If I had a dime for every time Democrats had declared themselves “defenders of democracy” in some form or another, I probably could have saved up enough for a nice family vacation to the Bahamas at the very least.
It’s been going on for a while now but ramped up after the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol riot. House Democrats impeached President Donald Trump, alleging he “incited” his supporters during a speech he gave at the Ellipse to disrupt the certification of the 2020 presidential election at the Capitol building.
But though there are numerous examples to support the contention that Democrats hold no high ground on the issue, we’ll focus on one of the more recent ones.
Rep. Jesús “Chuy” Garcia (D-Ill.) has been serving in Congress since 2019. On Oct. 27, Garcia filed to run for reelection in his safe blue district in the heavily gerrymandered, Democrat-run state.
Just minutes before the Nov. 3 candidate filing deadline expired, however, his chief of staff, Patty Garcia (no relation), also filed to run for the seat, sparking rumors that Rep. Garcia had abruptly decided against running for reelection.
Soon after, Rep. Garcia confirmed those rumors, citing a visit to his cardiologist made on the same day he filed to run for reelection. Rep. Garcia said his doctor told him he needed to slow down and do something other than be a congressman. Rep. Garcia also stated his wife, Evelyn, urged him not to run again after hearing what the doctor had to say.
But Garcia didn’t bow out until after his chief of staff filed to run for his seat, which means Patty Garcia will run unopposed in the primary and general election. This was a revelation that has sparked a war of words between Democrats over the wisdom of the decision and how it looks coming from a state that has a notorious history of rigging the system in favor of the Democratic political machine, something even some media outlets acknowledged.
“The tactic was right out of the Chicago machine political playbook, subverting elections to maintain power,” Axios noted, adding, “This was once the norm for Chicago politicians of García’s ilk.”
“Garcia wouldn’t be the first Chicago politician to make such a move. In 2004, after winning his Democratic primary, Democratic Rep. Bill Lipinski chose not to seek reelection,” Politico reported.
“He convinced the Illinois Democratic Party to substitute his name on the ballot with that of his son, Dan Lipinski, who subsequently won the general election.”
Rep. Marie Gluesenkamp Perez (D-Wash.) was so incensed by Rep. Garcia’s maneuver that, in a rare move, she called for her Democratic colleague to be condemned on the House floor last Wednesday night ahead of the shutdown deal vote, a move that had some House Democrats, including House Minority Whip Katherine Clark (D-Mass.), fuming.
Gluesenkamp Perez’s actions caused Rep. Delia Ramirez (D-Ill.) to write on X about how Rep. Garcia was allegedly “an unwavering fighter for our democracy” despite ensuring his chief of staff had no competition in what should have been a competitive race to replace him.
One Illinois Democrat, however, got to the heart of the matter of why there was outrage: because it exposed Democrats and their hypocrisy on the matter.
“It becomes a bit rich when progressive Democrats decry President Donald Trump or Republicans for ‘threatening democracy’ while turning around and engaging in or tolerating moves that weaken democratic choice from within,” Lyons Township (Cook County, Ill.) supervisor Chris Getty wrote in an op-ed published in the Chicago Tribune. “If our side does not uphold a transparent and open process, then we forfeit our moral standing.”
As the old saying goes, truer words were never spoken.
North Carolina native Stacey Matthews has also written under the pseudonym Sister Toldjah and is a media analyst and regular contributor to RedState and Legal Insurrection.
