Summer Lee racking up backing in her run for Congress
Continuing to consolidate support among a “who’s who” of Pittsburgh-area progressives in her run for Congress, state Rep. Summer Lee will pick up the official endorsements on Monday of several officials who — themselves — swept to office on a pledge to bring bold change and a sense of urgency to the Democratic Party.
Ms. Lee, D-Swissvale, told the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette that the reason she has picked up a new batch of endorsements — including from Pittsburgh City Councilwoman Deb Gross, Allegheny County Councilwoman Anita Prizio and Wilkinsburg Mayor Dontae Comans — is that those officials, too, recognize that “the way we’re doing things doesn’t work.”
Her endorsers are united by a worldview that it’s time to run candidates who have lived the issues they’re running on; that the status quo doesn’t work; and that electing people who are “beholden to the traditional power structure” never results in real change, Ms. Lee said,
“People want someone who fights boldly and courageously, someone to lead from the front,” Ms. Lee said.
She’s running in a race that could define the future of the party and the future of the region, she said — the contest for the 18th Congressional District, a seat that outgoing U.S. Rep. Mike Doyle has held for the past two decades-plus.
In the Democratic primary, Ms. Lee is up against University of Pittsburgh law professor Jerry Dickinson, Pittsburgh attorney Steve Irwin, former Brentwood Borough Councilwoman Stephanie Fox and tech startup CEO Bhavini Patel.
Ms. Lee said the urgency of the moment requires a candidate who can organize around the lived experiences of working-class people, warning that many Democrats are “hopeless” about what the party is doing at the national level.
Voters feel that they delivered Democrats to the House, Senate and presidency, yet the party in Washington, D.C., is still gridlocked in the fight for voting rights and so many things in the Build Back Better
agenda, Ms. Lee said.
“It’s so clear that old tactics are not going to work for us,” she said.
The race is highly competitive. More than $730,000 poured into the contest in the final months of 2021. Mr. Irwin, a relative newcomer, led the field with $338,000 raised. Ms. Lee raised $272,500, and Mr. Dickinson brought in about $120,000.
Ms. Lee’s campaign could see a big boost in the coming months with the help of the SEIU Pennsylvania State Council, a powerful political infantry that has the ability to mobilize thousands of workers. She recently won its endorsement.
The new group of endorsements also includes Allegheny County Council members Pat Catena, Bob Palmosina and Jack Betkowski, and former Brad dock Mayor Char dae Jones.