Rep. Dan Lipinski (D-IL) will not receive an endorsement from the national Democratic party, according to Politico. Lipinski is a seven-term pro-life congressman and one of the most conservative Democrats in Congress. He is facing a March 20th primary against pro-abortion Marie Newman.
“I don’t think what the DCCC does or says means a lot for my race as much as sending a signal to other Democrats who are looking to run,” Lipinski told Politico.
“Democrats have to know that they’re going to have the full support [of the DCCC] even if they’re not straight in the party line,” he said. “And we need candidates who are not straight along the party line to win the districts we need for the majority.”
Democratic Congressional Committee Chairman Ben Ray Luján told Politico that “Congressman Lipinski is taking this race seriously, he has ample resources and support at home, and is running to win.”
A DCCC aide said that the campaign arm has provided Lipinski "the kind of support it offers to all incumbents, including analysis of the district and recommended consultants.”
Democratic National Committee Chair Tom Perez avoided questioning earlier this month from MSNBC’s Kasie Hunt on whether pro-life Democrats like Lipinski were still welcome in the party.
“One thing I've learned from primaries in the past, is that when the DNC gets involved in those races, then we sometimes get accused of trying to put the thumb on the scale," Perez said.
The abortion advocacy group NARAL have been especially targeting Lipinski over his pro-life stance.
"Time is up for Congressman Lipinski,” Ilyse Hogue president of NARAL said in a statement. “For too long, Dan Lipinski has ignored the needs of working families across Illinois, by pushing his fringe ideological agenda at the expense of women and families across the state.”
Last year, Perez said in a statement that “every Democrat, like every American, should support a woman’s right to make her own choices about her body and her health. That is not negotiable and should not change city by city or state by state.”
Perez’s statement later received pushback from many Democratic leaders, including Pelosi.
Luján told The Hill in July that “there is not a litmus test for Democratic candidates.”
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