In Illinois' Third Congressional District, incumbent Democrat Dan Lipinski faced a primary challenge from a more "progressive" candidate named Marie Newman. Given how radicalized the Democrat party has become on the abortion issue, the pro life Lipinski faced an uphill battle to survive this primary. Unfortunately he was defeated by Newman, so his tenure in Congress will be coming to an end.
As Alexandra DeSanctis of National Review notes, this result is merely a continuing trend of Dems' intolerance regarding pro life politicians within their party.
With Lipinski’s loss, there is no longer even the slightest bit of room for Democrats to give themselves cover on this issue, and they appear not to mind. The Democratic Party is, at the national level, filled with politicians who support abortion on demand, at any stage of pregnancy, for any reason, funded by the U.S. taxpayer.
This is dramatically out of step with most Americans, only 13 percent of whom favor allowing elective abortion in the last three months of pregnancy and nearly three-quarters of whom would limit abortion to the first three months or to cases of rape or incest, or not permit it at all. It is also out of step with most Democrats, only 18 percent of whom would allow third-trimester abortion. A full 30 percent of Democrats call themselves pro-life.
Instead of being accommodated or reassured, these Democrats are explicitly told by the politicians seeking to represent them that their views have no place in their own party — a curious election strategy.
In IL-03, this will be of little consequence given it's solidly Democratic (Cook Partisan Voting Index puts it at about D+6). However, many of the "swing districts" which were seized by Dems in 2018 could very much be back in play for the GOP in 2020, especially with turnout being higher in a presidential election year.
To this credit, Rep. Lipinski was unapologetic on his pro life stance despite it costing him his job.
There was one issue that loomed especially large in this campaign: the fact that I am pro-life. I was pilloried in millions of dollars of TV ads and mailers. I was shunned by many of my colleagues and other Democratic Party members and operators because of my pro-life stance. The pressure in the Democratic Party on the life issue has never been as great as it is now. Over the years, I’ve watched many other politicians succumb to pressure and change their position on this issue. I have always said that I would never give up being pro-life and standing up for babies in the womb. Judy [Lipinski’s wife] and I, and tens of millions of Catholics, hold and live this belief. But it is not just based on religious belief. It is based on science, which shows us that life begins at conception. Knowing this, I could never give up protecting the most vulnerable human beings in the world simply to win an election. My faith teaches, and the Democratic Party preaches, that we should serve everyone, especially the most vulnerable. To stand in solidarity with the vulnerable is to become vulnerable. There is no higher calling for anyone.
Amen.
Godspeed, Congressman.
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