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WASHINGTON, DC - JUNE 10: Rep. Dan Lipinski (D-IL) (2nd R) and fellow
Democratic members of Congress hold a news conference to voice their
opposition to the Trans-Pacific Partnership trade deal at the U.S. Capitol
June 10, 2015 in Washington, DC. The congressional Republican leadership
announced that the House will vote Friday to approve the TPP and give
President Barack Obama fast-track authority to negotiate a large-scale trade
deal. (Photo by Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)
Photo: Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images
A Primary Challenge to a Right-Wing Democrat in Illinois Divides the
Resistance
Henriette Chacar, Ryan Grim
December 12 2017, 11:05 a.m.
Late last month, a group of five national progressive organizations
announced their support for Marie Newman, a Democrat running for Congress in
Illinois. Nothing unusual there: Newman is a down-the-line progressive on
everything from economic populism, immigration, LGBT rights, gun violence
and a womans right to choose.
What made the move so unusual is that there is already a Democrat safely in
the seat.
In a year defined by fierce resistance to President Donald Trump, the move
marked the most aggressive challenge to a sitting Democrat this cycle,
because it wasnt organized by groups that have been set up specifically to
challenge Democrats from the left, but rather by ones that often support
those whove already been elected, while training their fire instead on
Republicans.
The groups broadly come from the activist wing of the party that is
comfortable working with establishment Democrats, if at occasionally an
arms-length distance: NARAL Pro-Choice America, the Human Rights Campaign,
MoveOn.org, Democracy for America, and the Progressive Change Campaign
Committee. The five joined Daily Kos, which had previously endorsed Newman.
As a signal of how significant the move was, take note of who did not join
in the endorsement: Planned Parenthood, EMILYs List, or organized labor.
The latter absence is not hard to explain, as Rep. Dan Lipinski, D-Ill.,
much like his father before him, has long commanded the loyalty of unions in
the district, who are closely tied to the party machinery, a machine that
can still move a lot of ground in the state. Weve been gunning for
Lipinski for something like 10 years now, and until organized labor abandons
him, its always an uphill slog. But he certainly has no business being a
Democrat and would love to see Newman catch fire, Markos Moulitsas, head of
Daily Kos, told The Intercept.
But for Planned Parenthood and EMILYs List, the abstention is a window into
the power of incumbency and the influence of the national Democratic Party.
The letter D might come after Lipinskis name, but he doesnt vote like a
Democrat in 2017. Anti-choice, skeptical of LGBT rights, and often on the
side of anti-immigrant efforts, Lipinskis record is far out of step with
his district, which went for Bernie Sanders by roughly eight points in the
Democratic primary, and to Hillary Clinton by about 16 points in the 2016
general election.
On paper, there is no question which candidate EMILYs List or Planned
Parenthood would be supporting in a straight-up race between a pro-choice,
progressive woman and an anti-choice, conservative man. Newman knows the 3rd
District well; she was raised in Palos Park, attended Carl Sandburg High
School, and currently resides in La Grange with her husband and two
children. She comes from a corporate background and made her career as a
marketing professional, but she became a rights advocate and formed a
nationwide coalition of anti-bullying nonprofits after her child, who is
transgender, was bullied at school. More recently, Newman met with state and
federal lawmakers to discuss gun control, as part of her work with Moms
Demand Action for Gun Sense in America.
EMILYs List is specifically dedicated to electing pro-choice women and
didnt respond to multiple requests for comment on its decision not to back
Newman. Erica Sackin, a spokesperson for Planned Parenthood Action Fund,
said that the organization has yet to make decisions on 2018 elections, but
did not look fondly on the record of Lipinski. Its essential to elect
people who will be champions for reproductive health and rights, she said
in a statement. Weve seen over the years that Rep. Dan Lipinski has not
been a champion for women or womens rights, and in fact has only a 23
percent voting record rating from the Planned Parenthood Action Fund.
But the race is not fought on paper, but rather in the world in which taking
on the establishment and losing can come with payback. Id welcome their
support, Newman told The Intercept.
Just how dramatic those consequences would be for EMILYs List is not
obvious, however. The fact that NARAL and HRC, which often work closely with
establishment Democrats, are willing to challenge Lipinski openly suggests
that party leadership is not going to war to defend Lipinski, who couples
his conservative politics with an abrasive personality. If Lipinski loses
his primary, the party is no worse off, as Newman would easily win the
general election.
The calculation for Planned Parenthood is different, as the Illinois machine
controls some of the purse strings that keeps the organization funded. And
that machine has been good in Illinois on abortion rights. In a move that
was seen as a way to box in Republican Illinois Gov. Bruce Rauner,
Democratic state House Speaker Mike Madigan pushed the most progressive
pro-choice bill in the country on to the governors desk. If he signed it,
hed get a primary from the right, and if he vetoed it, Democrats would use
it to crush him. He signed it and got a primary.
Madigan was a longtime ally of Lipinskis father and is tight with the
younger Lipinski, as well, whose career he is partly responsible for.
Lipinski became a member of Congress in 2005, when he inherited his father
Bill Lipinskis public service career. He is staunchly opposed to providing
federal funding for abortions and has continuously voted against including
abortion coverage in qualified health care plans. This was partly the reason
why he was the only Illinois Democrat who voted against the Affordable Care
Act in 2010, even though he is currently one of Obamacares public
defenders. Most recently, he supported a bill that would criminalize
abortions after 20 weeks of pregnancy.
Congressman Lipinski is way out of touch with the values of his district.
He used his position in Congress to advance an anti-choice, anti-LGBT,
anti-immigrant agenda, said James Owen, NARAL states communications
director.
If a member of Congress is out of step with his district, one way to remedy
it is to change the district. In the 2010 redistricting, controlled by the
Illinois machine, Lipinski swapped some of his voters out for new ones. Rep.
Luis Gutiérrez, a fellow Illinois Democrat, watched it happen. All of a
sudden, one day I woke up and I saw the 2011 map that I was going to run in
2012 under, and I said, Whoa! What happened to Bucktown? Wicker Park? What
happened to all my inner-city folks? All of a sudden I have cul-de-sacs, I
have Brookfield Zoo, I have southern suburbs. Doesnt sound like part of a
Hispanic congressional district, right? Gutiérrez said. But I guess the
question is, why did he jettison them?
The answer is simple: to make his district more conservative and fend off a
primary challenge from the left. In a redistricting that affected a number
of different members of Congress, Lipinski gave up white, lefty enclaves
like Brookfield and Riverside in exchange for more conservative white
voters. He gerrymandered it to suit his very far-right, radical needs, is
how Newman put it.
Whether Newman can pull it off will likely depend not just on national
progressive groups and the power of the local machine, but in how active the
local immigrant rights community decides to get.
Lipinski has a deplorable record on the issue, in a community dominated by
immigrants both recent a third of the district is Latino and less
recent, like those from Poland. While Lipinski has major labor groups locked
down, the Hispanic American Labor Council has gotten behind Newman.
Gutiérrez, who represents the 4th District in Illinois and is outspoken on
immigration issues, told The Intercept hes definitely going to sit down
with the challenger.
Lipinski on a whole array of issues is outside the mainstream of the
Democratic Party, he said.
On immigration, Lipinski has voted yes to building a fence along the Mexican
border and voted against the DREAM Act in 2010. But then in July, he
co-sponsored a bill that would protect the recipients of the Deferred Action
for Childhood Arrivals program from deportation.
Lipinski voted against government recognition of same-sex marriage and was
the only Democrat to co-sponsor legislation that would have allowed
businesses to discriminate against LGBT people based on their religious
beliefs.
Lipinski hasnt responded to The Intercepts interview requests but told The
Hill that his voting record is very much in line with his district. The
suburbs in the southwest side of Chicago tend to vote conservative,
according to Dick Simpson, a political science professor at the University
of Illinois at Chicago and former Chicago alderman.
In March, frustrated constituents organized a town hall meeting and aired
their grievances at a cardboard cutout of Lipinski. Newman told The
Intercept that without polling or surveying his constituents, Lipinski has
no idea what his district wants.
The Illinois primary race is surfacing as a battle for the soul of the
Democratic party, according to Kate Sweeney, press secretary of the
Progressive Change Campaign Committee.
There is this belief that the way forward for the Democratic Party runs
through going moderate, or supporting corporate issues, or doing for
Republicans more than you do for Democrats. Its a broken translation. Its
false. We saw in Virginia just a month ago that you can engage a whole new
generation of voters by really putting economic populism at the center of
your campaigns, she said.
But going against Lipinski will be an uphill battle for Newman. Lipinskis
campaign has $1.5 million cash on hand, to Newmans $97,600. The odds are
also in his favor: Incumbents have a 90 percent re-election rate.
Newman said she has spoken with 40 or 50 unions and that while some unions
will continue backing Lipinski, ultimately some of them will end positively
with me. Even though Newman seems like a more logical candidate for labor
unions, they wouldnt want Lipinski as an opponent, because of his powerful
position in Congress, particularly on transportation issues.
Newman told The Intercept she has received support and mentorship from
individuals within the Democratic Party, but no financial support from the
party as a whole. Both Lipinskis father and son were supported by the
Chicago Democratic machine, which puts in precinct workers who go door to
door and make sure Democratic voters show up and elect their chosen
candidate. Its in the Illinois Democratic establishments interest to
support Lipinski, because his congressional district controls a lot of the
southwest side wards that Rahm Emanuel would need to secure another term as
mayor.
When asked if there might be repercussions to coming out against the
establishment-backed Democrat, Neil Sroka of Democracy for America said he
doubted it. I think if the national Democrats are smart, theyll stay the
hell away from this race, because few representatives in Congress more
poorly reflect where the Democrats are right now than Dan Lipinski, he
said.
Newman added an additional reason that progressive groups might want to get
behind her: she plans to win. Never bet against Marie Newman, she said.
Dont do it.
Update: December 12, 2017
This story was updated to include comment from Planned Parenthood Action
Fund.