1 of 2 | Rep. Summer Lee, pictured here in November 2022 as a Democratic member of the Pennsylvania House of Representatives, won her party's nomination to seek re-election for the 12 Congressional District of her state in the House of Representatives. File Photo by Archie Carpenter/UPI |
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April 23 (UPI) -- Rep. Summer Lee of the so-called progressive Squad of House representatives handily won the Democratic nomination in a race closely watched Tuesday as Pennsylvanians voted in the Republican and Democratic primaries.
With the nominees for the presidential race in November already set, attention turned to the Democratic primary for the 12 Congressional District -- one of 17 House seats in Pennsylvania up for election in November -- where incumbent Lee decisively beat challenger Bhavini Patel for their party's nomination.
Unofficial results from the state show Lee won 60% of the vote to Patel's 39%. She will take on Republican candidate James Hayes who ran unopposed.
Though the race was about several issues, it garnered national attention as Lee has been a strong proponent for a cease-fire in the Israel-Hamas war who has also described Israel's treatment of Palestinians as genocide. She also voted "no" on Saturday to national security bills to send military funding to Ukraine, Israel and Taiwan.
Patel had ran as a pro-Biden, party-line candidate. She had chastised Lee for voting against the packages, attempting to frame the decision online as being "woefully out of step with the values of our district and our state."
In posting a live feed to her victory speech on X, Lee confronted the issue head on, writing in the caption: "Opposing genocide is good politics and good policy."
During her speech, she said that were many people who said "we could not be pro-peace and win in this district" and that the result of the night not only proved them wrong but showed that their progressive movement was growing and was big enough for everyone.
"We won't be ashamed and we won't put our heads down when we say that we want no more wars, when we say that people deserve dignity and human rights and self-determination whether they are Jewish or Muslim or Black or White or if they're in Gaza or if they're in Pakistan or if you're in Haiti or if you're in Sudan of if you're in St. Louis or if you're in New York," she said.
"Our movement is connecting the dots all over this world and we are calling for a just and lasting peace."
Though the nominees for the presidential race are already set, state unofficial results show President Joe Biden secured 93% of the vote share in the race with Rep. Dean Phillips of Minnesota, who dropped out of contention in March, garnering the remaining 6%.
In the Republican race, former President Donald Trump won 83%, with Nikki Haley, former governor of South Carolina who also dropped out in March, netting more than 16% of the vote.
Polls opened at 7 a.m. EDT and remained open until 8 p.m.
U.S. Sen. Bob Casey, a Democrat, is running for re-election against Republican David McCormick. Both Casey and McCormick ran unopposed in their respective primaries.
Nominees for state offices were determined by Tuesday's primaries, including for what will be an open attorney general's office, as current Attorney General Michelle Henry, a Democrat, is not running for re-election.
Henry was appointed to office in 2023 after former attorney general Josh Shapiro was elected governor.
Eugene DePasquale won a tight race for the Democratic nomination for attorney general, beating out four other contenders with nearly 36% of the vote.
"It's official, we are the Dem nominee for attorney general!" he said on X Tuesday night. Thank you for trusting me to take on the fight against #MAGA extremism."
MAGA is the acronym for the far-right Make America Great Again nativist political movement, made popular by Trump.
On the Republican side of that race, David Sunday trounced Wendell Craig Williams, the only other contended, with 70% of the vote to 29%.
Erin McClelland, a government consultant and behavioral health worker, bested Ryan Bizzarro, a former state legislator, to be the Democrat nominee to challenge Republican State Treasurer Stacy Garrity.
Unofficial state results show that McClelland won 54% of the vote to Bizzarro's 45%.
According to the Pennsylvania Department of State voter registration records from September, there are more than 8.7 million registered voters in Pennsylvania. Democrats represent a small majority of registered voters with more than 3.8 million. There are more than 3.4 million registered Republicans and about 1.2 million unaffiliated or "other" voters.
The Senate and House races across the country will be critical as Republicans and Democrats vie for control in Congress. Democrats currently hold a narrow majority in the Senate. Likewise, Republicans have a slim majority in the House which has created challenges for passing legislation in the past year.
The Keystone State was one of the crucial swing states won by President Joe Biden in 2020. Biden was born in Scranton, Pa.
