U.S. Rep. Jesus "Chuy" Garcia (D-Illinois) is facing backlash over his last-minute decision not to run for another term in 2026, a move that helped open an obvious path for his chief of staff to replace him.

While the congressman filed nominating petitions on Oct. 27 to run for re-election, his chief of staff Patty Garcia (no relation to the congressman) filed her own nominating petitions at the deadline on Monday evening, and sources confirmed Garcia plans to withdraw his own petitions, leaving his top aide as the only Democrat running in the upcoming primary.

In an interview with Capitol Fax, Congressman Garcia said last Monday his cardiologist recommend that he not run. Garcia said he's been bad about exercise and physical therapy.

While he had already gathered enough signatures to run again in 2026, the day after he filed them, his wife asked him not to run, and that helped seal his decision to drop out of the race.

However, it's the timing of making his decision public that has drawn criticism. Instead of immediately making his decision public immediately, his organization gathered signatures for his chief of staff to run, and filed them right at Monday's deadline.

Until then, the four-time incumbent congressman had been the only Democrat to file for the March primary, and with his plans to drop out not being made public until after the filing deadline, no other candidates had time to jump in the race.

While one Republican and one third-party candidate have filed petitions to run in the race, Garcia's district has been in Democratic hands since 1989, so the winner of the Democratic primary will be a heavy favorite to win the 2026 general election.

Critics said Garcia – who has marched in "No Kings" protest rallies against the Trump administration – is coronating his chosen successor for his seat in Congress.

While Garcia's move is legal, it leaves a bad taste for many observers.

"Had he given word, even called a press conference at the last second, and said 'I'm deciding not to run, if you want to run, etc.' but that's not what happened. What happened was what you do when you're a kingmaker, or in this case a queenmaker," said political analyst Kimberley Egonmwan.

Garcia's office did not grant CBS News Chicago's request for an interview.

Garcia is now the fifth Democratic member of the U.S. House from Illinois to opt against running for re-election in 2026.

Reps. Robin Kelly and Raja Krishnamoorthi are giving up their seats in the House to run for Sen. Dick Durbin's seat in the Senate. Reps. Jan Schakowsky and Danny Davis are retiring at the end of their terms.