Representative Sean Casten (D., Ill.) prevailed in a primary matchup against Representative Marie Newman (D., Ill.) on Tuesday evening, according to an Associated Press projection, after redistricting led the two incumbents to compete in the same district.
Casten ousted Newman, a liberal “Justice Democrat” who was elected to represent Illinois’s third congressional district in 2020 after defeating an incumbent Democrat with the help of national progressive endorsements from Senators Elizabeth Warren and Bernie Sanders, as well as Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez.
Newman challenged Casten in his sixth congressional district after redistricting. Casten has represented the sixth district since 2019, though just 23 percent of his constituents live in the district now because of redistricting. Newman had an advantage, given that 41 percent of her former third District constituents are now in the sixth.
However, Newman had been plagued by a 2021 House Ethics Committee investigation that led the Office of Congressional Ethics to vote unanimously that there was reason to believe she had bribed a potential primary candidate, convincing him not to run against her in return for a role in her congressional office.
Newman admitted she signed a contract promising Iymen Chehade a job in exchange for him sitting out the election.
Newman, a supporter of the Green New Deal and a $15 minimum wage, had campaigned as a progressive alternative to Casten, who had voted with President Biden 97 percent of the time.
Casten does not plan to hold a victory party and had completely stopped campaigning after his 17-year-old daughter died in her sleep earlier this month.