Reminder: today is March 9, The Illinois primaries are Match 20. And unlike the Texas primaries Tuesday, there are no runoffs. These are for keeps. The other day, we ran a guest post by Tony Sterbenc about a young progressive, Ryan Huffman, running in the crowded IL-06 primary for the Democratic nomination to take on vulnerable Republican Pete Roskam. We haven't gotten to know Huffman enough to make an official endorsement yet, but he sounds like the best better in that Chicagoland district.Two Illinois candidates we have gotten to know well enough to make strong endorsements for are David Gill downstate and Marie Newman right in Chicagoland. And we've been trying to share our enthusiasm fro each regularly since last year. Please consider contributing to their get-out-the-vote efforts by tapping on the ActBlue congressional thermometer on the right. Yesterday Bernie Sanders weighed in on the IL-03 race, joining several progressive members of Congress who made the unprecedented move of endorsing a challenger to a sitting member. That's how bad right-wing Blue Dog incumbent Dan Lipinski is! Bernie hasn't endorsed many candidates for the House this cycle-- as far as I know, just Chuy Garcia and Randy "Iron Stache" Bryce. And now Marie Newman. This is what Bernie had to say to his supporters in Illinois yesterday morning:
Marie Newman has made it clear that she will be a champion for working families in Illinois, which is why I am proud to support her campaign. In Congress, Marie will fight for Medicare for All, a $15 an hour minimum wage, and providing workers with benefits such as paid sick leave, while protecting Medicare and Social Security. She will defend women’s rights, LGBT rights and ensure immigrants have a safe path to citizenship. I am proud to stand with Marie and look forward to continuing to fight alongside her on these and other critical issues once she’s elected to Congress.
Marie was buoyed by the support, just as she had been when Illinois congressmembers Jan Schakowsky and Luis Gutierréz-- as well as Ro Khanna (D-CA)-- announced their endorsements last month. "The tides," she wrote, "are changing here in the Third district of Illinois. For far too long, Dan Lipinski has lost no sleep over ignoring the needs of hardworking families--but that stops now. I will be the unabashedly progressive champion that women and families across this district and beyond deserve, never compromising on the values they work hard every single day to achieve. I could not be more proud to have the endorsement of Senator Bernie Sanders who has been the leading champion for working families in our nation. I look forward to working alongside him to ensure that when you work hard and play by the rules, you will have a shot at the American Dream."As Larry Sabato explained yesterday, "As of right now, the most endangered Democratic incumbent in either a primary or general election is probably Rep. Dan Lipinski (D, IL-3), a cultural conservative and one of the only anti-abortion Democrats in Congress. Lipinski faces a seemingly stiff primary challenge from a more liberal Democrat, Marie Newman, in a district that the eventual Democratic nominee will hold in the fall (that nominee better, given that the only Republican who filed is a perennial candidate and an actual Nazi)." Keep in mind, the virulent Blue Dog organization in Washington and the pustulent DC Democratic establishment-- Hoyer has been funneling lobbyist money into his campaign-- are backing Lipinski. Bernie and progressives everywhere are working to help Marie replace him. And the way you win in a district like IL-03 is not expensive and wasteful TV ads in one of the country's most expensive media markets. It's FIELD and that's exactly what Marie Newman (and David Gill) need help with for the next 11 days.
