In Chicago, a Democratic incumbent is
targeted by the left
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[March 16, 2018]
By Letitia Stein
CHICAGO (Reuters) - U.S. Congressman Dan
Lipinski is campaigning for re-election in Illinois with a bullseye on
his back, targeted not by Republicans but a coalition of progressive
activists in his own Democratic Party on a mission to steer it further
to the left.
Lipinski is among more than a dozen congressional Democrats facing
credible challengers, mostly with progressive agendas, in nominating
contests that will decide the party's candidates for the November
midterm elections.
Democrats need to pick up 24 seats from Republicans to take control of
the U.S. House of Representatives. But first, they must contend with an
energized left wing trying to define the party through the candidates on
its ticket.
Lipinski's Chicago-area seat is considered a safe win for Democrats in
the fall. The incumbent's fate in the March 20 primary will gauge
enthusiasm among Democratic voters for the party's moderates and few
remaining conservatives.
"We are willing to hold our own people accountable, as well as our more
consistent enemies," said Sasha Bruce, senior vice president of
campaigns and strategies at NARAL Pro-Choice America, which advocates
for abortion and reproductive rights.
Groups such as NARAL, the Human Rights Campaign, which promotes gay
rights, and Indivisible, a nationwide network which formed last year to
resist Republican President Donald Trump, say Lipinski's socially
conservative views are out of touch with the district that first elected
him in 2004.
"My values, the district and the nation are all in alignment," opponent
Marie Newman, 53, said over coffee at a bohemian cafe in the district,
which extends from suburbs to Chicago's South Side.
Lipinski, who opposes abortion and voted against the Democrats'
signature healthcare reform law, "is over there," she added, picking up
her purse and moving it to another table.
In a rare move against an incumbent, a half dozen national groups
advancing leftist agendas on gay rights, workers' rights and women's
issues mounted a $1 million independent campaign targeting Lipinski in
mailers, television ads and online. They also have steered volunteers to
canvass for Newman.
The primary battle is a fresh display of Democratic tensions simmering
since establishment politician Hillary Clinton beat U.S. Senator Bernie
Sanders, an independent with socialist views often to her left, in a
surprisingly close race for the party's presidential nomination in 2016.
Sanders, who vowed to continue his fight, recently endorsed Newman in
the Illinois contest.
Some liberal activists have discussed the need for new political tactics
on the left that could rival the conservative Tea Party movement, which
pushed the Republican agenda to the right with challenges to incumbents.
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U.S. Congressman Daniel Lipinski arrives at the Chicago Ridge Metra
commuter train station before campaigning for re-election in Chicago
Ridge, Illinois,
U.S. January 25, 2018. Picture taken January 25, 2018. REUTERS/Kamil
Krzacznski
Lipinski, who inherited a heavily Polish and Irish district with a
growing Latino population from his congressman father, said
Democrats will pay a price if they drive away all but the most
liberal views.
"It would be a disaster," Lipinski, 51, said in a phone interview.
"We need to make sure that we are a big-tent party."
MAKING A POINT
Lipinski's primary, one of the earliest this year, stands out due to
the wide mobilization of progressive activists against an incumbent.
Recent NARAL polling shows a tight race.
About a dozen other Democratic incumbents in the U.S. House face
primary challenges from opponents with sufficient traction to have
raised at least $50,000, the Campaign Finance Institute, a
nonpartisan think tank, found in a review of federal campaign
filings through the end of last year.
Contests remain fluid, with the candidate field still shaping up in
some races. Most challenges are against incumbents with more liberal
records than Lipinski on core issues such as abortion, which may
make them less vulnerable.
It takes only one upset to rattle a party, however, said Robert
Boatright, a political science professor at Clark University in
Massachusetts.
"From the perspective of a group that wants to make a point in the
primaries, all you need to do is go after one incumbent who is not
paying attention," he said.
Lipinski, co-chair of the moderate "Blue Dog" coalition in Congress,
has influential support from the state AFL-CIO labor union
federation.
His backers see the primary fight as a waste of liberal resources.
"We have so many other districts that we could focus on and try to
pick up those seats," said Kristen Day, executive director of the
anti-abortion group Democrats for Life of America.
(Reporting by Letitia Stein; editing by Colleen Jenkins and Jonathan
Oatis)
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