contest in this heavily Democratic district. He then bought a home in Western Springs as his residence in the district. As expected, Lipinski defeated his Republican challenger, Ryan Chlada, in the general election. He went on to win re-election seven times. In the 2006 Democratic primary Lipinski won 55% of the vote against two opponents, and in the general election he defeated the Republican nominee, Raymond Wardingley, with 77% of the vote. Lipinski defeated three opponents in the 2008 Democratic primary and beat Republican Michael Hawkins in the general election with 73% of the vote. In the 2010 general election Lipinski defeated Republican Michael Bendas with over 70% of the vote. Lipinski faced Marie Newman in the 2018 Democratic primary and defeated her with 51.2% of the vote to Newman's 48.8%. She challenged him again in 2020, as did Muslim-American activist and businessman Rush Darwish and local resident Charles Hughes. Another primary challenger, Abe Matthew, dropped out and endorsed Newman. Newman won the primary. Newman outspent Lipinski with $2,732,742.44 to Lipinski's $2,170,908.37, additional "outside spending" by Super PACs in the 2020 Democratic primary favored Newman with $1,557,969 against $371,941 in Lipinski's favor. Committee assignments Lipinski served on two House Committees: Transportation & Infrastructure and Science, Space, & Technology. He was the most senior member from Illinois on the Transportation & Infrastructure Committee, serving on the Subcommittee on Aviation and the Subcommittee on Railroads, Pipelines, and Hazardous Materials, which he chaired. On the Committee on Science, Space, and Technology, Lipinski was previously the Ranking Member of the Subcommittee on Research and sat on the Subcommittee on Energy. The district includes Argonne National Laboratory. Committee on Science, Space & Technology Subcommittee on Research & Technology Subcommittee on Energy Committee on Transportation & Infrastructure Subcommittee on Aviation Subcommittee on Railroads, Pipelines, & Hazardous Materials (Chairman) Subcommittee on Highways and Transit Caucus memberships Blue Dog Coalition Congressional Arts Caucus Afterschool Caucuses Congressional Buy American Caucus (Founder and co-chair) Bi-partisan Congressional Pro-life Caucus (Co-chair) Blue Collar Caucus United States Congressional International Conservation Caucus Veterinary Medicine Caucus Climate Solutions Caucus Problem Solvers Caucus Political positions Lipinski was one of the most socially conservative Democrats in Congress. In recent years his district has been described as largely liberal, but it has long been the most conservative of the eight districts in and around Chicago, with a Cook Partisan Voting Index of D+6; no other Chicago-based district has