Rep. Summer Lee on Pennsylvania Politics, Biden, Gaza, and More

Bill Clark/Getty Images

Rep. Summer Lee, the first Black woman to represent Pennsylvania in Congress and a member of the progressive group of young representatives of color dubbed “the Squad,” is used to being the target of big money. During her initial bid for Congress in 2022, she was targeted by the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC). Now running as the incumbent in Pennsylvania’s April 23 elections, Lee is facing a primary opponent who is backed by big money.

This time around, Lee — after having seemingly scared AIPAC off from putting money into her election, according to recent reporting from Semafor — she is the target of Pennsylvania’s richest man, Jeffrey Yass, who is supposedly in line to become treasury secretary in a potential second Trump administration.

Yass allegedly gave some $800,000 to the Moderate PAC, an outside group that supports centrist Democrats and is backing Lee’s primary opponent, Democrat Bhavini Patel. Patel's campaign recently failed to disclose a large donation, violating campaign finance laws.

The Philadelphia Inquirer has reported that Lee is now “Pennsylvania’s most progressive representative and the state’s lone Democratic incumbent facing a serious challenger in April’s primary.” Rep. Lee expected it, she tells Teen Vogue: “We knew when they came against me last time, this was not going to be the last time that they tried this."

Teen Vogue catches up with the congresswoman to get her perspective on big money donors like Yass, her feelings about President Biden, the future of Democracy, and being part of the legendary Squad as she finishes her own primary campaign.

This conversation has been condensed and lightly edited for clarity.

Teen Vogue: You have been a target of big money in your elections due to your politics. How have you handled that?

Rep. Summer Lee: We attract those types of people who really want to keep progressive Black women voices out of Congress. We rely heavily on the momentum and the progressive grassroots energy that we have harnessed in this region. We built relationships in this region that we had to hope would inoculate us from some of the bigger pieces of disinformation they are inclined to spread against us. Nobody should have this type of influence in our politics and our policies.

Jeff Yass, who is undeniably not a Democrat, is someone who has used all of his wealth to erode public education in Pennsylvania, and to erode abortion rights. That he's playing in the Democratic primaries needs to be a red flag to the Democratic Party, about whether this is the trajectory we want for our democracy and our democratic institutions.

So we've been trying to raise that, while also doing the work of winning this election, cautioning [Americans about] what this does to democracy, and keeping my job.

TV: In your 2022 Top Ten with Teen Vogue, you gave President Biden a B grade on his presidency. Since that interview, where do you think he’s succeeded? How do you think he can do better to honor his youth voting base?

SL: The IRA (Inflation Reduction Act), getting that signed into law is monumental. For western Pennsylvania, it has meant taking tremendous steps toward cleaning our air and water — western Pennsylvania has some of the worst air quality in the nation.

[Biden] has consistently fought for student loan debt relief. In the face of so many impediments and barriers from the Republicans, he has consistently pushed through. It's such an admirable thing. He has done a wonderful job trying to be responsive, particularly to some young people and some of the marginalized people who had real impediments that we need leadership to break down.

One of the things that I am vocal about is my support for ceasefire, a just and lasting peace, in Gaza and in Israel. I think that a lot of young people would like to see a difference in tone and a difference in approach to foreign policy. I would like to see not just our president, but our entire party and our entire country, look at this differently and really do an analysis of whether we are helping or harming in the cause of peace.

TV: How do you think voters disillusioned with Biden over Gaza should approach the general election?

SL: In primaries, that is our time to fight like hell. We use primaries when we're maximizing our organizing powers. I see primaries as important places to do that, and [low-stakes] places to voice your deepest fears and fight them, and start to shape the party and help us move in that direction. It's our time to decide between what we have left, what direction we want our country to go, and who we want to be at the helm of our country.

In a general election, what I like to hope is that so many of these young people, so many of these folks who have come out in the general and the primaries to express their concerns, get the answers, and they realize how important they are to our democratic processes. That they feel valued, and that that feeling of value and being centered translates into them coming and voting in November.

That's our job to do between now and then, to make them feel valued and make them feel like we understand your concerns, and we recognize that we need to look differently at some of the issues that you're bringing up.

TV: How have you managed the pressure of being “the first” Black woman to represent Pennsylvania in Congress, while also focusing on the work at hand in Congress?

SL: The remarkable thing is that we are in the midst of a huge push to honor and lift up and affirm Black women's voices in our national politics. We're all coming in as “first,” which means that we kind of have a little “first” caucus. We're navigating this system together. It's so difficult to hold so many things, so many responsibilities at once.

I recognize that as the first Black woman from Pennsylvania that I represent, first and foremost, the people of Pennsylvania's 12th Congressional District. But I also recognize that I represent people who feel underrepresented in our government, not just in Pennsylvania, but all over. I recognize that I represent the hopes, dreams, and visions of young people and progressive people at the exact same time, all while trying to navigate an institution that is absolutely hostile to so many of these identities.

We have to make sure people recognize that when we walk into these halls of Congress that we're not alone, because if we go alone, this place will eat you up. We have to find a way of not just fitting in, because if we just fit in, we become the very institution we're attempting to transform to fit us. That's an everyday challenge.

TV: You’re seen as a member of the Squad, whose members young people are working hard to support in your and other reelection campaigns. What’s it like to be part of that group?

SL: The Squad represents what's possible in our politics, and I think that frightens people, or makes them uncomfortable. This idea that we can do our politics differently, that we actually can center the people and not the corporations, not the money… It's an honor to be here as a reinforcement, to be able to say, “You aren't alone.”

The Squad, the progressive movement, is so much bigger than just the eight of us. The Squad is all of these young people who are fighting to keep us elected, all of them across the country who are fighting to expand our numbers, all the people who are fighting in movements, whether it be for clean air, clean water, gun control, or getting money out of politics. All of those movements, and the ways we need outside movements to help us push Congress to be its better self, converge on the Squad.

For me it's been an honor to be a congressperson. It's an even greater honor to be able to serve with my sisters and [Rep.] Jamaal [Bowman], to really fight for the hopes and dreams of a number of generations, especially our youngest generations that are growing in their own power.

TV: Before becoming a member of the US Congress, you served as the representative of your district in the Pennsylvania State House. What have you learned in your transition from PA's State House to the US Congress?

SL: This is gonna be the silliest analogy: I took, like, five years of Spanish when I was in high school, but I didn't learn that much Spanish. When I went to college, I switched to French, and because I had the foundations of Latin, it actually helped me learn French a lot faster. I speak the same way about my transition from the Pennsylvania State House to Congress.

I wasn't at the state house very long, but I had critical experiences. Learning how these systems work when I got to Congress — again, huge emphasis on having people who were already there and people who came in with me at the same time to navigate these choppy waters. I cannot overstate how critical that was for me. I came in with people who were ready to stand side by side with me, who were ready to fight and do politics differently.

Above all of that, it's been a great transition because I have a great team. Because of our moral clarity, it makes it so much easier to navigate.

TV: How do the issues facing us at home in Pennsylvania and the ways you’ve been addressing them translate across the US?

SL: We're a microcosm of so many of the national debates playing out right now, from the environmental justice debate to how do we address climate change. Pennsylvania as a whole, especially as the second-largest gas-producing state, we have a say in that. That's not a national debate; it is a state debate. That is a local debate for us. How we model a just transition is going to be a blueprint for how the rest of the country can implement a just transition that includes and values the voices of the marginalized in frontline communities.

These national issues play out in Pennsylvania just as much as they play out anywhere else. We understand that there is no such thing as a national debate that doesn't have local implications, or a local debate that doesn't have national implications. I think Pennsylvania really exemplifies that.

TV: What are your priorities heading into this election? How would you be better for your district than your opponent?

SL: We are building a reflective democracy that centers the values of the majority of Americans. [Among the priorities] I have is democracy reform. The first priority that we as Democrats need to have is addressing the issue of money in politics, because it keeps us from having a democracy [that reflects us].

I've been able to help build coalitions that we've not seen in western Pennsylvania. We bring in so many voters who would otherwise feel like there is no place for them, no home for them in our party and our politics.… The work that we have done to expand the electorate, to bring in Black and brown voters, young ones, and progressive ones to the voting process, benefits the Democratic Party, and that's what we're going to need, that very coalition, to win in November.

This year we've proved that progressives can govern progressively. We can govern [by] centering the most marginalized and vulnerable communities. We can lift up through Congress, we can fight back against cruel cuts they are accustomed to taking. We can build relationships across communities that people think progressives don't [work with]. We've shown that you can do both: You can still do that traditional politicking, but you can do it progressively, and you can do it in a way that doesn't exclude and lock out marginalized people, but actually centers them. I think that's the model for what our country needs right now, and we bring that.

Stay up-to-date with the politics team. Sign up for the Teen Vogue Take

Originally Appeared on Teen Vogue

News and Politics: Mid Hero