A neck-and-neck Democratic primary race for Pennsylvania’s 12th Congressional District has yielded a probable winner: Summer Lee, the 34-year-old state representative who ran on a progressive platform of environmental, social, and economic justice. Lee’s opponent, the more moderate but still left-of-center Pittsburgh-based attorney Steve Irwin, ran an aggressive, well-funded campaign that frequently criticized Lee for seeking to “dismantle the Democratic party.” Lee’s campaign has declared victory as she outpaces Irwin by just a few hundred votes. But as there are a few hundred left to count due to voting machine reporting delays, Irwin has not yet conceded.
Lee’s success in the primary is remarkable in that she supports an outright fracking ban, a rare position for a politician seeking to represent Pennsylvanians. In the primary for one of Pennsylvania’s Senate seats, Democratic candidates Conor Lamb and John Fetterman — the latter of whom has enjoyed significant media attention as an unconventional, progressive prospect — both refused to endorse a fracking ban. Lee’s opponent Irwin received enthusiastic support from Allegheny County Executive Rich Fitzgerald, who ha... Read more
