Illinois congressman unfazed by AOC’s endorsement of his rival

By Heather Caygle

Rep. Dan Lipinski is shrugging off the endorsement of his liberal challenger by Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, telling POLITICO the progressive star’s backing of his “extremist” opponent won’t help knock him out of the Chicago-area seat.

“I think it’s always a bad idea for Democrats to go after Democrats, especially incumbent members of Congress. But I know that it happens,” Lipinski said.

“It’s unfortunate. We should all be pulling together against President Trump right now. It’s bad when we’re fighting each other and pulling in different directions.”

But Ocasio-Cortez didn’t shy away from her endorsement of Lipinski’s opponent, Marie Newman, telling reporters Tuesday night she’s likely to back other primary challengers to her Democratic colleagues in the coming months.

“We are taking a look into how we can be helpful in transforming the party in 2020,” Ocasio-Cortez said. “I don’t have a quota or a plan but we’re certainly kind of actively looking through and see where we can bring in new people to this institution.”

Newman is challenging Lipinski for a second time after narrowly losing to him in a nasty primary battle last year that became a proxy war for the larger ideological debate simmering within the party.

Lipinski, one of the most conservative members of the Democratic Caucus, is a top target for liberal activists looking to steer the party left, particularly because of his anti-abortion stance. Newman had the backing of major groups like Planned Parenthood and NARAL Pro-Choice America but lost to Lipinski by about 2,000 votes.

Lipinski brushed aside those concerns, saying Newman is too progressive for the suburban Chicago district that has steadily trended more Democratic in recent years.

“I think Marie Newman has finally clearly defined for everyone [she’s] an extremist candidate, so I think that’s not going to play very well in the district,” Lipinski said.

Justice Democrats, the progressive group that helped propel Ocasio-Cortez to her upset victory over Rep. Joe Crowley last summer, announced the New York Democrat’s support for Newman on Tuesday. It’s Ocasio-Cortez’s first endorsement of a candidate aligned with the progressive group.