Democrat Daniel Lipinski, known for his strong pro-life stance in a party with a polar opposite policy, has left office as a member of the U.S. House of Representatives. On Jan. 3, he was replaced by Democrat Marie Newman as a member of the 117th Congress representing the 3rd Congressional District. Lipinski served in the House for 16 years, from Jan. 3, 2005, to Jan. 3, 2021.
A staunch Catholic, Lipinski says it’s faith that supports the pro-life movement. The 54-year-old Lipinski has seen support for pro-life among Democrats in the lower house fall from 60 members to almost zero during his term. Oftentimes, Lipinski has been under pressure to change his stance on the issue and follow the ideology of free abortions, something that he felt went against his convictions.
The disagreement that cost Lipinski his seat?
“Faith and reason go together… The science clearly shows us that life begins at conception. I believe in following the science when the science is clear… As a Democrat, I stand for the vulnerable people… The unborn are the most vulnerable people. I believe that being pro-life fits in being a Democrat,” Lipinski said to The Epoch Times.
In addition to opposing abortions, Lipinski’s stance on several issues has gone against the general consensus of the Democratic party. In 2012, he chose not to endorse Barack Obama for a second term in office. He was one of the few Democrats to vote against the Affordable Care Act during Obama’s first term.
More recently, he was one of two Democrats to vote against giving $2,000 in pandemic aid to American citizens. Though he approved the larger COVID relief bill signed by Trump, Lipinski argued that he cannot support the decision to hand out $2,000 to every single American since “we cannot continue to endlessly dig our national debt hole deeper.” Newman replaces him as an enthusiastic supporter for increasing the direct payments.
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A lifelong moderate Democrat, Lipinski has expressed alarm over the tilt toward radical leftism in recent years. After the Nov. 3 elections, he noted in a tweet that the 2020 election should have been a Blue Wave. But a large number of voters saw the Republican Party as a saner choice, due to the Democratic Party’s “lurching left” and thus alienating these people.
Lipinski believes that the electorate has a preference for Democratic policies when it comes to the economy, but some of the party’s ideologies have turned off long-term moderate voters. He points to the example of the support given to the “Defund the Police” campaign, which made many Democrats uncomfortable.
When Lipinski was first elected back in 2004, he replaced his father, Bill Lipinski, who had continuously assumed office between 1983 and 2005. As such, Daniel Lipinski’s recent defeat brings an end to nearly four-decades of Lipinski family domination in Chicago politics.
While the newer generation of progressive Democrats is pleased with Newman’s win, the supporters of Reagan-era Democrats are apprehensive about the change. “It’s interesting that at the same time that Trump’s out, the Lipinskis are out. Where are the blue-collar union guys going to go? Who’s going to get them? Trump got them and that’s a fact of life, and the reality is guys like Lipinski had them… By and large, we’re kind of lost. We don’t really have a home right now,” Marc Poulos, political director of International Union of Operating Engineers Local 150, told the Chicago Tribune.
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