Jesús García

In a gerrymandered state like Illinois, primary battles for congressional seats typically are more dispositive than the general election in the fall. At least voters have plenty of choices.

Consider: In the 7th Congressional District, there are 13 candidates on the Democratic side of the ticket. In the 9th Congressional District, there are 15. As we go through our statewide endorsement process we’ve been meeting with candidates and found many to admire.

In the 7th, for example, we endorsed Thomas Fisher but have high regard for both Jason Friedman and Richard Boykin. In the 9th, we endorsed Laura Fine but also thought long and hard about Phil Andrew and Daniel Biss. Among others.

Moreover, the slate of candidates did not just appeal to the likes of us, at least in part.

We noted that many different flavors of Democrat have an adequate primary selection. As one example, we don’t agree with many of the positions of Bushra Amiwala, a candidate in the 9th, but we can see how she will be the informed choice of many progressives, given that she has the service to back up her ambition.

Today, we were scheduled to make an endorsement in the 4th District, a truly tortured portion of the congressional map that includes the Chicago neighborhoods of Brighton Park, West Elsdon, South Lawndale and much of Pilsen, among others, and such suburban Cook County communities as Brookfield, Berwyn, Cicero, Lyons, Melrose Park, Riverside, Stickney and Summit.

That heavily Latino district became vacant following the decision of U.S. Rep. Jesús “Chuy” García not to run for reelection and move into retirement. That decision was fair enough, of course. We’ve written admiringly of long-serving political leaders who know when it is time for them to go, and outside observers do not always know what personal or familial factors lie behind a candidate’s decision; nor should they know, necessarily.

But what was not fine was García’s decision to announce his exit at the last possible moment, thus clearing the way, so to speak, for his chief of staff, Patty García. The fix was in.

Chuy Garcia first said he was running for reelection and then changed his mind. But before he made that decision public, he’d clearly told his chief of staff, who then set about collecting the necessary signatures but only submitted them at the last minute. By the time the eleventh-hour announcement came, there was zero opportunity for other Democrats to mount a campaign in the 4th District. And thus Patty García stands alone on the Democratic primary ballot.

Media reports used phrases like “old-school” or “machine-style” to describe what Chuy García did. Even though he cited his changed personal circumstances as justification for his “last-minute” decision, none of his explanations were sufficiently explicative of a situation designed to prevent other Democrats from being able to get on the ballot.

Thus we agree with Rep. Marie Gluesenkamp Perez, the Democratic lawmaker from Washington state, who used stronger terminology during a subsequent House debate of a resolution admonishing García: “The consequences of subverting an election and choosing your successor are a slide toward a very ugly future for our country.”

Democrats rightly note President Donald Trump’s numerous actions that subvert our democracy and, for sure, the scale and scope thereof is different from the manipulations of one retiring congressman, who was hardly the first Chicago-area pol to exert his influence on the future. But the principle is not different: Free and fair elections are a cornerstone of the Republic and must be protected.

We complained about this action at the time. But we return to it today within the context of having explored the congressional candidates in those surrounding districts.

We don’t doubt for a moment that voters in the 4th would have had a healthy slate of candidates from which to choose, given how much the current moment has motivated Democrats of all stripes to run for office. We think we would have seen a group of a dozen or more, probably including many ambitious young Latinos from the district looking to make their mark on the nation. Instead, it’s Patty García for the Democrats, folks, like it or not. Chuy García made your choice for you.

There’s another chief of staff for a former congressman in the race: Richard Boykin worked for Danny Davis. Davis could have pulled a similar stunt, which would have been to Boykin’s advantage. That didn’t happen. Boykin is having to compete among many talented rivals for the Democratic nomination. Those opponents include state Rep. La Shawn Ford, who Davis endorsed upon announcing his retirement. This is to the credit of all these men.

We don’t make endorsements in primary races that are uncontested on one or another side of a ticket, so we are stuck here. In the fall, García likely will be running against Republican Lupe Castillo, so we will look at that contest at that time. And thanks to Chuy Garcia’s end-run on democracy, progressive Chicago Ald. Byron Sigcho-Lopez has said he is running as an independent. Ditto for Mayra Macías, who was executive director of the Latino Victory Fund and of Building Back Together, a nonprofit focused on advancing progressive policies. Macías already has a website and an endorsement from U.S. Rep. Nydia Velázquez, the first Puerto Rican woman elected to Congress.

But neither Sigcho-Lopez nor Macías will be on the March ballot, which was of course the whole point of Chuy García’s scheme. Notwithstanding her impressive qualifications, Patty García will have a lot of questions to answer in the fall.