Lee, a member of the “Squad” of lefty Democrats, called for a cease-fire a little over a week after the attack and suggested Israel was guilty of “blatant human rights violations.”
That reaction initially set Lee apart from many in her party. But as Israel has continued its retaliatory assault on Hamas-run Gaza, U.S. public opinion has shifted. Approval of Israel’s military actions among Democrats nationwide dropped from 36 percent in November to 18 percent in March, according to a recent Gallup poll.
Some in this community, which is home to the Tree of Life synagogue, the site of the deadliest antisemitic attack in U.S. history, have come around to their congresswoman’s position.
Lee made “some missteps with the Jewish community” in the early days after Oct. 7, making statements that some people here viewed as sympathetic only to Palestinians, Annie Weidman said as she shopped for Passover groceries this weekend.
In the months that followed, Lee “calmed down her rhetoric,” said Weidman, 63. “And I do understand her position of being very much for the Palestinian people because it’s really, really awful, and I totally get it.”
“Everybody has sort of moved to her position rather than the other way around,” Weidman, who voted early for Lee, added later.
Since October, some 34,000 Palestinians, including 13,000 children, have been killed in Gaza, according to local health authorities. And although the House of Representatives approved a new tranche of aid for Israel on Saturday over the objections of 58 members, including Lee, top Democratic leaders, including President Biden and Sen. Majority Leader Charles E. Schumer (N.Y.), have sharpened their criticism of the Israeli government in recent weeks.
“What we’re seeing slowly but surely is not voters catching up to the Squad — it is other Democratic politicians catching up to where voters have been for months,” said Usamah Andrabi, the communications director for Justice Democrats, which works to elect liberals to Congress and has supported Lee’s reelection campaign.
Both Lee and her opponent, Edgewood Borough council member Bhavini Patel, dispute the idea that Tuesday’s election is primarily about the war. But voters here volunteer their thoughts on the topic without prompting. In Squirrel Hill, home to Patel’s campaign office, lawn signs bearing her name appear frequently next to ones reading “we stand with Israel.”
Patel has continued to criticize Lee’s position on the conflict.
“She’s clearly picked a side in this situation and completely disregards her entire district,” Patel said in an interview Saturday. “I think it’s important that any call for a cease-fire should acknowledge that hostages are still being held,” she added.
When Lee first ran for this seat two years ago, pro-Israel outside groups, including Democratic Majority for Israel and a PAC associated with the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) spent heavily in an attempt to defeat her, holding her to a 1,000-vote victory in the primary.
But neither the AIPAC-affiliated group nor Democratic Majority for Israel have intervened in this year’s primary, according to the most recent federal campaign finance filing data. Asked about the race, an AIPAC representative said the group is “already involved in several races, and we will be engaged in additional campaigns where we can have the greatest impact.” A representative for DMFI did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Instead, the Moderate PAC, a group backed by Republican megadonor Jeffrey Yass, has intervened in the race, airing television ads attacking Lee for “opposing Biden” as images of pro-abortion-rights protests and the Jan. 6, 2021, insurrection played on-screen.
Patel has denounced Yass and said that she considers herself “a principled progressive Democrat,” but Lee and her allies have worked to make the billionaire’s involvement in the race a liability for Patel. At a Sunday rally with Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.), supporters of Lee waved black-and-yellow signs reading “Move, Yass! Get out of the way” and “Stop Republican billionaires.”
Ocasio-Cortez characterized the Moderate PAC’s involvement as “an attempt to purchase and buy the seat back.” Attendees booed as she mentioned Yass and AIPAC. She stressed the importance of showing the world and “the people in that big White House” that Lee “is not alone,” and reminded voters that Tuesday’s primary is the first of several challenges to members of the Squad, including Jamaal Bowman of New York and Cori Bush of Missouri.
Voters here frequently bring up their faith when describing their vote, and religious leaders have expressed strong opinions about the candidates. Last fall, 40 Pittsburgh rabbis and cantors wrote an open letter denouncing Lee for being one of only nine Democrats to vote against a resolution avowing support for Israel and condemning Hamas. In a follow-up letter in March, many of the same rabbis and cantors accused her of using “divisive language, which, at times, we have perceived as openly antisemitic.”
In Squirrel Hill, home to a politically active and sizable Jewish community, the 14th Ward Independent Democratic Club, a local group that’s not formally affiliated with the party, endorsed Patel this year after backing Lee two years ago.
“Some people are not interested in combating antisemitism, and they’re not interested in hearing and talking with and representing the Jewish community in the same way they necessarily are other communities,” said Jeremy Kazzaz, a member of the club’s board and the president of the Beacon Coalition, a recently launched organization that aims to provide “voter education on issues of concern to the Jewish American community” and that has endorsed Patel.
But the city’s religious communities are far from united behind either candidate.
“This has been a very, very painful couple of years for the Pittsburgh Jewish community,” said Jared Magnani, 55. He is supporting Lee, noting he was “proud of her for the rapidity of her response calling for a cease-fire” because “just because we’re American Jews, it doesn’t mean that Israel merits an exemption from allegations of significant human rights abuses and crimes against humanity.”
Weidman’s husband, Larry, 71, said he seriously considered supporting Patel before deciding to vote for Lee. “But it was never because of comments that Summer Lee made right after Oct. 7,” he said. “Some of the comments that she made, they’re not so out of the mainstream now.”
Maeve Reston contributed to this report.