Newman Vs. Fricilone: Illinois 3rd Congressional District

OAK LAWN, IL — In March, challenger Marie Newman beat the entrenched eight-term incumbent Dan Lipinski to earn the Democratic nomination for the 3rd Congressional District. Newman is running against Will County Board Commissioner Mike Fricilone, who’s on the GOP ticket.

An internal poll taken by the Cook County GOP and Chicago GOP in September put Fricilone behind Newman by just 3 points. Fricilone is counting on socially conservative Democrats who supported Dan Lipinski swaying to his side in the November election. Others, however, believe Lipinski signing onto an amicus brief to overturn Roe vs. Wade in the U.S. Supreme Court may have hurt him in the March primary. GOP sources believe that the 3rd District is "flippable" after 38 years of control by Dan Lipinski, and his father Bill.

Newman was born into a union family in Chicago's Beverly neighborhood and lived there until the second grade, when her family moved to Palos Park. She is a graduate of Sandburg High School and now resides in LaGrange. Married with two adult children, Newman has been a non-profit leader, marketing executive, small business owner and is an anti-bullying advocate.

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She beat Lipinski in a 2020 primary rematch, flipping the 2300-plus votes she lost by two years ago. Newman casts herself as a progressive Democrat. She is fiercely pro-choice and has won the endorsements of pro-choice groups like NARAL and Planned Parenthood.

In a League of Women Voters virtual candidate’s forum, Newman said she supports bolstering the Affordable Care Act while methodically rolling out Medicare for All. She is critical of the Trump administration’s handling of the pandemic that has resulted in the deaths of 228,000 Americans. Newman blames the federal government for not deploying the Defense Production Act and testing for all Americans.

Conservatives have criticized Newman for her support of a Green New Deal, a proposed package of federal legislation that aims to address climate change and economic inequality, that they claim would cost up to $93 trillion to implement. FactCheck.org says a green package is likely to cost considerably less — $18 trillion — and proponents say it would create millions of new jobs.

Newman has been endorsed by former President Barack Obama, Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot, former Vice President Joe Biden, as well as a groundswell of support from such progressive groups as 350Action, Indivisible, Will County Progressives, NARAL, Emily's List, Our Revolution (Chicago Southwest Side), 12th Ward IPO and 15th Ward IPO, among others. She has strong support from trade unions, which make up 43 percent of the households in IL-03.

A devout Catholic, Fricilone is a 31-year resident of Will County and lives in Homer Glen. He and his wife of 41 years, Barb, had three adult children and six grandchildren. He is actively involved in the community, serving as the president of the Lockport High School Foundation, vice-president of the Order Sons of Italy in America, and a member of the finance committee of his church.

Fricilone has said that he originally ran to prevent the Illinois Republican Party from the further embarrassment of perennial self-avowed neo-Nazi candidate Art Jones running unopposed in the GOP primary and then landing on the Congressional ballot as he did in 2018.

Fricilone is the executive director of a furniture company. He describes himself as anti-abortion and anti-tax, and says he believes the current health care system can be improved — not torn down — with forward-thinking policies that lower costs and improve access while ensuring no one loses access to their doctors and all pre-existing conditions are covered. He wants union members to be able to keep the health benefits they bargained for.

Fricilone supports President Donald Trump and thought the president's impeachment was a "partisan scam." Fricilone likes the direction the current administration is taking the country because it's "pro-American,"he said.

Illinois’s 3rd Congressional District — described as “ancestrally Democrat” — sprawls across all or parts of Western Springs, LaGrange, LaGrange Park, Lyons, Stickney, Indian Head Park, Hodgkins, Countryside, Summit, Bedford Park, Bridgeview, Chicago Ridge, Oak Lawn, Hometown, Palos Heights, Palos Hills, Palos Park, Lemont, Merrionette Park, Worth, Orland Park, Orland Hills, Tinley Park, Lockport, Homer Glen and Romeoville. The district also encompasses Chicago’s Southwest Side, including all or parts of Chicago-Midway International Airport, Garfield Ridge, Clearing, Ashburn, Archer Heights, West Elsdon, Chicago Lawn, Morgan Park, McKinley Park, Bridgeport, Beverly, Mount Greenwood and Bridgeport.

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