Liberals try to drop conservative Dem
Sanders, abortion rights groups back challenger
LYONS, Ill. – Rep. Dan Lipinski, a conservative-leaning Democrat unaccustomed to close elections, came to make his pitch at a St. Patrick’s Day party for seniors as the retirees finished their corned beef and cabbage.
Before the seniors got to their dessert, the veteran lawmaker facing a liberal insurgency brewing in his party touted his commitment to bringing federal dollars to the district.
He reminded the group that his staff stood ready to assist them as they navigate Social Security and Medicare. Lipinski thanked the veterans in the crowd.
Then he got to the matter at hand: He desperately needs their vote in Tuesday’s Illinois primary.
“There’s been a lot of money spent — almost $2 million — to try to knock me down,” Lipinski said. “You know me. You know we share the same values, so I ask you to come out and vote for me. And if you don’t always take a Democratic ballot, if you can do it just this one time for me.”
The lawmaker is fighting for his political life in a congressional primary as a faction within the Democratic Party argues for a more liberal and diverse cadre of candidates for November’s general election.
The Illinois race comes a week after a Pennsylvania special election, in which moderate Democrat Conor Lamb narrowly leads Republican Rick Saccone for a House seat in a deeply conservative district.
Lipinski hasn’t faced much challenge since following in the footsteps of his father, William, to Congress in 2004.
He is deadlocked with a well-funded Democratic challenger, Marie New- man, a marketing consultant and firsttime political candidate. She received the backing of Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., plus abortion rights groups and alumni of President Obama’s two campaigns for the White House.
Newman and her backers argued that Lipinski is a relic and a Democrat in name only. Lipinski, 51, is part of a dwindling breed of Democrats who oppose abortion in almost all cases.
He was the only Democrat in the Illinois congressional delegation to vote against Obama’s signature health care law, because it required organizations to provide employees with contraception even if that clashed with a religious group’s beliefs.
“Mr. Lipinski is so anti-choice he doesn’t support birth control. That’s a problem,” Newman told USA TODAY.
The primary between Newman and Lipinski could be an early ideological battleground for Democrats as they map their strategy to loosen the Republicans’ grip on the House and Senate.
Illinois’ 3rd congressional district, which includes parts of Chicago’s South Side and bisects several southwest suburbs, has long trended toward Democrats. It showed a conservative social streak by electing Lipinski and his father, both pro-union Democrats who oppose abortion.
The district, which had been home to some of the Chicago area’s largest Polish and Irish enclaves, has become more ethnically and racially diverse from an influx of Hispanic and Arab residents in recent years.
LGBT advocates at the Human Rights Campaign, the Service Employees International Union and MoveOn poured more than $1 million into ads tearing into Lipinski and bolstering Newman.
Lipinski has some powerful supporters, including House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., and two influential unions — the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees and the AFL-CIO.