52 Comments - Grandson of Man - Tuesday, Sep 17, 19 @ 9:45 am: Trump helped elevate a first-term congressperson to national prominence with his racist attacks. It warrants an endorsement from a new member of Congress to be a bigger deal than it might otherwise be. - Just Another Anon - Tuesday, Sep 17, 19 @ 9:46 am: That’s going to hurt her in this district. - Walleye Soup - Tuesday, Sep 17, 19 @ 9:49 am: This endorsement helps Lipinski. He has to hope that AOC comes to La Grange to campaign for Newman - Colin O'Scopy - Tuesday, Sep 17, 19 @ 9:53 am: Sigh. This has been my singular frustration with Marie Newman the last time she ran against Lipinski: she is more interested in celebrity than working the district for local support. Getting Bernie Sanders’, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Elizabeth Warren’s endorsement is fine when you want to reinforce your progressive bona-fides, but the actual residents of the district matter more. She should start thinking now about what the primary voters in the district are thinking and talking about about when sitting in the frunch-room or graatches. What is keeping the voters up at night in the 3rd District? It ain’t what Bernie, Alexandria or Elizabeth are thinking, that I can tell you. - Rich Miller - Tuesday, Sep 17, 19 @ 9:54 am: ===This endorsement helps Lipinski=== That district ain’t what it once was. - A guy - Tuesday, Sep 17, 19 @ 9:54 am: Agree with Just Another… The SW side and suburbs isn’t Queens. Lot of Labor down there that are not hip on Medicare for All after fighting and bargaining for benefits for decades. Don’t think this garners anything beyond the Screech Owls. She wasn’t known last time around and that helped her. Her ungracious exit and remarks last time turned a lot of people off. - A guy - Tuesday, Sep 17, 19 @ 9:57 am: ==That district ain’t what it once was.== Alas, none of them are as urbanites continue to move away from the city into the burbs. But…it isn’t AOC land out there either. - Quibbler - Tuesday, Sep 17, 19 @ 9:58 am: Lipinski is done. As AOC’s and Warren’s endorsement shows, the progressive energy is with Newman. Which is where it should be. The Democratic party in 2019, particularly in Illinois, is a party that fights for LGBT people and for the right to choose abortion. Lipinski is against both of those things. His presence in the caucus, representing a D+6 seat that voted for Bernie over Hillary by 8 points in 2016, is an abomination. - Enviro - Tuesday, Sep 17, 19 @ 10:08 am: ==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.== This Chicago area district isn’t Lipinski’s father’s district anymore. - Soo... - Tuesday, Sep 17, 19 @ 10:11 am: =His presence in the caucus, representing a D+6 seat that voted for Bernie over Hillary by 8 points in 2016, is an abomination.= And yet the abomination beat your progressive energy that same year. - Soo... - Tuesday, Sep 17, 19 @ 10:12 am: *Following - Rich Miller - Tuesday, Sep 17, 19 @ 10:16 am: ===He has to hope that AOC comes to La Grange=== Again, this district isn’t what you think it is. I don’t know at the moment what the AOC endorsement will mean, but Lipinski lost Lyons Township 58-42 last year. https://results318.cookcountyclerk.com/summary.aspx?eid=32018 Wake up, boys and girls. - Paddyrollingstone - Tuesday, Sep 17, 19 @ 10:23 am: I hope that Lipinski can hang on but I believe it is Newman’s race to lose. As Rich has pointed out the district has changed and with a presidential primary in the offing, there should be a large increase in voters, especially first timers. I’m not sure AOC’s endorsement will mean much but with the larger number of voters compared to 2018, I’m not sure it needs to. - The Velour Nail - Tuesday, Sep 17, 19 @ 10:23 am: What Newman’s campaign appears to not appreciate is that it feels like her out-of-district proxies are talking down to those in the district. That may only serve to entrench her opposition. It would not be a shame if Newman were remapped into IL-4 or even IL-5 next go around. - The Velour Nail - Tuesday, Sep 17, 19 @ 10:32 am: Dan was at the Lyons Township Democrats picnic this past Saturday. Newman was no where to be seen. - Rich Miller - Tuesday, Sep 17, 19 @ 10:33 am: ===It would not be a shame if Newman were remapped=== Congressional candidates don’t have to live in the districts. They just have to live in Illinois. - The Captain - Tuesday, Sep 17, 19 @ 10:34 am: If she got a head to head matchup she’d probably beat him but it doesn’t look like that’s going to happen. At 6/30 Lipinski had $713K on hand, Newman had $352K, Abe Matthew had $72K and Rush Darwish had $133K. The other two haven’t raised a ton of money but there’s probably enough to keep at least one of them in the race, and maybe enough to siphon off enough votes to save Lipinski. - Enviro - Tuesday, Sep 17, 19 @ 10:37 am: ==maybe enough to siphon off enough votes to save Lipinski.== Abe Matthew and Rush Darwish are just as likely to siphon off votes from Lipinski. - Rich Miller - Tuesday, Sep 17, 19 @ 10:37 am: ===Dan was at the Lyons Township Democrats picnic=== That group is pro-Lip. - Ron Burgundy - Tuesday, Sep 17, 19 @ 10:44 am: Not just her surrogates, last time it felt like Newman was talking down to local voters. She needs to fix that. If Lipinski wants to survive, he needs to make the case that he cares about what’s happening locally and cares about people’s immediate needs, as opposed to someone who wants a national platform and is disconnected from the district. - City Zen - Tuesday, Sep 17, 19 @ 10:44 am: ==The SW side and suburbs isn’t Queens== But there are plenty of Frank and Estelle Costanzas. Actually, Newman did quite well in the wealthy areas of LaGrange and Hinsdale. In this race, she’s the one-percenter. - JoanP - Tuesday, Sep 17, 19 @ 10:50 am: I don’t know. I’m pretty far to the left, and my reaction when I saw this in the NYT this morning was, “She [AOC] needs to butt out.” She obviously chose to make this endorsement because Lipinski is vulnerable. She’s an opportunist who smells a likely win for which she will then take credit, and I find that obnoxious. - Stark - Tuesday, Sep 17, 19 @ 11:01 am: I don’t think it’s about taking credit to be obnoxious, I believe that she genuinely believes Lipinski’s policies are out of touch for what the districts looks like now, and that the policies of Newman/herself are overall better for the country. - brickle - Tuesday, Sep 17, 19 @ 11:09 am: I’m in IL-3 and it feels like Lipinski is talking down to me constantly. Lipinski is a bad politician who backs bad policies and I hope he’s gone in 2021. - Juvenal - Tuesday, Sep 17, 19 @ 11:09 am: === we need to focus on wining the next election === I am not sure how getting the voters drunk helps, but if it’s less than $8 a bottle or sold by the box then Lipinski might be hoping to counter with @ChiPartyAunt endorsement. #SoMuchWining - West Side the Best Side - Tuesday, Sep 17, 19 @ 11:10 am: “… the first Justice Democrat…” I thought she was from LaGrange. - Because I said so.... - Tuesday, Sep 17, 19 @ 11:16 am: Looks like Newman is playing the same game as last time. Focusing on national names…maybe it will bring in much needed donations. But once again, she’s not working the district in the way she should. I’m still not sure if she has even reached out to elected officials in the district…she didn’t last time. Between that and her post-election sore looser comments still leave a really bad taste in my mouth. Since then, I keep hearing what a horrible candidate she was to work for. Not sure she has the temperament I am looking for as someone to represent me in DC.There’s enough flame throwing already without adding to the craziness. I have never liked or voted for Lipinski and not sure I can vote for Newman. - Concerned Observer - Tuesday, Sep 17, 19 @ 11:17 am: Both marched in the Founders Day parade in Romeoville Sunday. It was a fun microcosm. Lipinski had the larger organization - more marchers - and had the better parade spot. Newman’s side had more energy and a better response from the crowd, I thought. They were also smart enough to bring either email sign up sheets or nominating petitions for those on the curb. (Lipinski may have done this too, but I did not see any). But this makes sense, right…the “organization” vs the “upstart”. I thought Newman would pull it off last time because she had strong support out here. And hey, she won Will County by like 63-37, so my intuition was right. Bully for me. The REST of the district, though…I didn’t have a handle on that. - JoanP - Tuesday, Sep 17, 19 @ 11:19 am: @Stark - I’m sure she does believe that. But she’s very careful about where she chooses to make endorsements. It’s not based (at least not solely) on policy differences. It is also, to use the NYT’s words, “a careful political calculus”. There’s no way she’d have endorsed Newman if she didn’t think Newman could win. - Enviro - Tuesday, Sep 17, 19 @ 11:19 am: “… the first Justice Democrat…” The liberal advocacy group Justice Democrats is endorsing primary challengers to US House and US Senate incumbents. - Concerned Observer - Tuesday, Sep 17, 19 @ 11:20 am: (Correction: 58-42, Newman, in WillCo) - West Side the Best Side - Tuesday, Sep 17, 19 @ 11:24 am: Guess I should attached a 3d District map to my comment. The Village of Justice is one of the towms in the district. - Telly - Tuesday, Sep 17, 19 @ 11:40 am: The 3rd CD is a moderate Democratic district. Unfortunately, there is not a moderate Democratic candidate in the field. - Rich Miller - Tuesday, Sep 17, 19 @ 11:49 am: ===The 3rd CD is a moderate Democratic district=== …that voted for Bernie in 2018. - A guy - Tuesday, Sep 17, 19 @ 11:50 am: The response is well thought out. Glad to see him be a little more aggressive on this. - A guy - Tuesday, Sep 17, 19 @ 11:52 am: In an otherwise quiet election area for the GOP, it would be interesting to see if the AOC, Warren, involvement there inspires a swath of GOP primary voters to cross over in the primary? - Amalia - Tuesday, Sep 17, 19 @ 11:54 am: Hey AOC, how is the campaign finance violation going? I can’t keep up, what with your Chief of Staff leaving/having to leave for his ridiculous comments about a Native American Member of Congress (and former MMA fighter) who does not tow your extreme left line. And you getting called out by Nancy Pelosi. But, hey, your Twitter account is on fire. - Boone's is Back - Tuesday, Sep 17, 19 @ 12:00 pm: I agree with some of the comments on here regarding the endorsement actually hurting Newman. She already has her lefty progressives in the bag, I don’t think this endorsement changes that. However, it could have a backlash, particularly with conservative dems and borderline Rs. Unlike last time there won’t be much of a reason for them to vote in the Republican primary but you could see more jumping over to vote against Newman. - lake county democrat - Tuesday, Sep 17, 19 @ 12:51 pm: I think it will hurt Newman, not because the district hasn’t changed as Rich says, but because I think it will motivate anti-AOC moderate Dems and even some crossover Republicans more than it will bring Newman additional voters. - Mike - Tuesday, Sep 17, 19 @ 12:52 pm: Reading Lipinski’s press release, you’d think he was representing a right-wing district. IL-3 voted for Sanders in the 2016 primary by nearly double digits, HRC by 15 points, Pritzker by 17 points, and Lipinski nearly squeaked by with a 2 point win. To put it in prospective, Lipinski is far to the right of Underwood and Casten and they represent true swing districts. He is really out of touch with the district. - brickle - Tuesday, Sep 17, 19 @ 1:41 pm: @Mike Exactly. Maybe the district isn’t actually as progressive as Newman’s supporters think it is, but it certainly isn’t as conservative as Lipinski is. - brickle - Tuesday, Sep 17, 19 @ 2:09 pm: meant to add, as an example: Lipinski was supporting a Constitutional amendment to ban marriage equality as recently as 2014. Forgive me if I’m less concerned about “sore loser” stuff surrounding Newman than I am about real-world impacts of Lipinski’s awful policies. - A guy - Tuesday, Sep 17, 19 @ 3:24 pm: ==Lipinski was supporting a Constitutional amendment to ban marriage equality as recently as 2014.== Public policy evolves, and it evolved quickly on that issue (for the better in my opinion) Still, he stood for election in a tough year for any moderate or conservative, and over 50% of his party’s voters voted for him. That’s settled now, so it hasn’t come up since, and to my knowledge there’s no strong effort to revive any effort. ==Forgive me if I’m less concerned about “sore loser” stuff surrounding Newman == Maybe review that “stuff” and then consider why this person is the person they’ve decided to give another bite at the apple. It was quite something. Disturbing and disgusting to say the least. - Grandson of Man - Tuesday, Sep 17, 19 @ 3:30 pm: The Democrat Party has been at its best when doing big, bold policy: Social Security, union rights, Medicare, civil rights, voting rights, etc. Pritzker and GA Democrats followed this by legalizing marijuana, putting the fair tax on the ballot, minimum wage hike, etc. Our age calls for big, bold policy on climate and health insurance, and AOC seems to represent that kind of change. - the working poor - Tuesday, Sep 17, 19 @ 3:47 pm: I am here for all of Rich’s clapbacks at the uninformed! Newman can expect a donation from me and my politico friends across the country who are watching this race. - Roman - Tuesday, Sep 17, 19 @ 4:05 pm: Everyone who has posted here is right: Lipinski is too conservative for the district. Newman is too far to the left for it. But let’s not forget, we’re talking about a primary election here. The latter approach is going to carry the day almost every time. Having said that, Lipinski’s strategy of trying to draw voters who usually don’t show up for Dem primaries got a definite boost today. It’s an extremely tough strategy to pull off, but it’s all he’s got. - Lake Effect - Tuesday, Sep 17, 19 @ 4:08 pm: At least 20 percent of those IL-3 Bernie voters voted for trump, if national averages hold, so the fact that Bernie won by 8 points doesn’t mean it’s a super-progressive district - Ron Burgundy - Tuesday, Sep 17, 19 @ 4:09 pm: On the crossover vote issue, a way that could get an even bigger boost is if there was no GOP presidential primary like several other states are doing. I personally abhor the idea, and don’t know if it is even possible here but it would lessen the need to take a GOP primary ballot even further. Of course folks could just decide to stay home, as organized mischief making in the other primary always seems more talk than reality. - brickle - Tuesday, Sep 17, 19 @ 4:47 pm: @Lake Effect At least 20% of Bernie voters voted Trump? I don’t think that holds up… @a guy Lipinski’s policies hurt people I care about. I could not care less that Newman was upset that a person with horrible ideas remained in power. - Nick - Tuesday, Sep 17, 19 @ 6:20 pm: According to exit polls only something like 10 percent of Sanders supporters went to Trump. Now maybe that’s more concentrated in some districts than others, but I sort of doubt it’s a place like IL-3. In any case, as far as actual support goes this likely will have very little effect. The battle-lines between Newman and Lipinski have been well drawn by this point and I doubt there are very many voters who were considering her who suddenly might not because some congresswoman from Queens is backing her. The bigger thing for Newman is this will help her national fundraising. Though also give him a temporary boost too, probably. - Nick - Tuesday, Sep 17, 19 @ 6:36 pm: Also since I’ve seen gay marriage mentioned, I just want to say that Lipinski’s LGBT issues don’t just stop at his former support for an anti-marriage equality amendment. Though I’d note by even 2013 the party had pretty clearly moved on SSM with something like only three southern Democrats in the Senate still being publicly opposed. It also took him until just *this year* to support the Equality Act. In 2018 he was one of just two Democrats to not be in support of it. And in 2015 he was the *only* Democrat in the entire House to cosponsor the so-called ‘First Amendment Defense Act’ which basically was just a national version of those ‘religious freedom’ bills designed to allow people/businesses to freely discriminate against gay people. There are a lot of Democrats who have evolved, so slower than others, and some the politics of their states/districts have clearly influenced things. But Lipinski still stands out. - NorthsideNoMore - Wednesday, Sep 18, 19 @ 8:20 am: The national endorsements meh, follow the money and local organizations involved that’s the tell tale in this race. Sorry, comments for this post are now closed.