Daniel William Lipinski (born July 15, 1966) is an American politician and political scientist who served eight terms as the U.S. representative for Illinois's 3rd congressional district from 2005 to 2021. A member of the Blue Dog Coalition, Lipinski was one of the most socially conservative Democrats in Congress.
A conservative, Lipinski did not endorse President Barack Obama in the 2012 United States presidential election. Lipinski opposed legalized abortion and embryonic stem cell research and was one of 39 House Democrats to vote against the Affordable Care Act. He served a district whose Democratic Party electorate became increasingly liberal during his time in Congress, leading to his defeat in the Democratic primary for the 2020 election by Marie Newman.
Early life, education, and career
Lipinski was born in Chicago, the son of Rose Marie (née Lapinski) and former U.S. Congressman Bill Lipinski. He attended St. Ignatius College Prep, graduating in 1984. He received a B.S. in mechanical engineering from Northwestern University in 1988, an M.S. in engineering-economic systems from Stanford University in 1989 and a Ph.D. in political science from Duke University in 1998.
In the summer of 1992, Lipinski interned at the United States Department of Labor. He interned for U.S. Congressman George E. Sangmeister from 1993 to 1995. From 1995 to 1996 Lipinski was a legislative staff member for U.S. Congressman Jerry Costello. He then served on Cook County State's Attorney Richard A. Devine's campaign during the 1996 election season, and later on Devine's transition staff. After a short stint on then-U.S. Congressman Rod Blagojevich's staff, Lipinski served as a communications staff aide to then-House Minority Leader Dick Gephardt.
From 2000 to 2001, Lipinski taught at the University of Notre Dame. In 2001, he joined the faculty of the University of Tennessee, where he remained until his election to Congress in 2004.
U.S. House of Representatives
In 2004, Lipinski's father ran for re-nomination in the Democratic primary. After easily winning the nomination, the elder Lipinski announced his retirement. As the Democratic committeeman for Chicago's 23rd Ward—which is virtually coextensive with the Chicago portion of the 3rd district—he was able to persuade the state Democratic Party to select his son to replace him on the ballot. The move was somewhat controversial; since the younger Lipinski had not lived regularly in Illinois since 1989 or run for elected office before, but it allowed him to sidestep the Democratic primary—the real contest in this heavily Democratic district. He then bought a home in Western Springs as his residence in the district. As expected, Lipinski defeated his Republican challenger, Ryan Chlada, in the general election. He went on to win re-election seven times.
In the 2006 Democratic primary Lipinski won 55% of the vote against two opponents, and in the general election he defeated the Republican nominee, Raymond Wardingley, with 77% of the vote. Lipinski defeated three opponents in the 2008 Democratic primary and beat Republican Michael Hawkins in the general election with 73% of the vote. In the 2010 general election Lipinski defeated Republican Michael Bendas with over 70% of the vote.
Lipinski faced Marie Newman in the 2018 Democratic primary and defeated her with 51.2% of the vote to Newman's 48.8%. She challenged him again in 2020, as did Muslim-American activist and businessman Rush Darwish and local resident Charles Hughes. Another primary challenger, Abe Matthew, dropped out and endorsed Newman. Newman won the primary. Newman outspent Lipinski with $2,732,742.44 to Lipinski's $2,170,908.37, additional "outside spending" by Super PACs in the 2020 Democratic primary favored Newman with $1,557,969 against $371,941 in Lipinski's favor.
Committee assignments
Lipinski served on two House Committees: Transportation & Infrastructure and Science, Space, & Technology. He was the most senior member from Illinois on the Transportation & Infrastructure Committee, serving on the Subcommittee on Aviation and the Subcommittee on Railroads, Pipelines, and Hazardous Materials, which he chaired. On the Committee on Science, Space, and Technology, Lipinski was previously the Ranking Member of the Subcommittee on Research and sat on the Subcommittee on Energy. The district includes Argonne National Laboratory. Committee on Science, Space & Technology Subcommittee on Research & Technology Subcommittee on Energy Committee on Transportation & Infrastructure Subcommittee on Aviation Subcommittee on Railroads, Pipelines, & Hazardous Materials (Chairman) Subcommittee on Highways and Transit