Rep. Jesus “Chuy” Garcia becomes the sixth member of Illinois’ congressional delegation to announce their retirement

By

Briana Ryan

Rep. Jesus “Chuy” Garcia (D-Ill.) announced on Nov. 5, 2025, that he will not seek re-election to the U.S. House of Representatives in 2026.

On his retirement, Garcia said, “I didn’t want to be forced into going into another term if I would have won, knowing my new urgencies as it relates to my health, my wife’s health and my family responsibilities.”

In 2018, Garcia won his first term in the U.S. House in Illinois’ 4th Congressional District after then-incumbent Rep. Luis Gutierrez (D-Ill.) announced his retirement. In the general election, Garcia defeated Mark Wayne Lorch (R) 87% to 13%.

In his three subsequent re-election bids, Garcia won by 68 percentage points in 2020, 40 percentage points in 2022, and 41 percentage points in 2024.

As of Nov. 4, 2025, independent race forecasters The Cook Political Report and Inside Elections have rated the 2026 general election for the district as Solid Democratic. Sabato’s Crystal Ball rated it Safe Democratic.

Garcia is the sixth member of Illinois’ 19-member congressional delegation to announce that they will not seek re-election to their current seat in 2026. The other members were:

As of Nov. 5, 2025, Garcia is one of 41 members of the U.S. Congress—eight U.S. Senate members and 33 U.S. House members—who have announced they will not seek re-election to their current seats in 2026.

Of the 33 representatives not seeking re-election:

  • Ten—seven Democrats and three Republicans—are retiring from public office.
  • Twelve—six Democrats and six Republicans—are running for the U.S. Senate.
  • Ten—all Republicans—are running for governor.
  • One Republican is running for state attorney general.

Compared to the last four election cycles, there were 25 retirement announcements at this point in 2024, 24 in 2022, 27 in 2020, and 31 in 2018.

Between January 2011 to November 2025, Ballotpedia followed 335 announcements from U.S. House members who announced they would not seek re-election. January had the highest number of members announcing they would not run for re-election at 57. The fewest announcements took place in June at 15.