WASHINGTON — House lawmakers agreed Tuesday to denounce retiring Illinois Rep. Chuy Garcia over his underhanded scheme to prevent challenges against his hand-picked successor — a slippery ploy that sparked a Democratic revolt.
In 236-183, the lower chamber adopted a resolution to rebuke Garcia (D-Ill.), 69, for timing his retirement announcement after the filing deadline for primary candidates in his district, a cutoff his chief of staff happened to meet. Twenty-three Democrats backed the resolution to condemn their colleague.
Rep. Marie Gluesenkamp Perez (D-Wash.) announced the resolution last week after the House reconvened to reopen the government and slammed her colleague for “election subversion.”
“I believe election subversion is wrong no matter who’s doing it, and I think that right now we’re seeing a profound, very loud call from Americans for transparency,” Gluesenkamp Perez, 37, told CNN’s “The Lead with Jake Tapper” Monday.
“You don’t just turn a blind eye to wrongdoing or unethical behavior when it’s politically convenient,” she added. “It’s not fun to call out a member of your own party, but I think it’s important.”
Adding to the plot, Garcia was the first person to sign his aide’s nominating petition, days before he announced his retirement, Politico reported, showing a document filed with Illinois elections officials.
Republicans happily agreed to rebuke Garcia, while Democratic leadership scolded Gluesenkamp Perez for daring to call a member of her own party.
“I strongly support Congressman Chuy Garcia. He’s been a progressive champion in disenfranchised communities for decades,” House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY) told reporters Monday.
Allies of Garcia, who was first elected to the House in 2019, quietly revealed to the Chicago press on Nov. 3 that he would not seek reelection for a fifth term in his Illinois 4th Congressional District seat.
There happened to be a 5 p.m. deadline that same day for Democratic petitions for his seat and his chief of staff, Patty Garcia, conspicuously managed to turn in the necessary paperwork just before the deadline.
The seemingly sneaky move left the retiring rep’s chief of staff the sole Democratic candidate for his heavily blue seat.
Before the Tuesday vote, Garcia circulated a letter to his Democratic colleagues underscoring that he is not related to Patty Garcia, despite sharing a last name and blaming his wife’s battle with multiple sclerosis for his last-minute withdrawal.
“In the days before the filing deadline, my wife received the news that the MS she has been fighting for several years is getting worse,” he wrote. “Meanwhile, I was told by a cardiologist to take it easy—or else.”
“Weighing these difficult health and family circumstances, I decided to retire.”
Garcia did not outright deny speculation that he deliberately timed his retirement to benefit his chief of staff in his letter to colleagues obtained by The Post.
Democrats unsuccessfully moved to table the resolution denouncing Garcia on Monday, in a bid to stymie a politically dicey vote.
Gluesenkamp Perez and retiring Rep. Jared Golden (D-Maine) both joined with Republicans in killing the effort to table consideration of the resolution to denounce Garcia.
Numerous Democrats, such as Rep. Becca Balint (D-Vt.), publicly spoke in defense of Garcia.
It is rare for the House to denounce one of its own members, particularly with support from that lawmaker’s own party.
Back in March, the GOP-led House formally censured Rep. Al Green (D-Texas) for disrupting President Trump’s address to a joint session of Congress.
Other lawmakers to face a formal rebuke include then-Rep. Adam Schiff (D-Calif.) and former Long Island lying Rep. George Santos.
