Jesus 'Chuy' Garcia Projected Winner Of IL-04 Election

CHICAGO - Jesus "Chuy" Garcia is the projected winner in the Illinois 4th Congressional District U.S. House of Representatives election. The race was called when Garcia, the Democratic candidate , had 90 percent of the vote to Republican Mark Lorch's 10 percent as of 8 p.m. with 23 percent of precincts reporting according to WGN.

The race for the Illinois 4th Congressional District United State Representative in 2018 came down to Jesus "Chuy" Garcia and Mark Wayne Lorch. Garcia won the Democratic primary earlier this year and Lorch became the Republican nominee after running unopposed in the primary.

Garcia is now in line to succeed U.S. Rep. Luis Gutierrez, who has held the position for 12 terms since first taking office in 1993. Gutierrez announced last November that he would not seek a 13th term in office.

As of Wednesday morning, Garcia had a lead of 134,522 votes to 21,083 votes for Lorch.

Garcia is a member of the Cook County Board of Commissioners. He ran for Mayor of Chicago in 2015 and lost in a run-off against incumbent Rahm Emanuel. Lorch is a financial analyst who says he's "not a politician," but was driven to run for Congress due to what he calls "irresponsible spending, mismanagement and corruption" from the Chicago Democratic machine.

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, as has the incumbent Gutierrez.

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

Image via Shutterstock