Chuy García gets personal in latest Chicago mayor campaign ad: ‘I nearly lost my son to the gangs’

U.S. Rep. Jesús “Chuy” García’s latest campaign commercial gets personal on the subject of crime as he looks to make up lost ground in the Chicago mayoral race.

“I’ve lost friends and neighbors to gun violence. I nearly lost my son to the gangs. We can’t afford to lose one more kid. So I won’t stand for a failed mayor so desperate, all she can do is run a false smear campaign against me,” Garcia says in the ad, while sitting at a table.

“You know me. I’m Chuy Garcia. I’ve walked the walk, fought against corruption and for real progressive reform,” he says in the ad as old photos of him with former Mayor Harold Washington appear onscreen. “We can tackle crime and invest in opportunity for everyone. Let’s build a safer, stronger Chicago together.”

The commercial attempts to rebut Mayor Lori Lightfoot’s ads that attack García for his ties to indicted former Illinois House Speaker Michael Madigan and alleged crypto fraudster Samuel Bankman Fried.

García was a young protegé of Latino community activist Rudy Lozano, who was a budding political star before he was killed by a gang member in the 1980s. Lozano’s death pushed García into a more prominent role on the Southwest Side, which he has represented on City Council, the Illinois state senate, the Cook County board and now the U.S. House of Representatives.

The ad also references García’s son Samuel, who has had a series of run-ins with law enforcement and who García has said was once a gang member. His son’s legal problems became an issue in 2015 when WTTW moderator Phil Ponce grilled García during a debate about his son, a series of questions Ponce later said crossed a line.

García’s earlier television ad focused on crime, but he has been outspent by Lightfoot, former Chicago Public Schools CEO Paul Vallas and Cook County Commissioner Brandon Johnson. Garcia entered the mayor’s race in November as a perceived frontrunner but is trying to regain that mantle with roughly a week to go before election day Feb. 28.