Democrat Marie Newman Wins IL-03 Seat In Congress

OAK LAWN, IL — LaGrange Democrat Marie Newman will be heading to Washington in January after beating Will County Republican Mike Fricilone in Illinois’s 3rd Congressional District race. In unofficial totals, Newman captured 53 percent of the vote to Fricilone’s 47 percent.

“I couldn’t be more thrilled that we have won,” Newman said, addressing her supporters on Facebook. “The district has won.”

IL-03 spans sections of Chicago's Southwest Side, and the south and western suburbs up to the Cook-DuPage border and a small section of Will County.

Newman won the Democratic nomination in a primary rematch against moderate Democrat Dan Lipinski in March. Her historic win on Tuesday makes her the first woman to be elected to represent the 3rd District, marking the first time that there won't be a Lipinski in Congress.

In the midst of a global pandemic, Newman thanked her volunteers who knocked on “hundreds of thousands of doors and made hundreds of thousands of calls.” “You got the message out to every corner of the district,” she said.

The congressman-elect also thanked her Republican opponent for running against self-avowed neo-Nazi Art Jones, so would not run unopposed in the GOP congressional primary. “I would like to recognize Mike Fricilone for running a very passionate race and for stepping up to prove that every single one of us in the 3rd District stands against Art Jones and hate,” Newman said.

A progressive Democrat, Newman garnered endorsements from progressive organizations as well as organized labor, which makes up 43 percent of 3rd District households. She remained hopeful that the nation would get coronavirus under control so that people could go back to work. Newman also laid out her agenda for when she is sworn into Congress in January.

“Starting in January, I will be focused on pandemic relief and rebuilding our economy as we emerge from this crisis,” she said. “As we begin to rebuild we’re going to work together to lower health care costs, fight climate change, create new good-paying jobs, revitalize our transportation infrastructure system and continue to make a strong economy no matter who you are or where you are.”

Breakdown of Unofficial Results In IL-03

Fricilone beat Newman on his home turf in Will County, garnering 54 percent of the vote to Newman’s 46 percent. He also fared will in suburban Cook County, capturing 52 percent suburban voters to Newman’s 48 percent, according to unofficial totals.

It was in Chicago where Newman commandeered 65 percent of city votes to Fricilone’s 35 percent that pushed her to a win. In 2018, Newman lost Chicago precincts in her first primary match-up against the 8-term incumbent Lipinski. She also won the district's two precincts in DuPage County.

In a written statement released late Tuesday evening, Newman said that her four-year journey to Congress began “when I saw a bully win the presidency on a platform of name-calling hate, I was disgusted."

“As this presidency began, I knew I had to do something about it. After all, I’ve never been afraid of taking on bullies," Newman said, the founder of an anti-bullying non-profit organization.

“And while we don’t yet know if Donald Trump’s last days in the White House are over, another woman who decided to run in the aftermath of his election is going to Congress to fight back against everything he stands for.”

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This article originally appeared on the Oak Lawn Patch