Marie Newman | |
|---|---|
 Official portrait, 2021 | |
| Member of theU.S. House of Representatives fromIllinois's3rd district | |
| In office January 3, 2021 – January 3, 2023 | |
| Preceded by | Dan Lipinski |
| Succeeded by | Delia Ramirez (redistricted) |
| Personal details | |
| Born | Marie Klassen (1964-04-13)April 13, 1964 (age 61) Evergreen Park, Illinois, U.S. |
| Party | Democratic |
| Spouse | |
| Children | 2 |
| Education | Marquette University University of Wisconsin, Madison (BA) |
Newman onTransgender Day of Remembrance and honors those killed. Recorded November 17, 2021 | |
Marie Newman (néeKlassen; born April 13, 1964) is an American politician andmarketing consultant who served as theU.S. representative fromIllinois's 3rd congressional district from 2021 to 2023. The district encompassed parts of southwesternChicago as well as many of its nearbysuburbs, such asOak Lawn,Western Springs, andLockport. Newman was elected to theUnited States House of Representatives as theDemocratic nominee, after defeating incumbentDan Lipinski in the2020 primary election.
Due to redistricting as a result of the2020 United States Census, Newman faced a choice in 2022 between running in the heavily Hispanic4th district into which her home had been drawn or againstSean Casten in a district with the majority of her former area.[1] Newman opted to run against Casten in the Democratic primary, but she was defeated.
In April 2023, Newman was appointed chief executive officer of Little City Foundation, a social-services organization serving people with intellectual and developmental disabilities.
Newman was born Marie Klassen inEvergreen Park,Illinois,[2][3][a] on April 13, 1964, at the Little Company of Mary Hospital.[4] She attendedCarl Sandburg High School inOrland Park.[5] After attendingMarquette University for a year and a half, she transferred to theUniversity of Wisconsin–Madison, where she graduated with abachelor's degree.[6]
Newman worked for multiple firms as an agency executive. She began her own consulting firm in 2005.[7] She also established her own nonprofit to combat bullying after one of her children was bullied.[7]GovernorPat Quinn appointed her to a regional anti-bullying task force andSears Holdings Corporation asked her to establish a national anti-bullying coalition of 70 nonprofit organizations.
Newman co-wrote the bookWhen Your Child is Being Bullied, a guide for parents. Her practical advice includes making detailed notes of what the child says at home, before bringing a complaint to school officials, because children may be apt to hide their problem when in the school setting.[8][9]
Newman has worked on several Democratic campaigns for public office. Between 2015 and 2017 she lobbied forgun control measures such as background checks.[10]
In April 2023, Newman was appointed chief executive officer of Little City Foundation, a social services organization serving people with intellectual and developmental disabilities. Little City serves over 900 people through its residential facilities, day programs, and at-home assistance in northern Illinois.[11] Newman had a personal connection to Little City, having volunteered when she was young. Two of her cousins received Little City services.[12]
Newman's book,A Life Made From Scratch: Lessons from a Controversial Congresswoman, Mompreneur, and Unstoppable Political Activist documenting her time running and joining Congress, was published by Koehler Books in 2025.[13]
Newman supportedBernie Sanders in the 2016 Democratic presidential primary in Illinois andHillary Clinton in theNovember general election. The day after Clinton lost, she applied to the Illinois Women's Institute for Leadership.[14] By January 1, 2017, Newman had closed her business to turn her attention to politics full-time.[14]
On April 10, 2017, Newman declared her candidacy forIllinois's 3rd congressional district,[15] challenging Democratic incumbentDan Lipinski, a member of theBlue Dog Coalition,[16] who had held the seat since 2005, succeedinghis father, who held it for 22 years.[17][b] Newman ran to Lipinski's left, and was endorsed by theHuman Rights Campaign, theProgressive Change Campaign Committee,[18]Planned Parenthood,[19]EMILY's List,[20] theSEIU state council,[21]National Nurses United, the Illinois Federation of Teachers,[22] theFeminist Majority Foundation,[5]NARAL Pro-Choice America,Democracy for America,MoveOn, andOur Revolution,[23] and several Democratic members of Congress, including SenatorKirsten Gillibrand of New York[24] and RepresentativesLuis Gutiérrez andJan Schakowsky, both Illinois Democrats.[25] Lipinski defeated Newman with 51.2% of the vote to her 48.8%.[26][27]
Newman ran against Lipinski again in the2020 Democratic primary.[28] She received endorsements from RepresentativeAlexandria Ocasio-Cortez[29] and presidential candidates SenatorsElizabeth Warren,Bernie Sanders,[30]Cory Booker, andKirsten Gillibrand, as well as Chicago MayorLori Lightfoot.[31] The race had special significance for progressive women's groups after other candidates they supported lost primary races earlier in March in Texas and the principal women candidates for the Democratic presidential nomination had ended their campaigns.[31]
On March 17, 2020, Newman narrowly defeated Lipinski in the Democratic primary with 47.26% of the vote to his 44.72%.[32][33] Her victory ended the Lipinski family's 38-year hold on the district.Bill Lipinski won the seat in 1982, when it was numbered as the5th district (it has been the 3rd since 1993), and was succeeded by his son Dan in 2005.
On November 3, Newman won the general election, defeating RepublicanWill CountySupervisor Mike Fricilone. With 88% of the vote counted, she led by about 30,000 votes, and had received about 55% of the vote.[34][35][36][37]
In October 2021, Democrats in the Illinois legislature passed a new congressional map that radically changed Newman's district. The map placed Newman's home into a district with RepresentativeJesús "Chuy" García, who represents a majority-Hispanic district. Newman announced that she would run in the redrawn 6th District, which overlaps her original district. She thus challenged incumbent RepresentativeSean Casten in the 2022 Democratic primary.[1] In the redrawn 6th district, 41% of voters are from Newman's former district and 23% are from Casten's former district, according to calculations byDaily Kos.[38] On June 28, 2022, Newman lost the primary to Casten.[39]
In January 2021, Newman voted to impeach PresidentDonald Trump.[40]
In November 2021, Newman voted for theBuild Back Better Act, which passed the House of Representatives.[41]
In 2021, theHouse Ethics Committee launched a review after she was accused of having signed a contract promisingIymen Chehade a job in her Congressional office in exchange for Chehade's not entering the 2020 primary opposite to Newman. Other documents alleged to be included in the review also stipulated that Newman adopt several policy positions with respect to theIsraeli-Palestinian conflict.[42][43][44][45] In her contract with Chehade, Newman also allegedly agreed to adopt specific stances with respect to BDS-related legislation and aid to Israel, and to refuse to work with a number of pro-Israel organizations, such as theJewish National Fund.[44][45]
The contract to employ Chehade in Newman's Congressional staff was revealed when Chehade sued Newman after she assumed office in January, 2021. Newman had not given Chehade a job; Chehade claimed that he had decided not to run for the Congressional seat pursuant to her promise to hire him. House of Representatives General CounselDouglas Letter wrote that Newman's contract, written as a private citizen, was not enforceable when she was in public office. In a motion to dismiss, Newman's counsel acknowledged that the contract was in violation of House and federal rules. The case was settled without publicly revealing the terms.[42][43][46]
On October 15, 2021, theOffice of Congressional Ethics (OCE) voted unanimously that there was reason to believe that Newman's agreement with Chehade constituted a de facto bribe and to refer the matter to the House Ethics Committee.[47][48][49] Newman's representatives responded that Newman "cooperate[d] completely with the review" but that the OCE had "prejudged the matter from the beginning", also making it clear this was "political theatre".[42] The House Ethics Committee chose not to impanel an investigative subcommittee, and the matter was closed in 2022 after Newman lost the primary election.[50]
A separate complaint was filed with theFederal Election Commission, when FEC campaign finance filings showed that Newman's campaign organization started employing Chehade while he was a witness in the Congressional ethics probe. These payments started soon after Chehade's breach-of-contract suit was settled during 2021.[46][51] The complaint, byFoundation for Accountability and Civic Trust (FACT) andCitizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW), alleged that the campaign's continued payments to Chehade while he was a witness in the Congressional investigation interfered with that investigation.[46] The Federal Election Commission, after a full investigation, dismissed the complaint in July 2023, finding no wrongdoing.[52][51]
Newman represented what has long been the most conservative district of the eight that divide Chicago. Described as "ancestrally Democratic,culturally conservative, multiethnic and viscerallypatriotic",[56] the 3rd is the only Chicago-based district with aCook Partisan Voting Index lower than D+15. Newman identifies as a progressive Democrat. She supportsabortion rights, gun control, a $15 minimum wage,[7] and aGreen New Deal.[57][58] Her campaigns were supported byJustice Democrats, an organization that fundsprogressive candidates, in both 2018[59] and 2020.[17] TheSunrise Movement supported her campaign in 2020.[60]
Newman also supports theEquality Act, saying, "Without the Equality Act, this nation will never live up to its principles of freedom and equality." She says that she entered politics to make the world a better place for hertransgender daughter. After Republican freshmanMarjorie Taylor Greene attacked the bill as "disgusting, immoral, and evil" on the House floor, Newman hung aTransgender Pride flag outside her Washington office, which is directly across from Greene's.[61]
Newman was one of eight Democrats to vote against the funding of theIron Dome inIsrael.[62]
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Democratic | Dan Lipinski (incumbent) | 48,675 | 51.13 | |
| Democratic | Marie Newman | 46,530 | 48.87 | |
| Total votes | 95,205 | 100.0 | ||
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Democratic | Marie Newman | 52,384 | 47.26 | |
| Democratic | Dan Lipinski (incumbent) | 49,568 | 44.72 | |
| Democratic | Rush Darwish | 6,351 | 5.73 | |
| Democratic | Charles Hughes | 2,549 | 2.30 | |
| Total votes | 110,852 | 100.0 | ||
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Democratic | Marie Newman | 172,997 | 56.4 | |
| Republican | Mike Fricilone | 133,851 | 43.6 | |
| Total votes | 306,848 | 100.0 | ||
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Democratic | Sean Casten | 44,414 | 67.8 | |
| Democratic | Marie Newman | 19,031 | 29.1 | |
| Democratic | Charles Hughes | 2,018 | 3.1 | |
| Total votes | 65,463 | 100.0 | ||
Newman lives inLa Grange, west of Chicago,[32] with her husband, Jim. They married in 1996 and have two children.[65][61]
Newman's daughter istransgender, and Newman has spoken about how the lack of support for transgender people influenced her to run for office.[66]
| U.S. House of Representatives | ||
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| Preceded by | Member of theU.S. House of Representatives fromIllinois's 3rd congressional district 2021–2023 | Succeeded by |
| U.S. order of precedence (ceremonial) | ||
| Preceded byas Former U.S. Representative | Order of precedence of the United States as Former U.S. Representative | Succeeded byas Former U.S. Representative |
| International | |
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| National | |
| People | |
| Other | |
