WASHINGTON — Democratic House hopeful Marie Newman, in a primary rematch against Rep. Dan Lipinski, D-Ill., was endorsed Tuesday by Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., a move by the controversial, charismatic freshman that could turn out progressives and turn-off centrists in the suburban Chicago district.
This is the first endorsement in the 2020 cycle by the Ocasio-Cortez, 29, the youngest lawmaker in the House, best known by her initials, “AOC.”
Newman now has the backing of the leading progressives in the U.S. in the biggest Democratic House primary in Illinois; she earlier landed support from two presidential candidates: Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., and Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt.
The 3rd Congressional District is a safe Democrat seat with the Newman/Lipinski battle mirroring deep ideological divisions playing out in the Democratic presidential primary between centrists and progressives as Democrats move left.
Newman campaign manager Ben Hardin told the Sun-Times Tuesday that Ocasio-Cortez and Newman talked earlier this month about congressional priorities, Newman’s platform and the potential endorsement.
For a district anchored in Chicago and the southwest suburbs, Ocasio-Cortez decided to announce her backing in the New York Times on Tuesday morning, suggesting the lawmaker was trying to maximize the national fundraising potential of her first endorsement of the cycle.
She told the Times: “Marie Newman is a textbook example of one of the ways that we could be better as a party — to come from a deep blue seat and to be championing all the issues we need to be championing.
“The fact that a deep blue seat is advocating for many parts of the Republican agenda is extremely problematic. We’re not talking about a swing state that is being forced to take tough votes.”
Newman said in a statement: ”I am thrilled to receive the endorsement of Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez. Her unwavering dedication to fighting for social, climate and economic justice is a true inspiration. I look forward to working with Congresswoman Ocasio-Cortez and other Progressive Caucus members in Congress to fight for policies that make life safer and more affordable for people in my District.”
Lipinski is one of the few anti-abortion Democrats in Congress and compared to other Democratic House members has been, over time, more conservative. Newman supports abortion rights. In the 2018 Democratic primary, Newman, from LaGrange, lost to Lipinski, who lives in Western Springs, 51% to 49% — a margin of 2,145 votes out of about 95,000 cast.
Unlike in 2018, Newman has competition from the left, with two rivals running as progressives: Rush Darwish, from Palos Hills, owner of a photography and video production company and Abe Matthew, a Bridgeport attorney.
Lipinski has the backing the House Democratic leadership and the House Democratic political operation — the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee — committed to backing incumbents. A boycott by the DCCC of Democratic vendors working with challengers has left progressives seething.
The Ocasio-Cortez endorsement was rolled out by the Justice Democrats, a progressive organization based in New York that scored upsets in the 2018 cycle, beating incumbents in primaries. In 2018, the Justice Democrats backed Ocasio-Cortez and Ilhan Omar, of Minnesota; Rashida Tlaib, of Michigan and Ayanna Pressley, of Massachusetts - who was raised in Chicago and is a graduate of the Francis W. Parker school in Lincoln Park.
Together, these outspoken four are known as “The Squad” and have been a target of President Donald Trump, determined to make them polarizing figures among Democrats.
The third congressional district includes portions of what’s left of Chicago’s machine wards: 11th 12th, 13th, 14th, 15th, 16th, 18th, 19th, 20th, 22nd and 23rd and then connects with a narrow thread of turf to southwestern suburbs in parts of Cook County and small portions of DuPage and Will counties. In Cook County, that includes the townships of Berwyn, Cicero, Lemont, Lyons, Orland, Palos, Riverside, Stickney and Worth and in Will County, the townships of DuPage, Homer, Joliet and Lockport.
This developing, story will be updated.
