A freshman Pennsylvania congresswoman who is a member of Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez’s far-left  “Squad,” Summer Lee, is facing a wave of backlash from Pennsylvania politicians over a planned appearance at an event featuring antisemitic figures that she later canceled. 

Ms. Lee’s more moderate primary challenger, Bhavini Patel, has seized on the issue by garnering the endorsement of the Teamsters union at Pittsburgh, adding to a slew of local politicians who have thrown their weight behind the former community outreach manager for Allegheny County’s executive.  

In addition to the Teamsters’ backing, nearly a third of the mayors within Pennsylvania’s 12th congressional district, comprising Southwestern Pittsburgh and some surrounding towns, have endorsed Ms. Patel, including those of East Pittsburgh, McKeesport, Bridgeville, Baldwin, and Munhall. 

Despite the loss of local support, Ms. Lee’s situation is not as dire as those of some of her fellow Squad members. The 36-year-old has outraised Ms. Patel by a ratio of 3-to-1 and has retained endorsements from key national and county-level democratic figures such as the U.S. House minority leader, Hakeem Jefferies, and the Allegheny County Democratic Committee, which had endorsed Ms. Lee’s rival in 2022. 

Nevertheless, her unpopularity among more moderate constituents has spawned a primary challenge and made her solidly-blue district relatively competitive for Republicans. The district, a recently created amalgamation of Pittsburgh’s Allegheny County and the more rural Westmoreland County, experienced a shift to the right of roughly seven points between 2020 and 2022. Ms. Lee won her seat by an eight-point margin. 

Among Ms. Lee’s most divisive stances is her strong criticism of Israel. Even prior to her election, the freshman congresswoman ruffled the feathers of Jewish voters by making numerous comments that seemingly questioned Israel’s right to exist. 

In 2021, Ms. Lee wrote on X, “When I hear American pols use the refrain ‘Israel has the right to defend itself’ in response to undeniable atrocities on a marginalized pop, I can’t help but think of how the west has always justified indiscriminate& disproportionate force &power on weakened & marginalized ppl.” 

More recently, Ms. Lee’s ties to the notoriously anti-Israel Council of American-Islamic Relations has landed her in hot water. On Tuesday, the Squad member canceled her planned “special remarks” to be given on March 2 at the annual CAIR fundraising banquet at Springfield, Pennsylvania. Ms. Lee withdrew after Jewish Insider detailed past antisemitic comments made by three of the announced speakers who shared billing with Ms.  Lee, but not before a round of criticism from Pennsylvania politicians.

One planned speaker, a former University of Pennsylvania basketball player, Ibrahim Jaaber, referred on Facebook to the Hamas atrocities of October 7 as a lie “by evil politicians and their media puppets.” He also characterized Israelis as “demons” with “horns.” 

Another scheduled participant in the banquet, a standup comedian and social media influencer named Nadirah Pierre, posted on X, hours after news of the October 7 attacks had broken, “May Allah destroy them even worse than they have tried to destroy others!”

A third banquet speaker, an Islamic scholar and cleric, Yasir Fahmy, has written that Zionism is a “sick, sadistic cult,” and that supporters of Israel are people whom Zionists “have been able to purchase.”

Pennsylvania politicians quickly condemned the freshman congresswoman for planning to speak at the banquet. 

A spokesman for the governor of Pennsylvania, Josh Shapiro, told Jewish Insider that “hateful, antisemitic rhetoric cannot be tolerated — and it should be condemned, not elevated by our political leaders.”

A Republican candidate for Senate in Pennsylvania, David McCormick, excoriated the freshman congresswoman on X and called for her to step down. 

“I am calling for the resignation of Summer Lee. The people of Pittsburgh and the people of Pennsylvania expect more of their leadership. They expect more than associating themselves with antisemites. They expect more leadership and moral clarity.”

Mr. McCormick, a former executive at a large Connecticut hedge fund, Bridgewater, and who is married to a former aide to President Trump, Dina Powell, also panned his incumbent rival, Bob Casey, for having endorsed Ms. Lee.

“I am also calling on Bob Casey to disavow his endorsement of Summer Lee. Bob has endorsed Summer Lee and he’s not called back on that, despite all the terrible things that keep coming out of her mouth,” the financier said, in relation to Ms. Lee’s harsh comments regarding the Jewish state. 

Ms. Lee is one of several “Squad” members facing pushback from constituents and serious primary challengers.

The freshman congresswoman is facing a more moderate challenger, Bhavini Patel, who has been critical of Ms. Lee’s position on Israel, among other key issues. 

Ms. Patel said on X, “Summer Lee needs to cancel this appearance and apologize for agreeing to share a stage with them in the first place.”

A local state representative within Ms. Lee’s constituency, Dan Frankel, wrote in a press release on behalf of the Jewish Legislative Caucus, “We have grave concerns about an elected official joining individuals who have made antisemitic comments and praised the actions of Hamas following the attacks of October 7. We urge Rep. Lee to reconsider her participation in this event.”

In a comment posted on X the freshman congresswoman stated that she does not “condone or endorse any of the other speakers’ previous comments,” adding: “To prevent the Muslim community from being the target of any more politically-motivated Islamophobia and to ensure my Jewish and LBGTQ+ constituents know their concerns are heard, I will not be attending this event any longer.”

Following Ms. Lee’s announcement, CAIR circulated a statement on its website defending the conference, “We refuse to be bullied into silence. Our track record on building coalitions, advancing interfaith understanding, combating Islamophobia and antisemitism, and other forms of bigotry, and protecting civil rights while under attack from ill-intentioned circles is a testament to our resilience.”