David Sirota interviews Summer Lee, a progressive Democrat running for Congress in Pennsylvania, about the pro-Israel super PAC spending millions to stop her.
by David Sirota, The Lever
Earlier this year, a pro-Israel super PAC spent nearly $3 million attacking Summer Lee in the Democratic primary for Pennsylvania’s 12th congressional district, running ads claiming she was a bad Democrat. Now, the same group is spending big to defeat Lee in her general election race against a Republican.
The United Democracy Project — which has been bankrolled by the powerful pro-Israel advocacy group American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) and conservative billionaires — recently put more than $1 million into TV ads attacking Lee, according to data from AdImpact. The group has also spent about $80,000 on mailers opposing Lee.
Why is AIPAC’s super PAC spending millions on the race? In a recent interview with The Lever’s David Sirota in Pittsburgh, Lee said she believes that the organization is targeting her because she’s “a progressive Black woman.”
She continued: “I can find no other answer or reasoning, but for the fact that progressive Black women in these spaces pose a threat to corporate interests and to corporate power. And these are Republican billionaires who are worried about their bottom line.”
The United Democracy Project’s spending could help Republicans win a House majority in the midterm elections next week. Lee is currently locked in a surprisingly tight race — potentially in part due to the fact that her Republican opponent, Mike Doyle, shares the same name as the retiring longtime Democratic lawmaker whom Lee is running to succeed.
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