Patty Garcia, a Democrat and chief of staff to retiring U.S. representative Chuy García, is the party's nominee for the open 4th district seat in Illinois in 2026 against Republican Lupe Castillo.
2026 Races & Market Forecast
Live TruthIndex™ and prediction market consensus for races contested by Patty Garcia.
Biography & Campaign Analysis
2026 race
Patty Garcia, chief of staff to Democratic incumbent Chuy García (no relation), is the Democratic nominee in the 2026 election for Illinois's 4th congressional district, based in southwest Chicago and the western suburbs of Cicero and Berwyn.
The seat is open because García, last elected with 67.5% of the vote, withdrew his nomination after the filing deadline had passed, saying he was retiring for health reasons, which left Garcia as the only candidate on the Democratic primary ballot. Garcia received 52,616 votes in the primary.
The withdrawal drew criticism from Democratic strategist David Axelrod, and the U.S. House passed a motion of disapproval against García by 238 to 186.
In the general election on November 3, 2026, Garcia faces Republican Lupe Castillo, a pharmacy technician, along with Ed Hershey of the Working Class Party and independent candidates Chris Getty, the mayor of Lyons, and Lindsay Church, a nonprofit executive.