During a contentious meeting Tuesday, the Illinois State Board of Elections voted to remove two independent candidates running for an open congressional seat currently held by outgoing Rep. Jesus 'Chuy' Garcia (D-Ill.) 

Chicago Ald. Byron Sigcho-Lopez (25) and Mayra Macías both filed to run as independent candidates for Illinois’ 4th Congressional District after Garcia withdrew from the race shortly before the party filing deadline.  

The congressman cited health reasons for his withdrawal. The move still earned the longtime representative criticism due to the last-minute timing, which allowed his chief of staff, Patty Garcia, no relation to the congressman, to be the sole Democrat in the March primary.  

Sigcho-Lopez’ and Macías’ petitions were both challenged for not obtaining the required number of signatures.  

Under Illinois law, signature requirements for independent candidates' congressional campaigns are based on the number of voters to have cast ballots in the previous election. For the 4th Congressional District, that minimum was 10,816.  

Sigcho-Lopez filed 17,227, 10,257 of which were contested for errors, such as missing addresses or people living outside the district, and alleged deficiencies with circulators and notarization.  

Following review, 7,633 signatures were ruled invalid. That left the alderman with 9,594, 1,222 below the statutory minimum.  

Macías filed 17,459, 10,621 of which were contested for reasons similar to Sigcho-Lopez.  

Upon review, 7,128 signatures were ruled invalid, leaving Macías with 10,330 signatures. That’s 486 below the minimum.  

Because of this, hearing officers for both cases recommended that the candidates not be certified for the November ballot. The state board concurred with that recommendation Tuesday.  

Both Sigcho-Lopez and Macías criticized the state’s requirements for independent and new party candidates.  

Candidates running under an established party are required to submit signatures equal to 0.5 percent of the total number of registered primary voters in the 4th district.  

For Patty Garcia to run in the Democratic primary, she needed to submit 697 signatures, according to the Illinois State Board of Elections.  

Sigcho-Lopez and Macías called on lawmakers in Springfield to change this process, which they argue disenfranchises voters.  

“Despite the extraordinary threshold, our campaign knocked on over 50,000 doors and submitted over 17,000 signatures, more than enough to demonstrate broad community support and way more signatures than Patty Garcia submitted, or Congressman Garcia has ever submitted,” she said.  

In an impassioned defense to the board, Sigcho-Lopez accused Chuy Garcia of hiding from the public behind attorneys and being “paid by the billionaire interests.” He said the rules are established to keep Democratic Party favorites in power.  

He argued the rules were unconstitutional and vowed to continue the fight up to the Illinois Supreme Court.  

“The state of Illinois has a responsibility to stand up to all people and to all constituents to make sure that our community has a right to choose their representatives,” he said. “Today we see unethical attorneys, unethical lobbyists stealing this election. This is a shame for our state, disenfranchising Latino and Latina voters.”  

Lyons Mayor Chris Getty also filed to run as an independent and will appear on the November ballot. His petitions were not challenged. Lupe Castillo, who has worked in the pharmaceutical industry and in food service and ran against Chuy Garcia in the 2024 election, will be the Republican nominee on the ballot. Ed Hershey, a teacher who has also run for the seat before, will be on the ballot under the Working Class Party.