He was born in Chicago, and was educated at Loras College in Dubuque, Iowa. Lipinski served in the United States Army Reserve from 1961 to 1967, and he was a public administrator with the Chicago Park District of the city of Chicago. In 1975, Mayor Richard J. Daley named him as the Democratic committeeman for Chicago's 23rd Ward, in the southwestern portion of the city—a post he still holds. In the same year, Lipinski was elected to the Chicago City Council as the alderman for the 23rd Ward. Lipinksi remained an alderman until he became a congressman in 1983.
Congressional career
In 1982, he challenged incumbent Democrat John G. Fary in the primary for , which included most of southwestern Chicago. He won largely by running up the totals in his city council district, and was handily elected in November. Lipinski became the mentor of future City Clerk of Chicago, James Laski, who by 1988 had become chief-of-staff of the joint Democrat Service Office for the city's southwest side, and acted as a personal aide to Lipinski. Lipinski was reelected four times from the 5thCongressional District with almost no difficulty. After the 1990 census, however, his district was merged with the 3rd district, represented by a longtime friend, Marty Russo. Lipinski defeated Russo in the 1992 Democratic primary, mainly by running up his margins in the Chicago portion of the district—which is virtually coextensive with the 23rd Ward. This all but assured him of a sixth term. He was reelected five more times from this district, facing serious opposition only once, in 1994. While in the House, Lipinski served on the Transportation Committee; his district included Midway Airport and also had more railroad crossings than any other district. Lipinski was conservative by national Democratic standards. He strongly opposed abortion, and described himself as a staunch conservative on foreign policy. He was a member of the Blue Dog Coalition of moderate and conservative congressional Democrats. Lipinski endorsed Bill Bradley for the Democratic presidential nomination in 2000. During the 2004 election cycle, Lipinski easily won the primary election, which practically assured him of a 12th term in Congress. On August 13, 2004, however, Lipinski withdrew his name from the November 2 general election ballot, announcing that he would retire at the end of his 11th term, which expired on January 3, 2005. As the 23rd Ward committeeman, he was able to persuade state Democratic party leaders to name his son, Dan Lipinski, a University of Tennessee professor, to replace him on the ballot. The younger Lipinski still holds the seat today, but will vacate it when the 117th United States Congress begins as he lost his primary election in 2020 to Marie Newman.
Lobbying career
In 2007, after leaving the House of Representatives, Lipinski opened a one-man lobbying firm. In its first eight years, the firm was paid $4 million by clients with business before the House Transportation Committee: the Chicago Transit Authority, Metra, BNSF Railway, and the Association of American Railroads. Lipinski was an influential member of the Transportation Committee, and his son serves on the committee. This was described as concerning by Public Citizen; the younger Lipinski says that his father has not lobbied him and has pledged not to do so.
