Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez has thrown her support behind liberal Democratic House hopeful Marie Newman in a primary rematch against the more conservative Rep. Dan Lipinski in a suburban Chicago district, the Chicago Sun-Times reported on Tuesday.
This is the freshman New York congresswoman’s first endorsement for 2020 and her first for a candidate aligned with the progressive group Justice Democrats since being elected to Congress, according to Politico.
Justice Democrats was crucial in Ocasio-Cortez’s upset win in last year’s midterm election primaries over former Rep. Joe Crowley.
The left-wing political action committee, which seeks to challenge more moderate Democratic incumbents, announced in a tweet that “We are so proud that @Marie4Congress is the first Justice Democrat of this cycle to receive an endorsement from @AOC. The momentum is growing to make the Democratic Party fight for solutions as big as the problems we face and create a party for voters, not corporate donors.”
Newman has also received endorsements from more mainstream Democrats, including Sens. Kirsten Gillibrand, Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren, according to Politico.
Newman lost last year to Lipinski, one of the most conservative House Democrats, in the primary for his House seat by some 2,000 votes. He has especially upset many within the party over his opposition to abortion rights.
The district is a safe Democrat seat, something Ocasio-Cortez pointed out in her endorsement, telling The New York Times that “The fact that a deep blue seat is advocating for many parts of the Republican agenda is extremely problematic. We’re not talking about a swing state that is being forced to take tough votes.”
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