Lipinski

Yesterday the big news was that Alabama Republicans had passed a total, punitive-- and unconstitutional-- ban on all abortions in their state. The worst DCCC chair ever, the odious Blue Dog from northwest Illinois, Cheri Bustos, thought that would be a good day to announce that she's hosting a fundraiser for Congress' most anti-Choice Democrat, fellow Blue Dog, Dan Lipinski. That's the invitation above.

I'm not sure how much of this is bravado, but almost all the progressives challenging reactionary Democratic incumbents for congressional seats this cycle, have been telling me Bustos' new DCCC anti-primary policy has actually been helping them! One told me that dislike for the policy and for the DCCC in general has sparked grassroots fundraising. Yesterday I had a long talk with Georgia progressive, Michael Owens, who is announcing his primary against corrupt Blue Dog David Scott in the morning.

One month from Tuesday there's a special election to fill the empty congressional seat in PA-12. Haven't heard much about it, have you? You weren't meant to. The DCCC and NRCC have a gentleman's agreement that this one goes to Team Red without a contest. The DCCC is ignoring the district entirely.

In 2018, Chicagoland Blue Dog Dan Lipinski-- who is virulently anti-Choice, anti-gay, anti-immigrant, anti-healthcare-- and who has a solid voting record for a moderate Republican-- was on the verge of defeat in the primary. One poll had the 2 candidates within the margin of error and the other showed progressive challenger Marie Newman beating Lipinski by 5 points.

Gay equality used to be a contentious issue for Democrats. The DCCC and leadership assholes like Hoyer used to quietly counsel Democrats representing-- or running in-- swing districts to vote against equality-- and the Blue Dogs mostly did just that. That was then; now Democrats proudly embrace the LGBTQ community and there are more openly gay and lesbian members of Congress than ever before.

You know there is an actual fascist wing of the Republican Party-- and since Trump's occupation of the White House, it has been gaining strength. More and more neo-Nazis have been winning GOP primaries, as we saw Friday in North Carolina.

Tuesday night, with 483 of 500 precincts counted (97%) Marie Newman refused to concede to reactionary Blue Dog Dan Lipinski (who also refrained from declaring victory). By bedtime, the score was 45,615 (50.9%) to 44,016 (49.1%). Newman said she "would like Mr.

This Tuesday is primary day in Illinois. There are several crucial battles going on between progressives and corporate Democrats but there are4 none where the contrast is clearer than in the Chicagoland seat which pits Marie Newman against right-of-center Blue Dog Dan Lipinski. The DCCC has sided with Lipinski of course, but progressive Democrats from Jan Schakowsky, Luis Gutiérrez and Ro Khanna to Bernie Sanders and Chuy Garcia are strongly backing Marie (also endorsed by Blue America).

The DCCC's and Pelosi's Blue Dog in Chicago, Dan Lipinski, faces the voters in a week, on March 20th. The DCCC and Pelosi are supporting someone who is anti-Choice, anti-LGBTQ, anti-immigrant, anti-healthcare, someone who votes with Trump more frequently than almost any other Democrat. Does the Pelosi Party even mean anything any more. How many they throw core constituencies under the bus like this? Where would they draw the line?

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.