In 2015, Jesús “Chuy” García, longtime Cook County commissioner, former alderman, and state senator, became the only challenger to ever push a Chicago mayor into a primary runoff. Now García is running to represent Illinois’s Fourth District in the U.S. House of Representatives—a spur-shaped area gerrymandered to capture large Mexican and Puerto Rican communities on the west side of Chicago and in the western suburbs. Current congressman Luis Gutiérrez, in office since 1993, endorsed García’s candidacy in the same breath as he announced his retirement. But García says his decision to pursue national office wasn’t just a matter of a political upgrade.
Latinx folks tend to be lumped together in a monolith, and the way that the district has gerrymandered Mexican and Puerto Rican communities together is kind of a prime example of that. Talk about how you’re gonna advocate for each of these unique communities.
No, none whatsoever. My change in positions had to do with the impact that I saw that it was having on small mom-and-pop stores, smaller grocers in the community. It was really having an impact on those stores, and it was impacting other purchases. Some of the larger supermercados were being impacted significantly. . . . So I thought it made sense to reconsider it. And it’s part of the reason why I introduced an ordinance that would create a county economic and fiscal forecasting commission. The state of Illinois has one. I think we need that at Cook County.
