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Illinois' 4th Congressional District election, 2026 (March 17 Democratic primary)

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← 2024
Illinois' 4th Congressional District
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Democratic primary
Republican primary
General election
Election details
Filing deadline: November 3, 2025
Primary: March 17, 2026
General: November 3, 2026
How to vote
Poll times:

6 a.m. to 7 p.m.
Voting in Illinois

Race ratings
Cook Political Report: Solid Democratic
DDHQ and The Hill: Pending
Inside Elections: Solid Democratic
Sabato's Crystal Ball: Safe Democratic
Ballotpedia analysis
U.S. Senate battlegrounds
U.S. House battlegrounds
Federal and state primary competitiveness
Ballotpedia's Election Analysis Hub, 2026
See also
Illinois' 4th Congressional District
U.S. Senate • 1st • 2nd • 3rd • 4th • 5th • 6th • 7th • 8th • 9th • 10th • 11th • 12th • 13th • 14th • 15th • 16th • 17th
Illinois elections, 2026
U.S. Congress elections, 2026
U.S. Senate elections, 2026
U.S. House elections, 2026

A Democratic Party primary takes place on March 17, 2026, in Illinois' 4th Congressional District to determine which Democratic candidate will run in the district's general election on November 3, 2026.

Candidate filing deadline Primary election General election
November 3, 2025
March 17, 2026
November 3, 2026



Incumbent Jesus Garcia (D) initially filed to run for re-election but announced his retirement on November 5, 2025. This left Patty Garcia (no relation) as the only candidate in the race and led to Jesus Garcia's rebuke by the U.S. House. To learn more, click here.

A primary election is an election in which registered voters select a candidate that they believe should be a political party's candidate for elected office to run in the general election. They are also used to choose convention delegates and party leaders. Primaries are state-level and local-level elections that take place prior to a general election. In Illinois, state law provides for a closed primary where a voter must be affiliated with a party to vote in that party's primary. However, voters state their affiliation at the polls and any voter may change their affiliation on the day of the primary. A voter's eligibility to vote a party's ballot may be challenged.[1]

For information about which offices are nominated via primary election, see this article.

This page focuses on Illinois' 4th Congressional District Democratic primary. For more in-depth information on the district's Republican primary and the general election, see the following pages:

Candidates and election results


Democratic primary election

Democratic primary for U.S. House Illinois District 4

Patty Garcia is running in the Democratic primary for U.S. House Illinois District 4 on March 17, 2026.

Candidate
Image of Patty Garcia
Patty Garcia

Incumbents are bolded and underlined.

Candidate Connection = candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
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Withdrawn or disqualified candidates

Candidate profiles

There are currently no candidate profiles created for this race. Candidate profiles will appear here as they are created. Encourage the candidates in this race to complete Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey so that their profile will appear here. You can ask candidates in this race to fill out the survey by clicking their names below:

Voting information

See also: Voting in Illinois

Election information in Illinois: March 17, 2026, election.

What is the voter registration deadline?

  • In-person: March 17, 2026
  • By mail: Postmarked by Feb. 17, 2026
  • Online: March 1, 2026

Is absentee/mail-in voting available to all voters?

N/A

What is the absentee/mail-in ballot request deadline?

  • In-person: March 16, 2026
  • By mail: Received by March 12, 2026
  • Online: March 12, 2026

What is the absentee/mail-in ballot return deadline?

  • In-person: March 17, 2026
  • By mail: Postmarked by March 17, 2026

Is early voting available to all voters?

Yes

What are the early voting start and end dates?

Feb. 5, 2026 to March 16, 2026

Are all voters required to present ID at the polls? If so, is a photo or non-photo ID required?

N/A

When are polls open on Election Day?

6:00 a.m. - 7:00 p.m. (CT)


Campaign finance

Name Party Receipts* Disbursements** Cash on hand Date
Patty Garcia Democratic Party $0 $0 $0 Data not available***

Source: Federal Elections Commission, "Campaign finance data," . This product uses the openFEC API but is not endorsed or certified by the Federal Election Commission (FEC).

* According to the FEC, "Receipts are anything of value (money, goods, services or property) received by a political committee."
** According to the FEC, a disbursement "is a purchase, payment, distribution, loan, advance, deposit or gift of money or anything of value to influence a federal election," plus other kinds of payments not made to influence a federal election.
*** Candidate either did not report any receipts or disbursements to the FEC, or Ballotpedia did not find an FEC candidate ID.

Noteworthy events

Incumbent rebuked over retirement timing (November 2025)

Incumbent Jesus Garcia (D) announced on November 5, 2025, that he would not seek re-election in 2026. This announcement came after the official filing deadline of November 3. In a statement announcing his retirement, Garcia said: “I didn’t want to be forced into going into another term if I would have won, knowing my new urgencies as it relates to my health, my wife’s health and my family responsibilities.”[2]

On November 18, 2025, the U.S. House voted 286-183 to rebuke Garcia over the timing of his retirement announcement, which supporters of the rebuke alleged Garcia coordinated in order to ensure his chief of staff, Patty Garcia (no relation), would be the sole Democratic candidate in his district. Twenty-three members of the Democratic Party voted in favor of the rebuke, which was sponsored by Marie Gluesenkamp Perez (D-Wash.). The rebuke was symbolic and carried no penalty.[3]

Gluesenkamp Perez said after the vote: "Representative Chuy García has had a long career of public service, and he is retiring for honorable reasons, but election subversion is wrong no matter who’s doing it.”[3] Garcia said his decision to retire was based on his health and his family's needs, citing the adoption of a granddaughter following his daughter's death. "When a colleague chooses his family, that shouldn’t be a moment for division — it should be a moment for understanding and unity," Garcia said.[4]

District analysis

Click the tabs below to view information about voter composition, past elections, and demographics in both the district and the state.

  • District map - A map of the district in place for the election.
  • Competitiveness - Information about the competitiveness of 2026 U.S. House elections in the state.
  • Presidential elections - Information about presidential elections in the district and the state.
  • State party control - The partisan makeup of the state's congressional delegation and state government.


Below is the district map in place for this election. Click the map below to enlarge it.

2023_01_03_il_congressional_district_04.jpg
See also: Primary election competitiveness in state and federal government, 2026
Information about competitiveness will be added here as it becomes available.

Partisan Voter Index

See also: The Cook Political Report's Partisan Voter Index

Heading into the 2026 elections, based on results from the 2024 and 2020 presidential elections, the Cook Partisan Voter Index for this district is D+17. This meant that in those two presidential elections, this district's results were 17 percentage points more Democratic than the national average. This made Illinois' 4th the 85th most Democratic district nationally.[5]

2020 presidential election results

The table below shows what the vote in the 2024 presidential election was in this district. The presidential election data was compiled by The Downballot.

2024 presidential results in Illinois' 4th Congressional District
Kamala Harris Democratic Party Donald Trump Republican Party
63.0% 35.0%

Presidential voting history

See also: Presidential election in Illinois, 2024

Illinois presidential election results (1900-2024)

  • 17 Democratic wins
  • 15 Republican wins
Year 1900 1904 1908 1912 1916 1920 1924 1928 1932 1936 1940 1944 1948 1952 1956 1960 1964 1968 1972 1976 1980 1984 1988 1992 1996 2000 2004 2008 2012 2016 2020 2024
Winning Party R R R D R R R R D D D D D R R D D R R R R R R D D D D D D D D D
See also: Party control of Illinois state government

Congressional delegation

The table below displays the partisan composition of Illinois' congressional delegation as of October 2025.

Congressional Partisan Breakdown from Illinois
Party U.S. Senate U.S. House Total
Democratic 2 14 16
Republican 0 3 3
Independent 0 0 0
Vacancies 0 0 0
Total 2 17 19

State executive

The table below displays the officeholders in Illinois' top four state executive offices as of October 2025.

State executive officials in Illinois, October 2025
Office Officeholder
Governor Democratic Party J.B. Pritzker
Lieutenant Governor Democratic Party Juliana Stratton
Secretary of State Democratic Party Alexi Giannoulias
Attorney General Democratic Party Kwame Raoul

State legislature

Illinois State Senate

Party As of October 2025
     Democratic Party 40
     Republican Party 19
     Other 0
     Vacancies 0
Total 59

Illinois House of Representatives

Party As of October 2025
     Democratic Party 78
     Republican Party 40
     Other 0
     Vacancies 0
Total 118

Trifecta control

Illinois Party Control: 1992-2025
Nineteen years of Democratic trifectas  •  Two years of Republican trifectas
Scroll left and right on the table below to view more years.

Year 92 93 94 95 96 97 98 99 00 01 02 03 04 05 06 07 08 09 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25
Governor R R R R R R R R R R R D D D D D D D D D D D D R R R R D D D D D D D
Senate D R R R R R R R R R R D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D
House D D D R R D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D

Ballot access

The table below details filing requirements for U.S. House candidates in Illinois in the 2026 election cycle. For additional information on candidate ballot access requirements in Illinois, click here.

Filing requirements for U.S. House candidates, 2026
State Office Party Signatures required Filing fee Filing deadline Source
Illinois U.S. House Established parties Not less than .5% (.005) of the qualified primary electors of their party in the congressional district N/A 11/3/2025 Source
Illinois U.S. House Independents Not less than 5% nor more than 8% (or 50 more than the minimum, whichever is greater) of the total number of persons who voted at the last regular general election within the congressional district. N/A 5/26/2026 Source

See also

External links

Footnotes

  1. ↑ Illinois General Assembly, "Ill. Rev. Stat. ch. 10, § 5/7–44," accessed December 4, 2025
  2. ↑ Chicago Tribune, "US Rep. Jesús ‘Chuy’ García defends insider move that cleared path for top staffer to enter Congress," November 5, 2025
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 Politico, "House votes to rebuke García for election maneuvers," November 18, 2025
  4. ↑ Politico, "Dems clash over García rebuke," November 18, 2025
  5. ↑ Cook Political Report, "2025 Cook PVI℠: District Map and List (119th Congress)," accessed July 1, 2025


Illinois' current delegation to the United States Congress
Senators
Tammy Duckworth (D)
Dick Durbin (D)
Representatives
District 1
District 2
District 3
District 4
District 5
District 6
District 7
District 8
District 9
District 10
District 11
District 12
Mike Bost (R)
District 13
District 14
District 15
District 16
District 17
Democratic Party (16)
Republican Party (3)


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