Jesus "Chuy" Garcia is a dynamic and progressive leader who has fought selflessly to improve the lives of his neighbors on the southwest side of Chicago and the neighboring Cicero and Berwyn communities. First elected to the Chicago City Council in 1986 as a reformer and supporter of Mayor Harold Washington, Jesus Garcia helped give Mayor Washington a majority in the City Council to enact progressive legislation. He was among Mayor Washingtons most trusted allies. Chuys fight for justice did not stop after the Mayor died.
In 1992, Jesus Garcia was elected and served two terms as State Senator. As the first-ever Mexican-American elected to the State Senate, Chuy pushed forward a broad range of legislation to benefit the working families of his district.
On November 3, 2009, Jesus Garcia announced his candidacy as a Cook County Commissioner for the 7th District to usher in a new era of reform, accountability, transparency and efficiency in government for the benefit of working people. His campaign theme: Clean it up, make it work.
Advocacy of justice and equal opportunity led Jesus Garcia to work as a paralegal, as a community organizer and at a community-based housing organization. He was the Founding Executive Director of Enlace Chicago (a leading non-profit community development organization in Little Village, formerly known as LVCDC). Chuy served as a Fellow at De Paul University and as adjunct professor at the University of Illinois at Chicago in the Departments of Political Science and Latino and Latin American Studies. Chuy serves on the boards of several non-profit organizations including the Latino Policy Forum, a public policy and advocacy center, where he was the Founding President. He recently became Chairman of the Board of the Woods Fund of Chicago whose goal is to increase opportunities for less advantaged people and communities.
Emigrating with his parents from Durango, Mexico at the age of ten, Jesus Garcia has lived since then in the communities of Pilsen and Little Village. After earning a Bachelors degree in Political Science from the University of Illinois at Chicago, he went on to acquire a Masters degree in Urban Planning. Today, Jesus Chuy Garcia lives in Little Village with his wife Evelyn and daughter Rosa. He has two adult sons, Jesus and Samuel, and one grandchild.
