Democrat Rep. Marie Gluesenkamp Perez (WA-03) did the right thing in pushing for a vote on a "disapproval resolution" against one of her leftist colleagues, and now she must pay the price.
That is the gist of the latest drama playing out among the House Democrat Caucus after the lower chamber voted on Tuesday in favor of the resolution, with 23 Democrats crossing the aisle to vote with Republicans (236-183-4) in what ended up being a deeply humiliating moment not just for Rep. Jesús "Chuy" Garcia (IL-04) but for Democrat House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (NY-08), who had urged his caucus to vote against it.
In a nutshell, what angered Gluesenkamp Perez enough to call for the resolution was Garcia essentially rigging it so that his chief of staff, Patty Garcia (no relation), would have no primary or general election opponent, with him announcing his retirement over health and family concerns one week after filing to run again, and one day after Patty Garcia filed her nominating petition to run for his seat (filing it just minutes before the November 3rd deadline expired).
READ MORE: The Spicy 'Dems in Disarray' Drama on the House Floor Pre-Shutdown Vote You Might Have Missed
Gluesenkamp Perez's district is considered a swing district, and while I haven't heard any talk of a primary effort against her, rumors are swirling that a type of retaliation is being discussed by the House Progressive Caucus for the crime of her exposing her party's duplicitous nature when it comes to the issue of "defending democracy":
Congressional Progressive Caucus members are privately discussing introducing a retaliatory measure against Rep. Marie Gluesenkamp Perez (D-Wash.) over her efforts to rebuke Rep. Chuy García (D-Ill.), Axios has learned.
Why it matters: The move would escalate simmering tensions between Gluesenkamp Perez and her Democratic colleagues that some lawmakers say is ruining what they had hoped would be a week of unity.
- "This is really just unfortunate that we're dealing with this," Rep. Joe Morelle (D-N.Y.) told Axios.
- "We have all these other issues in the world we have to deal with ... this is really local politics and I don't know that it has a place here," he added.
What we're hearing: Progressive Caucus members are eyeing a resolution that would accuse Perez of lying about not taking corporate PAC donations, according to a lawmaker and a senior aide familiar with the matter.
To her credit, Gluesenkamp Perez is not letting the threat of retaliation keep her from speaking out. Her latest revelation is that some of her fellow House Democrats actually congratulated Rep. Garcia for pulling it off:
Just hours before the filing deadline, Representative Garcia's chief of staff submitted the paperwork to run with at least 2500 signatures attached to it. And Chuy Garcia's signature was the very first one listed in the petition. He had at least three days of work that he is publicly acknowledged, where he knew that his chief was going to be running against him. And he did not communicate his intention to retire.
You know, one of the disturbing things is that, like, immediately after the news broke about how Chuy had basically chosen a successor, I saw a lot of members congratulating him on how clever and slick it was. And I think that galvanized me more to say that this is not something to be proud of or to emulate or copy, that we have to think critically about -- like what use is it to win an election at all costs, even your own integrity if you are in that process destroying Americans' confidence in government?
Rep. Marie Gluesenkamp Perez says that Democrats were congratulating Rep. Chuy Garcia on rigging the primary to replace him by ensuring his Chief of Staff would be the only person on the ballot.
— Greg Price (@greg_price11) November 19, 2025
So much for that whole "democracy" thing. pic.twitter.com/9Sy0zqUxS4
I don't think Rep. Gluesenkamp Perez and I would agree on much, but props to her for standing her ground on this.
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