Chris Getty, the mayor of Lyons and supervisor of Lyons Township, made his pitch to Summit residents on July 28, telling a crowd at Chester’s Tavern and Pizza that Washington needs leaders willing to put communities before politics.
Getty is running for the U.S. House seat representing Illinois’ 4th Congressional District as an independent candidate. The seat is being vacated by U.S. Rep. Jesus “Chuy” Garcia, who announced on the last day of the filing period that he would not seek re-election.
Garcia’s chief of staff Patty Garcia, no relation, came in at the last minute and filed petitions, a move criticized by many including Getty. Two Latino candidates were kicked off the ballot because they failed to file petitions with enough signatures.
Summit Mayor Sergio Rodriguez and Clerk Colleen Lambert hosted the evening event, introducing Getty to local voters and elected officials from neighboring communities, including the mayors of Willow Springs and Stickney.
“Today more than ever, Washington needs leaders who are willing to stand up and fight for the people, not the political parties or special interests or partisan agendas,” Rodriguez said in introducing Getty. “We need leaders who put communities before politics.”
Getty, who was elected mayor of Lyons in 2009 at age 27—making him the youngest mayor in Illinois at the time—said he decided to run for Congress after the incumbent announced his retirement and began working to support Patty Garcia.
“I was one of the individuals that stood up and said this is not right,” Getty said, referring to an editorial he wrote in the Chicago Tribune.
To get on the ballot as an independent, Getty said his campaign collected the maximum allowed signatures—17,304—in 49 days, a process he used to identify the district’s top concerns: the cost of living and immigration reform.
“Whether you lived in Chicago, Summit, Lyons, Cicero, or Berwyn, it was all the same,” Getty said. “The cost of living was the number one issue.”
Getty emphasized his record of building coalitions across municipal lines in Lyons Township, which includes 17 municipalities and about 120,000 residents, most of whom live in the 4th Congressional District.
“My campaign is simple,” he said. “We are going to represent the people that elect us and send us to Washington DC.”
Rodriguez said the turnout reflected genuine community interest. “There were a lot of supporters here for Chris from Summit,” he said. “Just growing that movement that he’s bringing into the area is great, giving the people the choice like he’s saying.”
Getty called the reception encouraging. “There’s so many residents and business owners from Summit,” he said. “It’s not outsiders here, literally people homegrown from the community talking about their issues.”