Gluesenkamp Perez called the move “election subversion” and introduced a formal rebuke of Garcia. Twenty-three Democrats voted alongside nearly all House Republicans to rebuke their colleague over the succession.

“You don’t get your cake and eat it too,” Gluesenkamp Perez said on the House floor in November. “If you’re not going to run, you don’t get to choose your successor no matter how noble the work you have done beforehand.”

“If we fail to hold our colleagues accountable for this subversion of elections, we own the consequences,” Gluesenkamp Perez added at the time. “Americans bled and died to secure the right to elect their leaders. We can’t expect to be taken seriously in the fight for free and fair elections if we turn a blind eye to election denial on our side of the aisle.”