Having tried and failed to prevent Summer Lee from winning the Democratic nomination for the open U.S. House seat in Pennsylvania’s 12th Congressional District earlier this year, a super PAC formed by the American Israel Public Affairs Committee is now spending against the progressive candidate in her race against Republican Mike Doyle.
According to new federal filings, the United Democracy Project (UDP) has dropped nearly $80,000 on mailers opposing Lee, who overcame millions in UDP spending to win the district’s May primary over corporate lawyer Steve Irwin.
During that race, UDP — which is funded by prominent Republican billionaires — attempted to cast Lee as insufficiently loyal to the Democratic Party. In one ad, AIPAC’s group slammed Lee for “fighting Democrats,” pointing to her past criticism of the party’s leadership and direction.
But UDP’s campaign to ensure Lee’s defeat to a Republican in the general election further exposes its primary attacks as cynical.
As Haaretz reported Monday, UDP’s general election intervention represents the group’s “first-ever spend in a Democrat vs. Republican election battle.”
“UDP came under significant scrutiny during the primary cycle for its tactics, all while being significantly bankrolled by gifts from Republican megadonors,” the newspaper observed. “It spent a total of $26.2 million — exclusively on Democratic primaries — with $10.5 million funding attack ads in the nine races in which it directly involved itself, making UDP among the greatest spenders this cycle.”
Usamah Andrabi, candidate communications director for Justice Democrats, wrote in response to news of UDP’s spending against Lee that it “seems like AIPAC and the GOP have the same agenda.”
.@AIPAC’s first spend of the general election and it’s to beat a Democrat, @SummerForPA, and elect an extremist anti-choice Republican who wants to kick seniors off Social Security & Medicare.
Seems like AIPAC & the GOP have the same agenda !! https://t.co/6NNSPr8SF3
— usamah andrabi (@usamahandrabi) October 31, 2022
UDP’s general election spending was disclosed just over a week before the November 8 midterms, in which Democrats are looking to keep their majorities and expand their margins in the U.S. House and Senate.
Axios reported Sunday that the National Republican Congressional Committee, the GOP’s House campaign arm, is making a six-figure investment in Pennsylvania’s 12th District, an indication that the party sees the contest as winnable. The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee has also invested in the race, as has House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s PAC — though the latter has donated just $2,000 to Lee.
Fueling Democrats’ concerns about the contest is the peculiar fact that the GOP candidate has the same name as retiring 14-term Democratic Rep. Mike Doyle (D-Pa.), prompting some reports of voter confusion — and accusations that the Republican Doyle is attempting to capitalize on possible mix-ups.
“They say, ‘I’m not going to vote for Summer Lee because she’s running against Mike Doyle,'” said Katie Forsythe, a member of Westmoreland County’s Democratic Committee, relaying voter statements she’s encountered while knocking on doors for Lee.
Earlier this month, outgoing Democratic Rep. Doyle announced his retirement for the second time in an effort to make clear that it’s not him on the midterm ballot.
Truthout Is Preparing to Meet Trump’s Agenda With Resistance at Every Turn
Dear Truthout Community,
If you feel rage, despondency, confusion and deep fear today, you are not alone. We’re feeling it too. We are heartsick. Facing down Trump’s fascist agenda, we are desperately worried about the most vulnerable people among us, including our loved ones and everyone in the Truthout community, and our minds are racing a million miles a minute to try to map out all that needs to be done.
We must give ourselves space to grieve and feel our fear, feel our rage, and keep in the forefront of our mind the stark truth that millions of real human lives are on the line. And simultaneously, we’ve got to get to work, take stock of our resources, and prepare to throw ourselves full force into the movement.
Journalism is a linchpin of that movement. Even as we are reeling, we’re summoning up all the energy we can to face down what’s coming, because we know that one of the sharpest weapons against fascism is publishing the truth.
There are many terrifying planks to the Trump agenda, and we plan to devote ourselves to reporting thoroughly on each one and, crucially, covering the movements resisting them. We also recognize that Trump is a dire threat to journalism itself, and that we must take this seriously from the outset.
After the election, the four of us sat down to have some hard but necessary conversations about Truthout under a Trump presidency. How would we defend our publication from an avalanche of far right lawsuits that seek to bankrupt us? How would we keep our reporters safe if they need to cover outbreaks of political violence, or if they are targeted by authorities? How will we urgently produce the practical analysis, tools and movement coverage that you need right now — breaking through our normal routines to meet a terrifying moment in ways that best serve you?
It will be a tough, scary four years to produce social justice-driven journalism. We need to deliver news, strategy, liberatory ideas, tools and movement-sparking solutions with a force that we never have had to before. And at the same time, we desperately need to protect our ability to do so.
We know this is such a painful moment and donations may understandably be the last thing on your mind. But we must ask for your support, which is needed in a new and urgent way.
We promise we will kick into an even higher gear to give you truthful news that cuts against the disinformation and vitriol and hate and violence. We promise to publish analyses that will serve the needs of the movements we all rely on to survive the next four years, and even build for the future. We promise to be responsive, to recognize you as members of our community with a vital stake and voice in this work.
Please dig deep if you can, but a donation of any amount will be a truly meaningful and tangible action in this cataclysmic historical moment.
We’re with you. Let’s do all we can to move forward together.
With love, rage, and solidarity,
Maya, Negin, Saima, and Ziggy