Who's running in Illinois's 4th congressional district
4 candidates are on the ballot. Below is what each one says they stand for, what they have actually done in office or in public life, and the arguments published for and against them — each quoted from a named source rather than summarised by us.
Medium confidenceMedium confidenceThe candidate's stated positions and basic record are documented, but coverage is thin — often little independent reporting, or criticism from only one side.What would raise it: More independent reporting, a documented voting record, or published criticism from a named opponent would raise this.
What they say they stand for
Their own words. Claims, not verified facts.
Abolishing Immigration and Customs Enforcement; her campaign says immigration enforcement is being used to terrorise working-class communities.
Comprehensive immigration reform.
Medicare for All.
Cost-of-living relief for working families.
Higher taxes on the wealthy.
Safer and healthier neighbourhoods across the district.
What they’ve actually done
Documented record from official sources.
Chief of staff to U.S. Rep. Chuy García since 2023; previously his district director.
Has not held elected office.
Won the March 17, 2026 Democratic primary unopposed with 52,616 votes, the only Democrat on the ballot.
Arguments in favor
The national progressive and Hispanic caucus committees both endorsed her, treating her as the candidate who would carry on Chuy García's politics in Washington.
She is backed by the retiring incumbent, by the Speaker of the Illinois House, by two of the most prominent young progressives in Congress, and by transit and building-trades unions in the district.
— Chuy García; Illinois House Speaker Chris Welch; Reps. Greg Casar and Maxwell Frost; Amalgamated Transit Union and Plumbers Local 130
Arguments against
Her nomination came out of a manoeuvre that left voters no choice: the incumbent pulled out after the filing deadline so that his own chief of staff was the only Democrat on the ballot. A Chicago alderman said it denied 4th District voters the chance to have their voices heard or even to run, and rival independents called it a back-room deal and anti-democratic.
— Ald. Ray Lopez; independent candidates Mayra Macías and Byron Sigcho-Lopez
Two of the three objections that knocked the Latino independents off the November ballot were filed by people who had circulated nominating petitions for her campaign in the primary, alongside a senior García staffer — which critics read as the same machine politics repeating at the ballot-access stage.
— Block Club Chicago, reporting on the June 2026 signature objections
What we couldn’t verify
Whether her campaign directed the signature objections filed against Macías and Sigcho-Lopez was not established; the reporting establishes the objectors' connections to her petition drive, not who instructed them.
Her own account of the sequence is that she is running as her own candidate; her detailed answer to the process criticism was not located.
No National Republican Congressional Committee material naming her could be found.
Restricting girls' and women's sports and bathrooms to people assigned female at birth, and barring gender-transition surgery for minors without parental consent.
Backing law enforcement and school choice for low-income families.
Voter identification for registration and voting, which she argues is needed against election fraud in Chicago.
Federal aid paid directly to families rather than through non-governmental organisations.
No congressional pay during a government shutdown.
What they’ve actually done
Documented record from official sources.
Republican committeewoman for Chicago's 22nd Ward; affiliated with the Southwest Side GOP, the Chicago GOP and the Little Village Community Council.
Republican nominee for this district in 2024, losing to Chuy García by about 40 points.
Won the March 17, 2026 Republican primary unopposed with 8,336 votes.
Born in San Antonio, Texas; associate degree from Washburne Community Trade School, 2000; career as a chef and in pharmacy.
Arguments in favor
We found none published about this candidate in the sources reviewed.
Arguments against
We found none published about this candidate in the sources reviewed.
What we couldn’t verify
No published criticism of Castillo by name could be found. Searched: her name with 'criticism', with 'opponent', against Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee material, against Patty Garcia's campaign, and against Chicago news coverage of the race. Because no case against her exists on the record, no case for her is presented either, rather than showing her own campaign's case unanswered.
The Chicago Republican Party has publicised her candidacy on social media, but no substantive endorsement statement was found.
Her fundraising was not established from sources read.
Giving 4th District voters a choice on the November ballot after the Democratic nomination was settled without a contest.
Suburban municipal experience over Washington and Chicago party politics.
Local government service, drawing on running a village of about 11,000 people and a township of more than 115,000.
What they’ve actually done
Documented record from official sources.
Mayor of the Village of Lyons since 2009; elected at 26, then the youngest mayor in Illinois.
Supervisor of Lyons Township, chairing its board.
Filed independent nominating petitions on May 26, 2026 with roughly 18,000 to 20,000 signatures, the first independent in the race to file; his petitions drew no objection.
Faces a federal tax lien for more than $150,000 in unpaid income taxes, reported in October 2025.
Was investigated but not charged in a federal corruption investigation of Chicago-area suburbs.
Arguments in favor
His campaign says the roughly 18,000 signatures he filed amount to one of the largest independent congressional petition drives in recent Illinois history, gathered by more than a hundred circulators, and his petitions were the only ones in the race that nobody challenged.
— The Getty campaign, reported by the Riverside-Brookfield Landmark
He has been repeatedly re-elected in Lyons since 2009 and runs both the village and the township, which his campaign presents as a record of running government rather than talking about it.
— Getty's campaign and Village of Lyons records
Arguments against
The Sun-Times's watchdog desk reported a federal lien demanding more than $150,000 in unpaid income taxes from him, and noted he had been investigated, though not charged, in a federal corruption inquiry into Chicago-area suburbs.
— Chicago Sun-Times, October 2025
The Chicago Reader documented that he put his father — convicted in 1998 on 21 counts of mail fraud and money laundering in a bid-rigging scheme — on the village zoning board, hired his brother as a village financial analyst, and that political funds fed by village contractors paid rent to his own insurance business.
— Chicago Reader; Fox 32 Chicago also questioned a home purchase he made
What we couldn’t verify
Getty's federal policy positions were not established: his personal site describes his municipal roles rather than a congressional platform, and no issues page for the congressional campaign was located.
His response to the tax lien and to the hiring and contracting reporting was not established from sources read.
The Riverside-Brookfield Landmark reported that a large share of his petition circulators were family members, political allies, village trustees and municipal employees.
Substantially higher wages and a workers' party independent of the Democrats and Republicans.
Full legal rights for immigrants regardless of status.
Opposition to U.S. military intervention abroad.
Public funding for schools, drawing on his own work as a Chicago public school teacher.
What they’ve actually done
Documented record from official sources.
Teacher at Lindblom Math and Science Academy in West Englewood for 16 years; member of the Chicago Teachers Union.
Working Class Party nominee for this district in 2022 and 2024; received about 10,000 votes in 2024.
Candidate for Chicago's 25th ward alderman in 2015.
On the November 3, 2026 ballot as the Working Class Party candidate.
Arguments in favor
We found none published about this candidate in the sources reviewed.
Arguments against
We found none published about this candidate in the sources reviewed.
What we couldn’t verify
No published criticism of Hershey by name could be found. Searched: his name with 'criticism', against the Democratic and Republican campaigns in this district, and against Chicago news coverage of the race. Because no case against him exists on the record, no case for him is presented either.
A Trotskyist publication, Workers Vanguard, urged Chicago Democratic Socialists of America members to vote for him; that is a case for him from a small allied group rather than broader published support.
His fundraising was not established from sources read.
Positions and criticism are quoted from the named sources, not our assessments. This is built to help you start getting informed — confirm the official candidate list with your election authority before you vote.
This is an open seat, and how it became open is the central fact of the race. Democratic incumbent Chuy García filed for re-election and then withdrew after the filing deadline had passed, which left his chief of staff Patty Garcia as the only Democrat on the March 17, 2026 primary ballot. Four candidates are on the November ballot: Patty Garcia (Democratic), Lupe Castillo (Republican), Lyons mayor Chris Getty (Independent) and teacher Ed Hershey (Working Class Party). Two other independents, Mayra Macías and Ald. Byron Sigcho-Lopez, were removed from the ballot by the Illinois State Board of Elections on July 21, 2026 after signature objections; a third, Lindsay Church, withdrew in May. Roster confirmed against Ballotpedia's report of the July ruling and the state board's decision. The district covers south-west Chicago and the western suburbs of Cicero and Berwyn.
This is one contest on a longer ballot
A Illinois ballot also carries state legislative districts, county offices, judicial seats and often local questions — and which of them you vote on is decided by your street address, not your city or ZIP code.
Your ballot is determined by your election authority, not by us. Verify your registration, precinct, and sample ballot at Illinois State Board of Elections.