Summer Lee

Lee was born in 1987 and grew up in western Pennsylvania’s Mon Valley.[1][3] At an April 2022 town hall with Pittsburgh Jewish voters, she connected the region’s poverty and racism to redlining, predatory lending, underfunded schools, and shortages of food, medical care, and transportation.[8] She said she decided to attend law school to champion people with experiences like her own.[8]

In congressional testimony on environmental oversight, Lee connected her upbringing to her concern about pollution and environmental justice.[3] She described environmental hazards as disproportionately affecting Black, Brown, and low-income communities.[3] In those remarks, she asserted that her county ranked in the top one percent nationally for cancer risk from air pollution and that cancer rates in her hometown of North Braddock were more than twice the national rate.[3]

Lee won election to Pennsylvania’s House of Representatives in the 34th district in 2018.[8] By the 2022 congressional campaign, she was a progressive state representative seeking the open seat being vacated by retiring Congressman Mike Doyle.[9]

Congressional Elections

Lee narrowly won the 2022 Democratic primary for Pennsylvania’s newly created 12th Congressional District.[10] The race was called on May 20, three days after voting, with Lee leading attorney Steve Irwin by slightly more than 700 votes, a margin below one percent.[10] Other candidates included Jerry Dickinson, who received 10.8 percent, Jeff Woodard, with 4.8 percent, and William Parker, with 1.5 percent, in the state tallies reported at the time.[10] During the primary, approximately $2.3 million in spending by a pro-Israel super PAC was reported, mostly supporting Irwin.[9]

In the general election, Lee faced Republican Mike Doyle.[10] She was projected to win the Pittsburgh-area district; with 74 percent of votes reported, she had more than 58 percent, and major outlets had called the race.[11] The AIPAC-affiliated United Democracy Project spent about $1 million opposing her in the general election, an unusual departure from its focus on primary contests.[11] Lee entered Congress in 2023 as the first Black woman to represent Pennsylvania there.[1][2]

In 2024, Lee defeated Bhavini Patel in the Democratic primary.[12] A pre-primary survey gave Lee a net favorability rating of +27, compared with Senator John Fetterman’s +49 in the same poll.[12] Her vote count in Pittsburgh’s 14th Ward, which includes Squirrel Hill, was nearly 21 percent lower than in 2022.[12] She subsequently won nearly 57 percent of the general-election vote against Republican James Hayes.[12] She was reelected on November 3, 2026.[13]

Israel and U.S. Foreign Policy

In a May 14, 2021 social-media post during the Israel–Hamas war, Lee criticized U.S. politicians’ use of the phrase “Israel has the right to defend itself” in response to what she called atrocities against a marginalized population.[9] She also compared Israeli actions with the treatment of young Black men in the United States.[9]

At her April 2022 town hall, Lee said Israel had a right to exist as a Jewish democratic state and acknowledged the need for a safe haven for Jews.[8] Asked whether Israel was an apartheid state, she said she did not know and was not sufficiently versed in the issue.[8] She supported funding legitimate defense mechanisms such as Iron Dome while favoring conditions on U.S. aid tied to human rights and peace, including measures against annexation and settlement expansion.[8] Explaining her earlier posts, she said U.S. politicians should have spoken up for Palestinians and compared Israel’s actions against Palestinians to the killing of Trayvon Martin.[8]

In July 2023, Lee voted against a House resolution declaring that Israel “is not a racist or apartheid state,” rejecting antisemitism and xenophobia, and affirming U.S. support for Israel.[14] The measure passed 412–9, with one member voting present.[14] Lee said she rejected antisemitism and xenophobia but could not support “unconditional support of any nation-state,” arguing that allies should be pressed to uphold human rights and democratic values.[14]

Lee was also among 17 cosponsors of proposed legislation restricting aid to Israel and voted against a resolution marking Israel’s 75th anniversary and supporting expansion of the Abraham Accords.[6] She and several other progressive representatives did not attend Israeli President Isaac Herzog’s July 2023 address to a joint session of Congress.[6]

After Hamas’s October 7, 2023 attack on Israel, Lee began calling for a ceasefire.[15] On October 16, she cosponsored H.Res.786, which called for immediate de-escalation and a ceasefire in Israel and the occupied Palestinian territories and urged the Biden administration to facilitate humanitarian assistance into Gaza.[5] The resolution was referred to the House Committee on Foreign Affairs on October 25.[5]

In a July 24, 2024 House floor speech, Lee criticized Israel’s military conduct in Gaza, U.S. weapons provision, and the decision to welcome Benjamin Netanyahu to address Congress.[16] Comparing congressional responses to Netanyahu and Vladimir Putin, she said: “When Putin commits war crimes, we condemn him. When Netanyahu commits war crimes, we give him excuses and bombs.”[16]

On September 18, 2024, Lee introduced H.R.9649, the UNRWA Funding Emergency Restoration Act of 2024.[7] The bill proposed restoring funding for the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East.[7] In a 2025 statement on a ceasefire deal, she called a ceasefire “a critical step to ending the genocide, surging aid, and reuniting Palestinian and Israeli families,” and said the agreement must hold.[15] She also called for an arms embargo against Israel.[15]

Antisemitism and Pittsburgh Synagogue Recovery

On October 26, 2023, Lee introduced H.Res.819 to recognize the fifth anniversary of the antisemitic attack at Pittsburgh’s Tree of Life synagogue, honor those killed, and condemn rising antisemitism.[4] The resolution was referred to the House Committee on Oversight and Accountability that day.[4]

In 2023, Lee said she was working to secure $3,451,258 for Tree of Life Congregation to create a community gathering and education space addressing antisemitism and identity in its renovated building.[17] She also sought $547,212 for the 10.27 Healing Partnership to address continuing trauma from the shooting before and after the trial.[17] These were proposed funding efforts, rather than announcements of money already received.[17] At the start of the trial, she said: “NOW is the time to invest in healing, care for ongoing trauma, and education about antisemitism and identity.”[17]

In a statement marking the seventh anniversary of the October 27, 2018 synagogue shooting, which killed 11 Jewish worshippers, Lee denounced “hatred in all its forms.”[18]

Lee’s election established her as the first Black woman to represent Pennsylvania in Congress.[2] Her congressional service includes the 118th and 119th Congresses.[1] Her legislative record encompasses recognition of the Pittsburgh synagogue attack and condemnation of antisemitism, a Gaza ceasefire resolution, and proposed restoration of UNRWA funding.[4][5][7]

Lee’s positions on Israel became a point of dispute during the 2024 campaign: AIPAC criticized her record, while J Street continued to endorse her.[6] A cohost of a J Street fundraiser described her as an advocate for Israeli peace and security.[6] These differing organizational responses did not constitute a single shared position among Pittsburgh’s Jewish voters.[6]

A 2026 political analysis classified Lee among Democratic “Left Progressives,” a faction it characterized as opposing military aid and arms sales to Israel, including defensive systems, and typically accusing Israel of genocide and apartheid.[19] That faction-level classification did not establish that Lee individually endorsed every position assigned to the group.[19]

Written congressional testimony dated November 15, 2023 identified Lee among lawmakers who had met with AJP Action, described there as the lobbying arm of American Muslims for Palestine.[20] The testimony did not specify the date or substance of her meeting.[20]