Rep. Dan Lipinski (D-Ill.), one of the last pro-life Democrats in Congress, lost his primary election to pro-abortion challenger Marie Newman on Tuesday.

Election results from the New York Times showed Newman with a 2,365-vote lead over Lipinski, with 99% of precincts reporting, early Monday morning. Newman successfully reversed her 2018 result, in which she fell around 2,000 votes short of upsetting the incumbent.

Lipinski is a Catholic eight-term representative of Illinois’ third congressional district, on the south side of Chicago. He is recognized as the last reliably pro-life Democrat in the House of Representatives, bucking the party whip to support pro-life legislation, including supporting “pain-capable” 20-week abortion bans and the Born-Alive Abortion Survivors Protection Act.

Late Tuesday evening, his campaign released a statement via Facebook saying that “there are still votes to be counted in this race. It is very close. We may have to wait overnight or into the morning for the final vote count. I want to thank everyone for their support. Please stay safe and take care of yourselves and your families.”

Newman, a pro-abortion candidate making her second consecutive challenge against Lipinski, tweeted on Tuesday evening that she was “bursting with pride and gratitude for the amazing coalition that helped bring about much needed change in our district.”

“We are going to work together to lower health care costs, to fight climate change, and to build an economy that works for everyone. #NewDayInIL03 #IL03,” Newman tweeted.

The president of the National Abortion Rights Action League (NARAL), Ilyse Hogue, tweeted on Tuesday that Lipinski was “anti-choice, anti-immigrant, anti-LGBTQ,” and that the party should end “these oppressive views.”

While Newman herself tried to highlight her support for other policies during the primary, such as Medicare-for-All and the Green New Deal, she received substantial support from many national pro-abortion groups, including pro-abortion groups such as Planned Parenthood, the National Abortion Rights Action League (NARAL), and EMILY’s List….

Together, those groups and others formed a coalition that invested $1.4 million into the race in late February to buy digital and TV ads and send direct mail to voters in Newman’s favor….]Newman said that she was baptized Catholic at a local parish, in a campaign video that highlighted her ties to the district. She also secured the support of two nuns, Sisters JoAnn Persch and Pat Murphy of the Sisters of Mercy, who endorsed her in a campaign video.

The above comes from a March 18 story on the site of the Catholic News Agency.