IL-4 Congressional Election: 'Chuy' Garcia Faces Mark Lorch

ILLINOIS 4TH CONGRESSIONAL DISTRICT - The race for the Illinois Fourth Congressional District comes down to Jesus 'Chuy' Garcia, a Democrat, and Mark Lorch, a Republican. The incumbent, Democrat Luis Gutierrez, announced before the primary that he would not seek another term for the elected post. Gutierrez has been in office since 1993.

Lorch won the Republican primary earlier this year by running unopposed. Garcia garnered nearly 60 percent of the vote in the Democratic primary in a victory over Sol Flores and Richard Gonzalez.

Garcia is a member of the Cook County Board of Commissioners and ran for Mayor of Chicago in 2015, losing to Rahm Emanuel in a runoff. Lorch is a financial analyst.

Both the Lorch and Garcia campaigns were contacted by Patch about sending a statement about why they are the best choice for voters in Illinois' 4th District. Lorch responded, Garcia did not.

The following statement was sent to Patch by Republican candidate Mark Lorch.

"I am not a politician. I am running for this office because we have been failed by career politicians in this state, and we need to return to hiring citizen legislators who have skills and experiences outside of simply having long careers in politics. I work as a financial analyst, have an accounting degree, and approximately 15 years of experience advising companies on complex financial matters. In Illinois, we are living with the consequences of decades of irresponsible spending, mismanagement, and corruption from our local Chicago Democratic machine politicians so our residents understand firsthand how bad political decisions can lead to higher sales, property, and income taxes. I want to go to DC to end wasteful spending, increase transparency, balance budgets, and reduce our national debt. We need outsiders like me that will be able to operate above the bitter partisanship in DC, work together, and solve problems."

Lorch answered questions about his campaign from the Chicago Tribune, with his answers published here. The Chicago Sun-Times has endorsed Garcia.