House Democrats on Monday failed to block a rare disapproval resolution – led by a member of their own caucus – accusing retiring Rep. Chuy Garcia (D-Ill) of “election subversion” over a scheme to hand-pick his successor.
Rep. Marie Gluesenkamp Perez (D-Wash.) introduced the resolution against the Illinois congressman after he abruptly announced his retirement past the filing deadline for primary candidates, which Garcia’s chief of staff met just in the nick of time.
Garcia’s apparent dirty trick allows his aide, Patty Garcia (no relation), to run unopposed in the Illinois 4th Congressional District Democratic primary.
In a 206-211 vote, an attempt to kill Gluesenkamp Perez’s resolution and avert an intraparty debate on the House floor failed.
“I do not support the so-called resolution of disapproval, and I strongly support Congressman Chuy Garcia,” House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY) said ahead of the vote. “He has been a progressive champion in disenfranchised communities for decades.”
Two Democrats – Rep. Jared Golden (D-Maine) and Gluesenkamp Perez – voted with Republicans to move the resolution forward.
Garcia, who represents a deep-blue district in Chicago and had initially filed to run for reelection, defended his tactic on the House floor.
“I wasn’t expecting to stand here to debate my retirement,” the 69-year-old lawmaker said, explaining that his wife’s battle with multiple sclerosis and other family obligations made him reconsider running at the last minute.
Garcia was adamant that he “followed the rules of Illinois and its election law,” and said he was “shocked” to learn he was being called out by Gluesenkamp Perez.
“As I looked ahead, I had to be honest about what the next term would demand and what my family needed,” Garcia said of his decision to retire.
He argued “voters don’t want these arguments in Congress” and “none of us wants to spend the next year trading the disapproval resolutions” before describing the resolution as a “political ploy.”
Gluesenkamp Perez, 37, triggered the vote on her resolution last week, as the House voted on legislation to end the government shutdown, surprising some Democrats.
“True love persists in a confidence, not in your supremacy in making a choice for your voters, but in your service and humility that they have the right to choose,” she said on the House floor Monday.
“When we start making choices for people without their consent, we have walked away from the fundamentals of democracy,” Gluesenkamp Perez argued.
The Washington Democrat commended Garcia’s “sacrifice” but said it “does not legitimize the way in which he left his seat – choosing his successor and refusing to be forthright with his constituents.”
Several Democratic lawmakers spoke out in support of Garcia.
Rep. Becca Balint (D-Vt.), who serves on the House Judiciary Committee with the congressman, called him a “man of principles and morals.”
“It is so disheartening to see his name dragged through the mud,” Balint fumed.
“I want you to think of the totality of this man’s life … I urge my colleagues to keep this in mind,” she seethed, adding, “This is not a game. This is a man’s life.”
Delia Ramirez (D-Ill) described the resolution as a “cheap political stunt,” and noted some Republicans were applauding Gluesenkamp Perez’s remarks on the House floor.
“Nothing validates the choice to subvert an election,” Gluesenkamp Perez argued, “not the trespasses of an administration, not the long and noble work of a public servant, not the valid and unknowable bitterness of a family’s suffering, not fidelity to identity politics.
“Nothing validates subverting an election.”
The congresswoman said the question lawmakers should ask themselves before voting on her resolution is: “Do you have the right to choose your successor?”
The House will vote on the disapproval resolution Tuesday.
