Garcia was elected to the Chicago City Council in 1986. He became the first Mexican-American member of the Illinois State Senate in 1992. In 2010, Garcia won election to the 7th district Cook County Board of Commissioners. After his election, Cook Country President Toni Preckwinkle appointed him as floor leader.[5][6] García is a progressive and a reformer. He supports Preckwinkle, and was a supporter of former Chicago Mayor Harold Washington.[7][8]
Garcia was a candidate for Mayor of Chicago in 2015.[5] He finished second in the 2015 mayoral election on February 24. This forced a runoff vote between him and the mayor at that time, Rahm Emanuel. He lost the run-off election with 44.28% of the votes.
U.S. House of Representatives elections (since 2019)
On November 27, 2017, 6 days before the last day to file petitions to run for office, Congressman Luis Gutierrez pulled his petition for re-election in the 2018 race. This effectively ended his career in Congress.[9] The next day, Garcia said he wanted to run for Congress. During Gutierrez's press conference, he endorsed Garcia for the position.[10] The next day, Senator Bernie Sanders endorsed Garcia.[11]
He won the Democratic nomination in March 2018.[12] He then won the general election against Republican Mark Lorch in November 2018.
In November 2022, Garcia said he would run for mayor of Chicago again, in the 2023 election. He challenged the mayor at the time, Lori Lightfoot.[14] He lost in the first round of voting in February 2023, coming in fourth place.
