In a show of unity, leaders of the Democratic U.S. House caucus are rallying Wednesday to support Congressional Representative Summer Lee. The move comes as the first-term incumbent girds for a contentious primary contest, in which a rival rolled out endorsements of her own on Tuesday.
Lee is announcing the support of New York Congressman Hakeem Jeffries, who leads Democrats in the House and would almost certainly be House speaker should his party recapture the chamber. She’s also being backed by two lieutenants: Democratic Whip Katherine Clark of Massachusetts and caucus chair Pete Aguilar of California.
In a joint statement, Jeffries, Clark and and Aguilar hailed Lee as “a civil rights champion, advocate for organized labor and the first Black woman to represent Pennsylvania in Congress.
“Since her first days in Congress, Summer has been a fighter For the People — working to keep our communities safe, create good-paying union jobs and protect fundamental rights like reproductive freedom,” the statement continues. It adds that if re-elected, she will help Democrats reclaim the House and “oppose the extreme MAGA Republican agenda.”
Lee’s own statement said she was “honored” by the support and said the “progressive movement is creating a blueprint, not just for Western Pennsylvania, but for our entire country for what it looks like to beat Trumpism by leading with compassion and equity and justice.”
In most election cycles, an incumbent House member like Lee can take the support of party leadership for granted: Part of a caucus leader’s job is to protect their members while adding to their numbers. But his praise may well carry added weight this year.
Progressives have openly urged Jeffries to support them as they take fire over criticism they’ve made of Israel for that country’s response to the Oct. 7 terror attacks by Hamas. Last fall, Lee told the journal Politico that she hoped Jeffries “will speak out as urgently and aggressively as those who are speaking out against us.” Those critics include interests such as the American Israel Public Affairs Committee, which spent several million dollars trying to block Lee’s path to the House in 2022 and seems poised to make similar efforts this year
The endorsement made no mention of those controversies, focusing instead on Lee’s efforts to bring federal investment to the district, and her support of key Democratic values like abortion rights and clean energy. But Lee can now add the names of House leaders to an endorsement list that already featured Pennsylvania Sens. Bob Casey and John Fetterman, as well as local leaders including Allegheny County Executive Sara Innamorato, Pittsburgh Mayor Ed Gainey, and a slew of local legislators and other elected officials.
Still, Lee is bracing for a challenge from Bhavini Patel, who trumpeted some new supporters of her own on Tuesday.
Patel’s campaign announced endorsements from two of the region’s highest-profile unions — Operating Engineers Local 66 and Steamfitters Local 449 — as well as a national union of transportation and sheet-metal workers.
The steamfitters have sided with Lee’s opposition before — during her 2020 bid for re-election to the state House, the union was a top donor to her rival. And in a statement announcing the union’s support of Patel, Steamfitters business manager Kenneth Broadbent said Patel “is willing to fight for our fair share” of federal money, and to “invest in job creation [and] meet the needs of the future.”
The primary is in any case likely to be a marquee race in the spring Democratic primary. Last week, both Patel and Lee filed papers with the Allegheny County Democratic Committee seeking the party’s endorsement. While candidates can win without the endorsement — Lee herself has done so multiple times — the contest is an early test of a candidate’s strength with the political establishment.
A third candidate also entered the Democratic race last week: Laurie MacDonald, who leads the Center for Victims, a support and advocacy group for victims of crime. The three will have their first chance to debate each other on a public stage on Jan. 28, at the Barbara Daly Danko Political Forum at the McConomy Auditorium on the Carnegie Mellon University campus. The forum begins at 2 p.m.; doors will open at 1 p.m.
