Congresswoman Cheri Bustos, the head of the committee working to elect Congressional Democrats, will be hosting a fundraiser for one of the few remaining pro-life Democrats serving in Congress, Dan Lipinski, later this month.
The minimum donation to attend the fundraiser in Chicago start at $1,000 and go up to $5,600, according to an event posted by Crain's Chicago Business.
The news comes as Lipinski is facing another spirited challenger from a pro-choice progressive activist who nearly defeated him in the Democrat primary last election cycle.
Marie Newman with the support of pro-choice and a cadre of other progressive groups came within two points of beating Lipinski in the March 2018 primary and recently announced her decision to challenge him again.
Her campaign primarily focused on Lipinski's conservative positions on immigration, traditional marriage, and abortion, claiming he was out of touch with his Democrat constituents. Lipinski has served in Congress since 2005 and during that time has voted in favor of a 20-week abortion ban and was the only Illinois Democrat to not support the Affordable Care Act otherwise known as Obamacare.
"The day after Alabama voted to restrict a woman’s right to choose, it's shocking the DCCC is fervently supporting a representative who is anti-choice, anti-birth control, and anti-health care for all," Newman responded on Twitter following the news that Bustos would be hosting a high dollar fundraiser for Lipinski.
The same groups that supported Newman's challenge in 2018 have come out to endorse her in this cycle's primary as well including EMILY’s List, MoveOn, NARAL Pro-Choice America, Planned Parenthood, and the Progressive Change Campaign Committee.
The support from these groups is notable as Bustos suggested earlier this year that political vendors would be blacklisted by the DCCC if they chose to support primary challengers to sitting House Democrats. Politico reported Newman's campaign, in fact, did lose four consultants when the DCCC announced its blacklist policy earlier this year.
The decision by Bustos and the DCCC to blacklist groups who work with primary challengers was castigated by many new progressive members of the House Democrat majority including Rep. Alexandra Ocasio-Cortez (D., N.Y.) and Ayanna Pressley (D., Mass.) who defeated incumbent House Democrats in primary elections with the help of grassroots progressive support.