Ald. Ray Lopez running for Congress, taking on Rep. Jesus ‘Chuy’ García in Democratic primary
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Southwest Side Ald. Raymond Lopez will take on U.S. Rep. Jesus “Chuy” García, he announced Tuesday, setting up a Democratic primary in which the challenger tries to paint the incumbent as too progressive for most residents of the district.
Surrounded by supporters at a restaurant in Berwyn, the Chicago alderman — who has positioned himself as a backer of Chicago police on the City Council — said García is “extreme.”
“He has chosen to try to lead from the left of the left, and in the meantime, he has left everyone else out in the cold,” the alderman said.
Lopez, 15th, said he’s more able to work with people from different political backgrounds than García, and better at meeting constituents’ needs.
The challenger has his work cut out for him.
While García ran a lackluster campaign for mayor this year in his second bid for that post, he has strong support and a sizable political organization in his Southwest Side base. García has been a member of Congress since 2019, representing the 4th Congressional District that now includes a good amount of the Southwest Side and snakes west into Cicero, Berwyn and several other west suburbs.
García won a third term last November with about 68% of the vote over Republican James Falakos and a candidate from the Working Class Party. It was García’s first run in the reconfigured 4th Congressional District, which was redrawn following the 2020 U.S. census to center more on the Southwest Side. He was unopposed in the 2022 Democratic primary.
There are also broader city politics at play in this race.
While García threw his support behind the winning mayoral candidacy of Brandon Johnson and his Chicago Teachers Union allies in the April runoff, Lopez ended his own mayoral run and backed the losing campaign of Paul Vallas, who had the Fraternal Order of Police endorsement.
Within two hours of Lopez’s Tuesday announcement, García’s campaign sent out a fundraising email referring to Lopez as a “Fox News contributor” for his periodic appearances on the right-wing cable news network.
“While Ray’s toxic style of politics is embraced by the Republican Party, it has no role in our Democratic Party,” the García campaign email said.
García campaign spokesman Manny Diaz characterized Lopez’s run for Congress as “nothing more than an attention-grabbing stunt.”
In a statement, Diaz said Lopez’s close relationship on the City Council with longtime former alderman Edward Burke, who is now facing federal racketeering charges, “raises serious concerns about his ethics.”
Lopez has announced his intention to run for the 4th Congressional District seat before. In 2018, he ran for the seat to succeed U.S. Rep. Luis Gutierrez but then dropped out. García won that election and has held the post since.
Unlike during his mayoral bid, Lopez does not have to give up his aldermanic seat if he stays in the congressional race. In that sense, it’s a no-lose situation for him, since he can raise his profile and campaign money without jeopardizing his current position.
“I can walk and chew gum,” Lopez said Tuesday when asked about holding the time-consuming City Council post while also running a campaign.
Lopez was first elected alderman in 2015. He became one of Mayor Lori Lightfoot’s most outspoken City Council critics following her 2019 election, ripping the mayor for what he said was her failure to handle violent crime and opposing many of Lightfoot’s policies during the early months of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Funds in his existing aldermanic account as well as the 15th Ward Democratic Organization fund, where he has been ward committeeperson since 2012, cannot be used in a federal campaign.
His aldermanic fund showed only $3,467 in cash available at the end of June along with a $30,000 debt to the 15th Ward Democratic committee fund, headed by his husband, state campaign finance reports showed.
Those reports also showed the alderman was paid $4,000 out of the ward committee fund on April 4 as an “election day worker.”
Lopez established his congressional campaign finance committee on Monday, federal election records show, with no money yet reported. García reported $71,706 in cash available in his federal campaign fund at the end of June.
