Rep. Dan Lipinski picks up fundraising pace

WASHINGTON — Rep. Dan Lipinski, facing three Democratic primary challengers, picked up his fundraising for the second quarter and basically tied with Marie Newman, seeking a rematch in 2020 after a narrow 2018 loss.

According to new Federal Election Commission reports, Lipinski leads with the most cash-on-hand.

The battle for the heavily Democratic 3rd Congressional District seat, with four contenders so far, is the biggest March 2020 Democratic House primary in Illinois.

Newman in 2018 narrowly lost the primary to Lipinski 51.1 percent to 48.9 percent. She outraised him in the first quarter of 2019.

Here are the numbers covering the second quarter of April, May and June and money raised to date for the 2020 election cycle:

Lipinski, from Western Springs

$363,541 receipts

$509,739 to date

$713,083 cash-on-hand

NOTE: Let’s nip this in the bud. Lipinski did NOT receive a $100 donation from the PAC run by the top House Republican, Rep. Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., though that’s what the FEC record shows. A Lipinski spokesman said the $100 came from the MC PAC in Park Ridge, not the Majority PAC in Bakersfield, Calif. The error was the result of a computerized auto-fill, a Lipinski spokesman said, and was not caught until the Chicago Sun-Times inquired.

Newman, from LaGrange

$328,478 receipts Q2

$539,901 to date

$352,173 cash-on-hand

Rush Darwish, from Palos Hills, owner of a photography and video production company

$134,651 receipts to date, all from Q2

$133,033 cash-on-hand

Abe Matthew, a Bridgeport attorney

$78,010 receipts to date, all from Q2

$72,081 cash-on-hand

House Speaker Mike Madigan, D-Chicago, also the chair of the Democratic Party of Illinois, drew the gerrymandered congressional district map to favor Lipinski. The district includes portions of what’s left of Chicago machine wards: 11, 13, 14, 19 and 23 and then connects with a narrow thread of turf to southwestern suburbs in parts of Cook County and small portions of DuPage and Will counties.