Vanquished mayoral challenger Jesus “Chuy” Garcia on Friday endorsed Brandon Johnson in the April 4 mayoral runoff, reuniting Chicago’s fractured family of progressives.
Garcia finished in fourth place with 13.8% of the vote on Feb. 28. It was a humiliating defeat for a candidate who started the race as the apparent frontrunner.
Garcia fell fast after Mayor Lori Lightfoot blanketed the television airwaves with commercials attempting to tie Garcia to two indicted powerhouses: former Illinois House Speaker Michael Madigan and former crypto-currency kingpin Samuel Bankman Fried.
Nevertheless, Garcia’s endorsement was coveted by both Johnson and Paul Vallas and it’s a huge get for Johnson.
If Garcia campaigns enthusiastically for Johnson and helps to boost Hispanic turnout that was anemic in Round One, it could help carry Johnson over the finish line.
Vallas did surprisingly well among Hispanics on Feb. 28 and managed to win several Hispanic-majority wards, including the 10th Ward on the Far Southeast Side and the 30th Ward on the Northwest Side.
Political strategists have said Vallas needs roughly half the Hispanic vote to win the April 4 runoff. Garcia’s support for Johnson could make that more difficult for Vallas.
On the day after the Feb. 28 election, veteran political consultant Joe Trippi, who continues to advise the Vallas campaign, tried to minimize the impact of a Garcia endorsement, knowing full well that it was coming.
“What’s he got? 14%? We did very well in the Hispanic community,” Trippi said.
“I’m not sure that coalitions forged in the past are aligning in the same way,” he added.
Johnson’s campaign manager Jason Lee begs to differ. He called Garcia’s support of Johnson the “most significant endorsement you can get amongst the Round One challengers.”
“We know his strength amongst Latino voters. That group is largely undecided. His validation, his support — not only him but also other elected officials from the Southwest Side — goes a long way to helping validate Brandon amongst those voters. And that could be significant in convincing those voters that Brandon is the right choice, the better choice for Chicago,” Lee said.
During the Round One campaign, Johnson accused Garcia of “abandoning the progressive movement” by “copying and pasting” Mayor Lori Lightfoot’s failed plan to deliver Chicago from violent crime.
“It’s unfortunate that Congressman Garcia has abandoned the progressive movement. … He is proposing an agenda that is being moved by the Fraternal Order of Police. Progressives understand … that safe communities require investments,” Johnson said.
Lee hedged when asked whether Johnson has apologized for those remarks.
“Campaigns are emotional. They’re very heated. Things happen. In the heat of battle, things are said that you wouldn’t say otherwise. You might not necessarily even believe in the exact way that you said it,” Lee said.
“We’ve had some really good conversations with Congressman Garcia and also his supporters to contextualize those comments and make clear that those don’t reflect our respect and admiration for both the congressman and also the political organization that he’s built over 40 years that’s been on the leading edge of social justice in this city, beginning with Rudy Lozano, who the congressman worked with.”
Just last week, Chicago Teachers Union President Stacy Davis Gates predicted that Garcia would endorse Johnson, in part, because he owes the CTU, for whom Johnson works as a paid organizer.
In 2015, Garcia forced then-Mayor Rahm Emanuel into Chicago’s first mayoral runoff on the strength of foot soldiers and campaign cash provided by the Chicago Teachers Union. Garcia stepped in when then-CTU President Karen Lewis dropped out of the race after being diagnosed with a brain tumor.
This time, Garcia took so long to make up his mind, the progressive coalition of labor unions and political groups that supported Garcia’s 2015 mayoral campaign endorsed Johnson.
“The city of Chicago is gonna need progressive leadership and I know that Congressman Garcia is going to be responsible as an elder statesman, to bring his support along with the support of the 22nd Ward to the forefront at this point. It depends on it,” Davis Gates told the Sun-Times last week.