Democratic Rep. Jesús “Chuy” García’s handpicked successor is officially getting a challenge.
Mayra Macías is a lifelong Democrat and Chicago native who has worked on Latino advocacy and promoting former President Joe Biden’s agenda. She announced her candidacy Wednesday to run as an independent in Illinois' 4th Congressional District. If elected, Macías said she would caucus with Democrats.
"I’ve really focused my whole career on building and serving and making sure that we’re fighting for quality education, health care and affordable housing,” Macías said. “Under the Trump administration, we’re seeing a lot of this progress rolled back.”
García’s surprise retirement announcement in early November created a firestorm and drew a rebuke from his own party. His plans were known only to his chief of staff, Patty Garcia (no relation). Because the congressman announced his retirement after the filing deadline, Patty Garcia was the only one to file the required signatures before the deadline to run as a Democrat in March.
But there is still time to run as an independent in a general election, with signatures not due until May. Chicago Alderman Byron Sigcho-Lopez, another potential candidate, confirmed to the Chicago Sun-Times that he launched a committee to explore a run as an independent.
Macías said she supported Chuy García in the past and expressed disappointment over how he handled his retirement announcement, which she called undemocratic.
In an interview, Macías said she moved back to the Chicago area from Washington, D.C., after President Donald Trump’s 2024 election, and now lives in the Scottsdale neighborhood, on the southern tip of the 4th District. Macías said she has regularly traveled back and forth to Chicago because her family still lives in the area.
Macías said that her father was a trash collector for the city of Chicago and that her mother is a home health care worker.
"I internalized that value of hard work very early on," Macías said. "Nothing has ever been handed to me very early on. I learned the value of hard work from seeing my parents try to make ends meet for our family."
She is from the Back of the Yards neighborhood, where, she said, her family contended with violence around them growing up, once even finding a bullet hole in their kitchen window. Today, that neighborhood still has its challenges, including most recently with immigration agents targeting residents there.
Macías had been executive director of Building Back Together, an outside group charged with carrying out Biden’s agenda. She has also been executive director of the Latino Victory Project, an advocacy group.
She said affordability is the No. 1 concern she hears about among residents in the district.
“People are working hard, and things are getting more expensive, especially under the Trump administration, with Trump’s tariffs. I hear a lot about people feeling frustrated that their hard work isn’t enough to put food on the table and still have a little extra money for their kids,” she said. “I’m hearing particularly now, since this was so recently happening here, the frustration with the weaponization of federal resources to attack community members.”
