After holding off in the primary, the Democratic party is finally backing pro-life incumbent Rep. Dan Lipinski (D-IL) after he defeated progressive challenger Marie Newman, who had the backing of many of Lipinski’s colleagues in the house as well as abortion groups.
Rep. Joe Crowley (D-NY), the Democratic Caucus Chair, said Lipinski "is the Democratic nominee, and he will have the support of the Democratic caucus,” at a news conference Wednesday.
Rep. Linda Sanchez (D-CA) said at the news conference that "if you know anything about his Republican opponent for the general election you know that Democrats will be united behind Dan Lipinski.”
“Somebody who has identified with extreme, far right, Nazi propaganda is not somebody that we want serving in the United States House of Representatives," she said.
Lipinski’s Republican opponent, Arthur Jones, is a Holocaust denier who has been disavowed by the GOP.
Asked about the message sent by Lipinski’s win in Illinois and Conor Lamb’s victory in the Pennsylvania special election, Crowley emphasized keeping politics “local” and that the Democratic party is still a “big tent party.”
"I think the message we got from, certainly, the Lamb election is: all politics is local, as Tip O'Neill said," he said.
Crowley emphasized, "For all of us, I've been counseling people who are running: remember to keep it local. People really identify with their local legislator. And I think that is what certainly Conor Lamb, and I have to suggest that maybe that's what happened in Illinois 3 as well. But the people have decided and we are moving forward. And we're a big tent party, and I think that is also represented by those elections as well."
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