Democrat Dan Lipinski: Voters Don’t Want Fifth Member of the ‘Squad’

Rep. Dan Lipinski (D-IL) defended his Chicago-area seat against Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY), who is backing primary challenger Marie Newman, a “progressive” candidate whom he defeated in the 2018 primary.

Ocasio-Cortez backed Newman in a tweet on Tuesday:

It was Ocasio-Cortez’s first endorsement of a primary challenger to an incumbent Democrat in the 2020 cycle.

Lipinski, one of the few remaining pro-life Democrats, defeated the pro-choice Newman in a heated primary contest last year. Lipinski also voted against Obamacare in 2010. Newman also holds a number of other left-wing opinions.

In a statement, Lipinski said that Ocasio-Cortez’s endorsement proved Newman is too “extreme” for the 3rd congressional district, and said voters “do not want to be represented by a fifth member of the ‘Squad’.”

The “Squad” is a nickname Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) bestowed upon Ocasio-Cortez and Reps. Ilhan Omar (D-MN), Rashida Tlaib (D-MI), and Ayanna Pressley (D-MA), who tend to vote together and take far-left positions.

Lipinski also criticized Newman for supporting the “Medicare for All” plan that left-wing Democrats have backed, arguing that it would take private health insurance away from 170 million people and double federal income taxes for the average family in his working-class district.

Ocasio-Cortez responded by calling Lipinski’s statement “divisive.”

Joel B. Pollak is Senior Editor-at-Large at Breitbart News. He earned an A.B. in Social Studies and Environmental Science and Public Policy from Harvard College, and a J.D. from Harvard Law School. He is a winner of the 2018 Robert Novak Journalism Alumni Fellowship. He is also the co-author of How Trump Won: The Inside Story of a Revolution, which is available from Regnery. Follow him on Twitter at @joelpollak.