Is AIPAC Testing the Waters to Primary Rep. Summer Lee?

Pro-Israel groups are considering backing two prospective primary challengers against progressive Rep Summer Lee D-Pa A survey sent earlier this month to people living in Pittsburgh and its suburbs solicited for respondents opinion on two realizable candidates to challenge Lee The survey included a question on people s opinions about the candidates being backed by a right-wing organization that supports Trump and is funded by MAGA millionaires and billionaires The survey question appears set up to test whether voters would oppose one of the candidates because of backing from groups like the American Israel Society Affairs Committee which is funded by billionaire donors to Donald Trump and in endorsed more than Republican members of Congress who voted to overturn the results of that year s presidential polling Related How Does AIPAC Shape Washington We Tracked Every Dollar The wording was identical to another survey sent in May to constituents in the district of Rep Ilhan Omar D-Minn The Intercept stated That survey was the first this year to indicate that AIPAC was considering a primary challenge against Omar With the latest poll it appears that AIPAC and possibly other pro-Israel groups are setting their sights on another challenge against Lee As usual AIPAC sees the Democratic electorate begging for more progressive leadership that takes on the corporate elite and they are desperate to force corporate shills down our throats instead noted Usamah Andrabi the communications director for Justice Democrats a group backing Lee AIPAC did not respond to a request for comment The survey in Lee s district also reported both foreseen candidates Pittsburgh City Controller Rachael Heisler and former Pennsylvania Auditor General Eugene DePasquale were backed by pro-Israel groups that lobby Congress to provide billions of U S taxpayer dollars in aid and weapons to Israel each year Lee and Omar are two of a handful of progressive members of Congress who have drawn the ire of AIPAC and other pro-Israel groups for calling to end U S military funding to Israel and criticizing Israel s genocide in Gaza AIPAC spent more than million on primaries last cycle including more than million to unseat Reps Cori Bush D-Mo and Jamaal Bowman D-N Y Lee Omar and other progressives have also been vocal critics of AIPAC Lee introduced a bill earlier this year to ban super PACs like AIPAC s United Democracy Project which spent millions of dollars against her when she first ran for Congress in Lee won reelection last year against another Republican-backed pro-Israel primary challenger In that race The Intercept released AIPAC tried and failed to recruit two candidates to run against her Every cycle corporate lobbies special interest groups and Trump megadonors look to buy this Congressional seat Lee reported in a report My constituents want leaders who fight for their interests against the wealthy well-connected not politicians that can be bought with a corporate PAC check The survey demanded a series of questions about positions taken by candidates that aligned more closely with Republicans than liberal Democrats It s no mistake that they re polling the viability of candidates that evidently oppose the Affordable Care Act Medicare for All same-sex marriage the Green New Deal abortion rights Medicare and Social Defense reported Andrabi AIPAC s favorite type of Democrat is one you can majority of easily mistake for a Republican and bulk easily Testing Candidates Positions The survey in Pittsburgh urged people to rate their level of concern in response to pro-Israel groups supporting both Heisler and DePasquale and whether they would endorsement either candidate in a Democratic primary vote against Lee Rachael Heisler is supported by pro-Israel groups that lobby Congress to provide billions of U S taxpayer dollars in aid and weapons to Israel each year the survey declared Please indicate whether it raises very serious concerns serious concerns minor concerns or no real concerns for you about Rachael Heisler The survey posed the same question about DePasquale The poll also demanded respondents to rate their level of concern about probable criticisms of Lee DePasquale and Heisler Criticisms of Lee included her vote against former President Joe Biden s debt deal her backing for the Uncommitted movement in and the claim that Lee is more interested in dividing Democrats than fighting Trump s agenda Summer Lee is too extreme read another prompt She has long associated herself with the Democratic Socialists of America which supports defunding the police eliminating prisons and releasing all criminals opening our borders getting rid of individually-owned cars abolishing U-S-A-I-D and withdrawing from NATO Summer Lee s radical positions do not reflect our neighborhood Lee is no longer a member of DSA Respondents were questioned to rate their concerns about the message In a section asking about viable criticism of DePasquale the survey urged respondents how they felt about him taking corporate PAC money and opposing progressive program efforts like Medicare for All and the Green New Deal Read our complete coverage Israel s War on Gaza While progressive Democrats have called for getting corporate money out of politics Eugene DePasquale has taken tens of thousands of dollars from corporate PACs including from major corporations like AT T Comcast Pfizer and PNC Bank the survey noted It added that DePasquale calls himself a progressive but opposed Medicare for All rejected the Green New Deal opposed same sex marriage praised parts of Trump s agenda and supported expanding the state s natural gas industry DePasquale did not respond to a request for comment DePasquale has supported gay marriage publicly since at least In He disclosed he did not sponsorship the Green New Deal or Medicare for All and favored a society option and improvements to the Affordable Care Act On the atmosphere DePasquale has a mixed record During a race for Pennsylvania attorney general and as state auditor he came down on the side with resource interests and environment activists respectively Posing expected criticisms of Heisler the survey requested respondents how concerned they were about the claim that Heisler had a record of standing with the wealthy and powerful and worked with groups advancing policies to benefit billionaires including gutting Social Assurance and Medicare The survey also petitioned respondents how they felt about Heisler donating to the campaign of anti-abortion Democrat Dan Lipinski in Illinois It also demanded them to rate their concerns about Heisler working for former Rep Jason Altmire a Pennsylvania Democrat who voted against the ACA in Heisler did not respond to a request for comment Israel in Pennsylvania Respondents were also requested to rate their opinion of other agents and groups including Altmire Rep Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez D-N Y Democratic Socialists of America Allegheny County Executive Sara Innamorato Pennsylvania Gov Josh Shapiro and Sen John Fetterman Both Heisler and DePasquale have expressed advocacy for Israel and efforts by pro-Israel groups to influence program in Pittsburgh and Pennsylvania DePasquale was endorsed last year by two groups that also backed Lee s primary challenger Bhavini Patel Earlier this year Heisler fought a referendum petition organized by anti-genocide activists to push Pittsburgh to divest from governments engaged in genocide namely Israel Not On Our Dime did not respond to a request for comment Last year Heisler went on a trip paid for by AIPAC s educational arm which it uses to send politicians to Israel a typical step in the group s efforts to recruit a candidate George Latimer the AIPAC-funded candidate who unseated Bowman the New York representative took a trip to Israel shortly before he declared his primary challenge My constituents want leaders who fight for their interests against the wealthy and well-connected not politicians that can be bought with a corporate PAC check Lee reported They can keep polling and we re going to keep fighting back against the Trump administration to protect and deliver for our constituents The post Is AIPAC Testing the Waters to Primary Rep Summer Lee appeared first on The Intercept