Chaos erupts on House floor as Democrat moves to condemn fellow party member

""Everybody has been trying to say to her, 'Why today?' We have really focused, important work to do today,' one House Democrat who was on the floor at the time told Axios. Clark, the lawmaker explained, 'was trying to ... say [to Gluesenkamp Perez], 'You don't need to do this right now.'""

"García's "stated reasons for retirement are honorable, but his decision to anoint an heir is fundamentally undemocratic," Gluesenkamp Perez said in a statement provided to Axios. She added: "This is the kind of thing that makes folks tune out of electoral politics ... If we fail to hold our colleagues accountable for this subversion of elections, we own the consequences." Her resolution, which now needs to be voted on by next Tuesday unless she withdraws it, calls García's actions "beneath the dignity of his office and incompatible with the spirit of the Constitution.""

""It should obviously be the jurisdiction of the election officials in Chicago and Illinois," Rep. Sylvia Garcia (D-Texas), who was on the floor at the time, told Axios. "It didn't make sense," Garcia added. "It's very disappointing. It's very unusual.""

Gluesenkamp Perez moved to force a vote on a resolution condemning Representative García during debate on a stopgap spending bill to reopen the government. The motion came just before a vote that Democrats were largely unified in opposing. García unexpectedly announced his retirement just before Illinois' filing deadline, leaving his chief of staff as the only candidate in the heavily Democratic primary. Gluesenkamp Perez called García's stated reasons honorable but said anointing an heir is fundamentally undemocratic and warned that failing to hold colleagues accountable subverts elections. The resolution must be voted on by next Tuesday unless withdrawn. Representative Sylvia Garcia said election officials in Chicago and Illinois should have jurisdiction and described the situation as disappointing and unusual. García's office did not respond to a request for comment.

Read at Axios