To All: Should Dan Lipinski be Primaried?

[VPH]

No, and I say this as somebody who knows a fair share about him thanks to my internship this summer. If you really think he deserves a primary, I urge you to consider his effectiveness in Congress.

Lipinski is one of the most important Democrats for transportation issues. He introduced major protections for airline consumers, and while that bill did not pass, some provisions from it ended up in the FAA bill being considered.  His work on manufacturing is big too. The National Manufacturing Strategy Act, his work on Buy American legislation, etc bring both parties together for American jobs. On the NDAA, he led the charge for greater collaboration with univesities on cybersecurity at the DoD. He's leading the effort for bipartisan tax reform and healthcare reform. Maybe he's not out there being a left wing Democrat, but Lipinski is incredibly effective in Congress. If you've ever lamented polarization and stymied progress in Washington, you ought to support Lipinski.

Also, he's not a right winger either. Maybe he is not a flaming liberal, but he voted against the Hartzler Amendment, against the sanctuary cities bill, for legislation to investigate Trump, for campaign finance reform, against TPP, against Obamacare repeal efforts. Lipinski gets things done for Chicagoland. His constituent services are incredibly well done, and he helps the district obtain important federal grants.

Add to that, his district is not liberal. He fits it quite well. With a high Polish, Irish, and Greek population, it's socially more to the right than most Democratic districts. Add to that about a third of it being Hispanic (not a very left wing population), and you have a district that fits its congressman like a glove. I know the national special interests ignore that, but it's the truth.

[VPH]

I don't really get the "He's a good fit for Democrats in his district" line. If Democrats in his district love him so much, then they won't primary him. If he is successfully primaried, then I guess he wasn't a good fit for his district's Democrats after all, was he?

Also they voted for Clinton and Obama, so a real Democrat should have no trouble in the GE.

People in his district writ large=/=the small but vocal left wing base trying to take him out. Look at his previous primaries-he turned them back handily.

[VPH]

Dan Lipinski represents the worst aspects of the Democratic Party. And stop using "It's a conservative district" as an excuse. Come on. They voted for Hillary Clinton. This isn't West Virginia. He's a bigot, he's evil, and he is a relic of an era that we're trying to move past. Being an anti-LGBT Democrat in a Democratic district isn't "cute." It's disgusting and harmful, and people defending Lipinski, you're better than this.

Stop giving Clinton percentages as justification for "running progressives" first. It's ancestrally Democratic, but socially conservative district (as were many working class districts in Midwest few years ago), which still votes mostly Democratic because of economics. A lot of people there are pro-life and, at least, not especially pro-LGBT. Democrats lost a lot of districts (beginning with South, and now, working class districts in Rust Belt) exactly because of their maniacal tendency to impose a "desired type of candidates" even where they absolutely don't fit. Do you want to lose this one too? Let people of the district decide it THEMSELVES!!! After all - you pretend to be not only Democrat, but democrat too, don't you?

For that matter, voting for Bernie in the primary was not because the Dems are left there, but rather based on dislike of Hillary. Dem areas in the district (not the Hispanic ones though) swung away from Dems, but this was made up for by places like Western Springs swinging Democratic.