Marie Newman conceded to seven-term U.S. Rep. Dan Lipinski via a statement posted on social media Wednesday morning. 
 
 “I entered this race to fight for the rights of the hardworking people in Illinois’ Third District. Our campaign was built on achieving that. Last night, we wanted to make sure that every vote got counted, that every voice was heard. We believed there was a possibility of victory,” the statement said. “After reviewing the results, we know that we lost by a thin margin. It was a good fight. Since we started our campaign, Dan Lipinski has moved his position on healthcare, a path to citizenship, and the need for a fair minimum wage. We put him on notice that we expect better for all of the people in our district.” 
 
 Newman, a first-time political candidate, declined late Tuesday to concede in her nationally watched race against Lipinski, saying she “would like Mr. Lipinski to have a very painful evening” and the contest was too close to call. 
 
 Lipinski held a razor-thin lead when he took the stage and told supporters he wasn’t declaring victory because “I am careful. I am an engineer.” 
 
 With more than 90 percent of the vote counted, unofficial results showed Lipinski led with 51 percent of the vote to Newman’s 49 percent in race seen as a proxy fight between the progressive and more conservative wings of the Democratic Party. 
 
 Lipinski was leading in the Chicago parts of the 3rd Congressional District, in the Southwest Side bungalow belt wards where his father, onetime Chicago alderman and longtime U.S. Rep. Bill Lipinski, built some of his tightest political relationships over the course of several decades. With about 90 percent of the Chicago vote in, Lipinski was up in the city 56 percent to 44 percent. 
 
 Newman held leads in the suburban Cook and Will County parts of the district, with just a handful of precincts still out. With more than 87,000 votes counted, the incumbent was up by about 1,600 votes as he faced by far his stiffest challenge since first winning the seat in 2004 after his father stepped down. 
 
 “So... interesting evening,” Newman told supporters at Marz Community Brewing in Bridgeport. “We are not quite ready to make a decision. It is this close.” 
 
 “I would like Mr. Lipinski to have a very painful evening,” she added. “So we are going to wait.” 
 
 Lipinski decried the negative campaign and outside money spent in the district. 
 
 “I think that is a terrible message for the Democratic Party. That can’t be what the Democratic Party stands for,” he said. “It’s bad for the country. We’ve got to do a better job.” 
 
 Newman got into the race after U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders’ strong 2016 presidential primary showing in the district against Hillary Clinton. Left-leaning Democrats came away from that campaign believing they had a solid base of support that would be dissatisfied with Lipinski’s conservative positions on abortion, health care and immigration. 
 
 Both candidates said they want to meet the needs of the middle- and working-class district, but neither shied away from the national implications of the election. Lipinski repeatedly warned of what he said was Newman’s fanciful and destructive “tea party of the left” agenda. Newman ripped him as an out-of-touch, de facto Republican and tried to tie him in ads to President Donald Trump. 
 
 Lipinski countered that constituents in the 3rd District, which stretches from the Southwest Side into the south and west suburbs, are more focused on “bread and butter issues” like jobs, where he is in line with their concerns. 
 
 The incumbent started out the race with a sizable campaign cash advantage over Newman, and he is well-known in an area he and his father have represented for more than 35 years combined. 
 
 The longest-tenured Illinois Democrat on the House Transportation Committee, Lipinski landed the backing of several major labor organizations, among them the AFL-CIO, the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees Council 31, the United Steelworkers and the Chicago police and fire department unions. 
 
 But Newman benefited from the bright national spotlight and high-profile endorsements from the likes of Sanders and progressive groups like EMILY’s List and the Planned Parenthood Action Fund. She also picked up the support of the SEIU State Council after pledging to push for the $15 federal minimum wage. 
 
 Outside money poured into the race. Groups had spent about $2.5 million on mailings and attack ads as of Monday, according to the nonpartisan Center for Responsive Politics in Washington. About 59 percent of that money went toward helping Newman. 
 
 Late in the campaign, Lipinski criticized Newman over the revelation that she and her husband went into the restaurant business in 2014 with a man who spent time in federal prison for his role in a large-scale mortgage fraud scheme. Newman said they didn’t know about the conviction until after they entered the partnership, and they then began taking steps to extricate themselves from the deal. 
 
 Lipinski supporters convened in the clubhouse at the Flagg Creek Golf Course in Countryside, where some said they were feeling nervous for the first time in the past several elections. 
 
 “I knocked doors. I passed palm cards,” said Mary VanAllen, 67, of Justice. “We really didn’t have to do all that (before) because it wasn’t contested.” 
 
 Newman held her election night party at the craft beer brewery in the Bridgeport neighborhood, where SEIU officials rubbed shoulders with a group of women in hijabs, men in gay-rights T-shirts and young couples in hoodies and puffy coats. 
 
 Conspicuously missing from the brewery’s menu: The Machine, a well-regarded American Pale Ale named for the Richard J. Daley political organization that gave Lipinski’s father his career. 
 
 For Lipinski, this race was his first real election test in several years. He faced a couple of tough primary challenges after his first election in 2004. That year his father won the primary for the seat and then retired, convincing committeemen to name Dan Lipinski to replace him on the general election ballot. But in the past two primaries, Lipinski has been unopposed. ||||| Republican candidate Arthur Jones, a Holocaust denier who has been disavowed by his own party, will be the GOP's nominee in a suburban Chicago congressional district after he ran in Tuesday's primary unopposed. 
 
 Jones's campaign website contains a section called "The Holocaust Racket" in which he argues that there is "no proof such a so-called 'Holocaust' ever took place anywhere in Europe against the Jews" and that Jews are "directly responsible for the murder of at least 300 million people." 
 
 Jones in February told the Chicago Sun-Times that he's a former leader of the American Nazi Party. 
 
 He's long been a stain on the Illinois Republican Party, which has successfully blocked his previous congressional bids. The state Republican Party has disavowed his candidacy, with the state party chairman calling him a Nazi. Democrats have similarly blasted Jones and his views. 
 
 Yet because the GOP decided against running any candidate in the heavily Democratic district, and Jones successfully met the criteria to make the ballot, he will be the party's nominee. 
 
 Jones will run against either current Rep. Daniel Lipinski Daniel William LipinskiCruz blasts Holocaust-denying GOP nominee: Vote for a Dem instead The Hill's Morning Report: As Trump talks, his lawyers sweat Pelosi rejects litmus test on abortion MORE (D) or Marie Newman, an advertising executive challenging Lipinski from his left. No matter who wins the Democratic primary, that candidate will be the virtual lock to hold the seat thanks to both the strong Democratic leanings of the district and Jones's record. ||||| Arthur Jones, a Holocaust denier described as a Nazi by the Illinois Republican Party, won the Republican primary on Tuesday in the state’s Third Congressional District, a heavily Democratic district that includes part of Chicago and its suburbs, according to The Associated Press. 
 
 Mr. Jones, 70, unsuccessfully sought the nomination five times before, and his victory on Tuesday was a foregone conclusion after the Republican Party failed to draft another candidate to enter the race against him. 
 
 “Even if only myself and my wife voted for me, I’d win the primary because the Republican Party screwed up big time,” Mr. Jones said in an interview. 
 
 The Illinois Republican Party has sought to distance itself from Mr. Jones in recent weeks, blanketing the district with campaign fliers and robocalls urging voters to “stop Illinois Nazis,” according to a robocall script provided by the party. Mr. Jones said he had received three robocalls himself.
– "The Republican Party screwed up big time." Such is the pronouncement of Arthur Jones, who on Tuesday won a GOP primary in Illinois, becoming the party's candidate for the Third Congressional District, which encompasses part of Chicago. Except, per the New York Times, the Holocaust denier won't get an ounce of support from the party, which describes Jones as a Nazi and plans to "vehemently [oppose him] with real campaign dollars." As for why the 70-year-old thinks the party messed up, it's because he was running unopposed due to the GOP's inability to recruit a candidate, leading him to remark to the Times that "even if only myself and my wife voted for me, I'd win the primary." The Illinois GOP plans to throw its cash toward an as-yet-unselected independent candidate. As for the Holocaust views Jones espouses, the Hill reports his campaign website actually included a section called "Holocaust?" that refers to "professional concentration camp survivors"; states there is "no proof such a so-called 'Holocaust' ever took place anywhere in Europe"; and says that Jews are "directly responsible for the murder of at least 300 million people." Jones isn't expected to win the solidly blue district, where Rep. Dan Lipinski currently holds the seat. Things on the Democratic side were just as wild, though, with Lipinski narrowly edging out challenger Marie Newman—who was backed by Sens. Kirsten Gillibrand and Bernie Sanders—with 97% of the votes tallied. The Chicago Tribune reported around midnight that Newman refused to concede at that point, saying she "would like Mr. Lipinski to have a very painful evening."