Three-term U.S. Rep. Jesús “Chuy” García on Tuesday defeated Chicago Ald. Raymond Lopez to win his first contested Democratic primary since being elected to Congress in 2018, according to The Associated Press.
Lopez, who last year won a third term representing the 15th Ward, challenged the progressive incumbent from the right. The AP called the race for García about 7:50 p.m.
Immigration and the ongoing migrant crisis were key issues for the race in the Latino-majority 4th Congressional District.
Both candidates are from the Southwest Side, which makes up a significant portion of the district, and each had eyes on the mayor’s office in last year’s election.
García finished fourth in the first round of mayoral voting, failing to advance to the April runoff. It was his second unsuccessful mayoral bid after losing to Rahm Emanuel in the 2015 runoff.
Lopez ended up dropping his mayoral bid to run to retain his City Council seat.
An ally of Harold Washington, the city’s first Black mayor, García was elected to the City Council in 1986 and the Illinois Senate in 1992, becoming the first Mexican American Illinois state senator.
After losing his state Senate seat in a 1998 primary, García was elected to the Cook County Board in 2010, serving two terms before being all but anointed as Guitiérrez’s successor in Washington.
García, 67, an ally of Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders, in recent years has backed some younger progressives candidates in successful races for the state legislature and other offices, in some cases defeating more moderate incumbent Democrats.
The at-times bombastic Lopez, 45, a frequent Fox News guest known for his outspoken criticisms of mayors Lori Lightfoot and Brandon Johnson and their policies, has argued that his more moderate approach is in better line with voters in the district.
Redrawn after the 2020 census to include new suburban communities, the district now stretches from Chicago’s Southwest Side into Cicero and west as far as Oak Brook and Hinsdale in DuPage County, then north to Melrose Park and Northlake in suburban Cook County.
Lopez worked as a skycap for Southwest Airlines at Midway Airport before being elected to the City Council.
García said he is “a trusted leader” throughout the district, even those who don’t share his progressive stances.
“Even some of the Republican mayors want to see me reelected because I’ve delivered,” he said.
There is no candidate on the Republican primary ballot in the heavily Democratic district, making García the likely victor in the November general election.
