STATE REP. SUMMER LEE, at her election watch party, May 17, at Emerald City PGH, Downtown PIttsburgh. (Photo by Rob Taylor Jr.)
Overcomes ferocious attack ad campaign, defeats Steve Irwin; One step closer to U.S. Congress
In the weeks leading up to the May 17 Primary Election in Pennsylvania, Summer Lee was on TV in Pittsburgh more than Dr. Phil, Attorney Edgar Snyder, and WTAE-TV’s Andrew Stockey—combined.
Now that’s saying something.
But it wasn’t Representative Lee’s choice. A “Super PAC (Political Action Committee)” and others committed millions of dollars in ads attacking her. The ads depicted Rep. Lee as a person unfit to be a Congresswoman, a person who despises her own Democratic Party, a person who is “anti-Israel.”
It was an all-out onslaught that reached the local radio airwaves, too, as KDKA Radio listeners can attest.
But on Election Night, as the votes trickled in, it became apparent just after midnight that, in Rep. Lee’s words, “the power of the people is always greater than the people in power.”
Representative Lee was leading fellow Democrat Steve Irwin by less than 600 votes, less than 0.5 percent of the total vote, but the remaining votes left to count were from precincts in Allegheny County, where Rep. Lee was dominating Irwin.
“We believe that every vote counts,” Mayor Ed Gainey, a longtime supporter of Rep. Lee, said on stage at Rep. Lee’s Election Night Watch Party at Emerald City PGH, Downtown. “But we know the votes that’s left are ours.”
That turned out to be true. Though it took a few days, the Associated Press finally called the race for the Democratic nomination for the 12th U.S. Congressional District for Summer Lee. She’s now poised to make history as the first Black Congresswoman from Pennsylvania elected to U.S. Congress, if she defeats rookie Republican challenger Mike Doyle in November. Democrats are expected to take the seat.
MAYOR ED GAINEY, REP. SUMMER LEE, AT THE SUMMER LEE ELECTION NIGHT WATCH PARTY, MAY 17 (PHOTO BY ROB TAYLOR JR.)
“I believe in Summer Lee,” Mayor Gainey proclaimed. “We got a Congresswoman tonight. We know we have one who will fight for each and every one of you. We know we have one that is a leader, that stood up in the face of adversity of $3 million (in attack ads) and proclaimed, ‘I have three million people as an army to come out here and show you the power of the people.’”
“I want to congratulate Summer Lee for winning the Democratic nomination for Congress in PA-12,” wrote Irwin on Friday, May 20, exactly two hours after the AP had called the race for Rep. Lee at 6:14 p.m. “She ran a formidable campaign, one that reflected her determination to make progress for people and give a voice to the voiceless. She will be an outstanding member of Congress and an inspirational leader for our region.”
For all intents and purposes, Rep. Lee and her team, along with those in attendance at her party, proclaimed her the winner on Election Night. “Some people said we shouldn’t be here, even though we absolutely should be here,” Rep. Lee, who technically is still the representative for the 34th House District (representing parts of the Mon Valley), said on stage. “We started this five years ago when we decided that we could, here in Western Pennsylvania, build a movement that centers each and every one of us. That we could get rid of the politics of old that says Black people and brown people and women and progressives….don’t belong here. These are our seats, and all we had to do is go and take them.”
Currently, there are three Black U.S. Senators (Cory Booker, D-N.J.; Tim Scott, R-S.C.; Raphael G. Warnock, D-G.A.) and 58 Black members of the U.S. House of Representatives, which includes Dwight Evans, a Democrat from Pennsylvania. There are 100 total Senators and 435 total members of the U.S. House, equaling 535. Each state has its own Senators and House members that don’t vote on legislation on Capitol Hill, in D.C.
A lot of the numbers of African Americans in the U.S. House could change following the November General Election, but Rep. Lee stands a near-lock to become a member of the U.S. Congress.
“We had people who joined our movement from all over the country because they knew that we were out here in Western Pennsylvania fighting for the future of this whole country,” Rep. Lee said. “Fighting for the future of this party.”
The race was so closely watched across the nation that Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders came to the region a week before the election to endorse and support Rep. Lee. The more progressive-leaning U.S. House members like Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez vehemently supported the 34-year-old Black woman from North Braddock, too.
“They knew that if we won here in Western Pennsylvania, then ‘they’ would never be able to say that we can’t win on the battle for poor and working-class people,” Rep. Lee shouted. “That we can’t win on clean air and clean water. That we can’t win on Medicare for everybody. That we can’t win on a quality education for every single child. That Black women can’t win.
“We showed ‘them’ throughout that when we build coalitions, when we build a multi-racial, multi-generational movement, of people of all religions, all genders, all races, all ages; when we come together, we can’t be stopped.”
After her speech, Rep. Lee told the New Pittsburgh Courier that she “never watched the TV,” when asked about all of the attack ads.
“You can throw money at anybody all day, but when you have the people, you cannot stop that, you can’t just throw that aside,” Rep. Lee told the Courier. “What we saw today is that the people’s movement prevailed, the people’s movement is strong….it’s a message to our party, to our region, to our nation that poor and working-class people are ready for change. We’re ready to be represented, we’re ready to push our government and our institutions to be more reflective. We’re ready to fight back against all of those interests that don’t serve us. We rose to the occasion.”
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