Jesus "Chuy" Garcia for Mayor of Chicago

Vote for Chuy!!!

Chicago Inc. Rahm Emanuel Dances for Corporate Money

Jesus "Chuy" Garcia for Mayor of Chicago

Meet Chuy

Jesus “Chuy” Garcia has spent the past 30 years in public service as Chicago Alderman, Cook County Commissioner, and Illinois State Senator. Chuy has broad and diverse support from Chicagoans in neighborhoods citywide, who believe in his vision of a Chicago that works for everyone. Chuy is known for his integrity and longtime commitment to progressive politics and community organizing.

“It is time to take this city in a new direction,” said Garcia. This is no surprise to anyone who has watched the career of 58-year-old Garcia. He has rarely been comfortable with the status quo.

His new direction for the city includes violence reduction through more effective community policing, adding 1,000 new police officers, and greater support for public schools, including a democratically-elected school board that will be responsive to people in the neighborhoods.

Over the last three decades, he has advocated vigorously for progressive policies and political reform throughout the city and county and worked for better housing and schools in the Little Village community he represents on the Southwest Side.

Garcia is no stranger to elected office. He’s been a Chicago alderman, a state senator and, in 2009, was elected to the Cook County Board of Commissioners, which allocates the county’s $3.5 billion budget.

County Board President Toni Preckwinkle lost no time naming him her floor leader to help with her drive to enact a reform agenda.

As floor leader, Garcia successfully urged his colleagues to roll back an excessive one percent county sales tax imposed under former board President Todd Stroger—“The hated Stroger sales tax,” Garcia recalls with a smile.

Last year, Garcia resisted pressure from a small army of real estate lobbyists and passed a ban on their refusing to rent homes to people who rely on federally funded housing choice vouchers, including low income families, veterans, the disabled and others. This had become the practice of some suburban landlords.

Garcia also sponsored an ordinance that stopped county officials from cooperating with a Department of Homeland Security and Immigration and Customs program that was identifying people accused of minor offenses who were suspected of being undocumented immigrants.

“Families were being torn apart,” Garcia recalls, “and it also cost taxpayers money because some of the names on the list were there by mistake and they filed lawsuits.”

Early life

Garcia was born in Durango, in a picturesque village at the edge of the Sierra Madre in north central Mexico. His father was a farm laborer who worked the fields of California, Kansas, and Texas under the US Government’s World War II-era bracero program. He sent much of his earnings home to support his family. When Garcia was 10 years old, they gained permanent residency status and moved to Chicago, settling in the Pilsen/Little Village area where he still lives. Garcia later became a US Citizen.

His interest in politics started while attending St. Rita High School, inspired by the speeches of Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr, and United Farm Workers Union leader, Cesar Chavez.

He got his first taste of political organizing when he and fellow students threw a picket line around the old Atlantic movie theater on 26th Street, which had become seedy and rundown. It closed, but was cleaned up and reopened later, which inspired the newly minted high school activists.

Garcia enrolled in the University of Illinois-Chicago and earned a bachelor’s degree in political science and a master’s degree in urban planning. While attending university he worked as a paralegal assisting immigrants and people with low incomes.

Political career

In 1983, Harold Washington was elected mayor, which spawned what some see as the golden age of progressive politics in Chicago. Harold named Garcia Water Commissioner and two years later he was elected alderman of the 22nd Ward, an election that would change the balance of power in the City Council.

Old guard stalwarts of the Chicago Machine had a majority in the council and outvoted Washington’s forces in furious clashes that became known as the “Council Wars.” The 1986 election gave Mayor Washington the upper hand as a fresh batch of his supporters, including Garcia, were voted into office and started on the reform of city government.

Alderman Garcia won funds for construction of the Little Village Arch that sweeps across 26th Street in the 22nd Ward. He also pushed through an ordinance that helped immigrants fill out forms, write letters, and apply for green cards that allowed those with permanent resident status to work legally.

Garcia moved from the City Council to the Illinois Senate where he passed legislation limiting fees charged by notary publics to immigrants for assistance with legal matters. He also won passage of a bill requiring interpreters be made available to hospital patients who could not speak sufficient English to understand their treatment options.

Garcia’s time in Springfield came to an abrupt end when he was defeated in 1998 by an opponent who was supported by the Hispanic Democratic Organization, a group firmly aligned with the old guard patronage machine in Chicago politics.

With Jesus “Chuy” Garcia are his wife, Evelyn, left and daughter, Rosa right.

Garcia’s response was to plunge himself into community organizing. He founded, and was Executive Director of, the Little Village Community Development Corporation. This organization is now called Enlace, which means “connections.” At the beginning, Garcia was the only employee. Within a year, the organization had 27 full-time employees, 120 part-time workers, and an annual budget of $5 million.

Among other activities, Enlace raised money to upgrade community housing and sponsored night classes in subjects such as computer science, violence prevention, dropout prevention, and English as a second language.

On Mother’s Day in 2001, the group caused a sensation when a contingent— mostly mothers—went on a hunger strike to pressure the Chicago Public Schools administration to deliver on a promise for millions of dollars to construct a new high school.

The hunger strike went on for 19 days. The neighborhood eventually got its school—Little Village-Lawndale High School—which continues to serve the community today. The protests also resulted in changes to the administration of CPS, headed by Arne Duncan (now US Secretary of Education).

Garcia’s wife is Evelyn; they have three children, Rosa, Jesus, and Samuel.

Jesus "Chuy" Garcia for Mayor of Chicago

Thu, Feb 19, 2015: Garcia: Rauner, Emanuel share agenda that slams ordinary residents, benefits wealthy allies
Wed, Feb 18, 2015: Commissioner Garcia calls for restoration of services for immigrants cut from Governor’s proposed budget
Wed, Feb 18, 2015: Garcia condemns proposed Rauner cuts as anti-Chicago assault on residents

All news

Fri, Feb 20, 2015 4:30 PM: Educators for Chuy; The Curragh Traditional Irish Pub; 6705 N. Northwest Highway
Fri, Feb 20, 2015 8:30 PM: Chicago Comedians For Chuy Garcia; Club Mambo; 3336 N. Milwaukee
Sat, Feb 21, 2015 3:30 PM: West Siders For Chuy Garcia; Roosevelt Place; 1401 West Roosevelt Rd