Far-left ‘Squad’ Rep. Summer Lee wins Pennsylvania House primary election

Rep. Summer Lee (D-Pa.), a vocal critic of Israel’s war against Hamas, defeated her centrist opponent Tuesday in Pennsylvania’s Democratic primary election. 

Lee, a member of the far-left “Squad” of House lawmakers, bested fellow Democrat and Edgewood Borough Councilwoman Bhavini Patel in the Keystone State’s 12th District primary by a 19-point margin, 59.5% to 40.5%. 

“Opposing genocide is good politics and good policy,” Lee wrote on X shortly after she was projected to emerge victorious.

The contest served as an early test for how lawmakers that have expressed anti-Israel sentiments in the wake of the Oct. 7 attack on the Jewish state and resulting war may fair against pro-Israel candidates in upcoming primaries. 

Patel slammed Lee’s criticism of Israel as too extreme for her Pittsburgh-area district, which encompasses Squirrel Hill, a prominent historically Jewish neighborhood and the site of the 2018 Tree of Life synagogue mass shooting, which was motivated by antisemitism. 

Patel argued that Lee’s brand of far-left politics would be damaging to President Biden’s re-election chances, turning off Pennsylvania voters in the crucial battleground state where the 81-year-old incumbent is locked in a tight race with former President Donald Trump. 

Lee has called the influential American Israel Public Affairs Committee “an existential threat to all of democracy” and suggested that the pro-Israel organization is “racist.”

Earlier this month, the 12th District rep joined 12 other Democrats and one Republican to vote against a resolution condemning Iran’s unprecedented missile and drone attack against Israel.

She was also among the first congressional lawmakers to demand a cease-fire of Israel’s military operations in Gaza. 

Lee and her supporters hammered Patel over $500,000 in donations provided to her campaign by Moderate PAC, a political action committee backed by Republican megadonor Jeff Yass. 

She will face Republican James Hayes, who ran unopposed Tuesday, in the November general election. 

Anti-Israel progressive Reps. Jamaal Bowman (D-NY), Cori Bush (D-Mo.) and Ilhan Omar (D-Minn.) are expected to face even stiffer primary challenges in their upcoming races. 

Meanwhile, the two other incumbent House members in Pennsylvania facing primary challenges also won their races.

Rep. Brian Fitzpatrick (R-Pa.), who represents suburban Philadelphia’s Bucks County and parts of Montgomery County, easily defeated Mark Houck, by more than 40 percentage points. 

Rep. Dwight Evans (D-Pa.) crushed his opponent, Tracey Edwards, in the 3rd District, which includes West Philadelphia, most of Center City, and parts of North Philadelphia, by some 80 percentage points. 

Sen. Bob Casey (D-Pa.) and Republican challenger David McCormick also emerged on top in their respective primaries and will face each other in November. 

Both candidates ran unopposed.

McCormick, a hedge fund manager backed by former President Donald, lost the GOP primary for the Senate to Dr. Mehmet Oz during the 2022 midterm elections.

Casey is in his third term in the Senate.

The Pennsylvania Senate race will be pivotal in deciding which party controls the upper chamber next year. 

Democrats were able to flip the Senate seat occupied by former Sen. Pat Toomey (R-Pa.) in 2022 after Sen. John Fetterman (D-Pa.) defeated Oz.

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