Longtime Pennsylvania Democratic Sen. Bob Casey’s workplace has remained silent on whether or not the highly effective Keystone State lawmaker nonetheless endorses freshman Squad member Rep. Summer season Lee in gentle of backlash over her rhetoric on Israel.
Fox Information Digital reached out to Casey’s Senate workplace, press secretary, chief of employees and marketing campaign repeatedly this week to see if the Democratic lawmaker endorses Lee in 2024, however acquired no responses.
Pennsylvania will once more function a key battleground state this election cycle as former President Donald Trump and President Biden are anticipated to face a rematch in a state that narrowly voted for Trump in 2016, and elected Biden in 2020 at a 1.17% margin.
Casey can also be anticipated to have a tough election marketing campaign this yr as he defends his seat for the fourth time. His lack of response on whether or not he endorses the left-wing congresswoman and Squad member might imply a deepening divide between progressive Democrats and their extra average counterparts over stances on the battle in Israel.
WASHINGTON, DC – SEPTEMBER 25: U.S. Sen. Robert Casey (D-PA) speaks throughout a information convention on well being care September 25, 2017 on Capitol Hill in Washington, DC. Affected person teams gathered on Capitol Hill to urged to reject the Graham-Cassidy well being care invoice. (Photograph by Alex Wong/Getty Pictures) (Getty Pictures)
Final week, a information report surfaced detailing that Lee, who was first elected to signify Pennsylvania’s twelfth congressional district in 2022, eliminated Casey’s identify from a bit on her marketing campaign web site that communicates to tremendous PACs and different outside political groups that they may embody his endorsement in political adverts. The part of the web site is named a “red box,” and is utilized by political candidates to work round guidelines prohibiting political teams from straight coordinating with a marketing campaign.
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Jewish Insider reported final week that as lately as March 7, Casey’s identify was included inside the “red box” part on Rep. Lee’s marketing campaign website, however has since been eliminated and changed with Democratic Minority Chief Hakeem Jeffries’ identify and endorsement.
BALTIMORE – MARCH 2: Rep. Summer season Lee, D-Pa., speaks throughout Home Minority Whip Katherine Clarks information convention with freshman girls of the 118th Congress on the Home Democrats 2023 Points Convention in Baltimore, Md., on Thursday, March 2, 2023. (Invoice Clark/CQ-Roll Name, Inc through Getty Pictures) (Getty Pictures)
“In her first year in office, Congresswoman Summer Lee has worked with the Biden Administration to deliver $1.2 billion dollars in investments (see video) to Allegheny and Westmoreland counties to improve transportation, create green jobs, clean our air and water, and expand affordable housing. That’s why she’s endorsed by the Democratic Party, Democratic Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, Pennsylvania AFL-CIO State Labor Council, SEIU and Planned Parenthood,” a bit of the purple field on the marketing campaign web site reads as of March 19.
Fox Information Digital reached out a number of occasions to Lee’s congressional workplace, chief of employees, press secretary and marketing campaign for touch upon why Casey’s identify was faraway from that part of the web site, however didn’t obtain any responses. Lee’s workplace additionally didn’t touch upon questions concerning whether or not Casey endorses Lee’s 2024 run and if the identify elimination was associated to the battle in Israel.
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Casey’s identify continues to be listed amongst a big swath of native and nationwide political figures on Lee’s official endorsements web page on her web site, alongside Lee’s fellow Squad members akin to Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, and Progressive Caucus chair Rep. Pramila Jayapal.
(L-R) US Consultant Summer season Lee, Democrat of Pennsylvania, embraces US Consultant Rashida Tlaib, Democrat of Michigan, as US President Joe Biden delivers the State of the Union handle within the Home Chamber of the US Capitol in Washington, DC, on March 7, 2024. (Photograph by ANDREW CABALLERO-REYNOLDS / AFP) (Photograph by ANDREW CABALLERO-REYNOLDS/AFP through Getty Pictures) (Getty Pictures)
Lee’s district is situated in southwestern Pennsylvania, and contains Pittsburgh and far of Allegheny County. Pittsburgh is residence to a big Jewish neighborhood, and the place the 2018 mass capturing on the synagogue Tree of Life killed 11 folks and wounded six others throughout Shabbat morning companies.
Lee has come beneath hearth in current months from pro-Israel teams and the Jewish neighborhood for her rhetoric on the battle in Israel, together with an open letter signed by dozens of rabbis condemning Lee for her “divisive rhetoric” they mentioned has been “perceived as openly antisemitic.”
Jewish neighborhood leaders within the Pittsburgh space have taken situation with Lee calling for a ceasefire shortly following the battle starting in Israel, for voting towards a decision backing Israel and condemning Hamas in October, in addition to agreeing to attend a Muslim advocacy group’s occasion this month earlier than backing out.
The March letter was additionally signed by a handful of rabbis in Lee’s neighboring district, which is represented by Democratic Congressman Chris Deluzio. Fox Information Digital reached out to Deluzio’s marketing campaign and congressional workplace this week asking if he endorses Lee’s 2024 marketing campaign, however didn’t obtain remark again.
“Chris Deluzio has been awfully quiet when it comes to Summer Lee’s extreme antisemitism, and that’s unacceptable. Why won’t Deluzio say a word while Jewish groups in his own district are speaking out against her?” Nationwide Republican Congressional Committee spokesman Mike Marinella instructed Fox Information Digital of Deluzio.
Earlier media stories detailed that powerful pro-Israel lobbying group, the American Israel Public Affairs Committee, had labored to recruit a candidate to problem Lee this election cycle over her Israel stance, after spending $5 million towards her marketing campaign in 2022, the Intercept reported. Shortly following the outbreak of battle in Gaza, Lee joined fellow left-wing lawmakers in calling for a ceasefire in October, whereas President Biden and different Democrats pledged assist to Israel because it battled Hamas.
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In January, AIPAC tweeted a message that tagged Lee, fellow Squad members Reps. Jamaal Bowman and Cori Bush and others, stating “a Ceasefire Now keeps these monsters armed and in power.” AIPAC is the biggest pro-Israel PAC within the nation, and is predicted to spend $100 million this election cycle towards candidates they imagine should not sufficiently pro-Israel, Politico reported earlier this month.
That very same month, three high Home Democrats – Jeffries, Whip Katherine Clark and Democratic Caucus Chair Pete Aguilar – endorsed Lee’s re-election.
UNITED STATES – JANUARY 31: Rep. Summer season Lee, D-Pa., participates within the Home Oversight and Accountability Committee organizing assembly within the Rayburn Home Workplace Constructing on Tuesday, January 31, 2023. (Invoice Clark/CQ-Roll Name, Inc through Getty Pictures) (Getty Pictures)
“A civil rights champion, advocate for organized labor and the primary Black girl to signify Pennsylvania in Congress, Summer season Lee has labored tirelessly to ship for working households,” the three leaders mentioned in a press release in January.
The elimination of Casey’s identify from the “red box” web page on Lee’s marketing campaign web site might define a rising divide inside the Democratic Get together amid the battle in Israel.
Casey has lengthy been a Pennsylvania Democratic stalwart, first profitable his election to the U.S. Senate in 2007. The Casey identify additionally has deep roots within the state, with Bob Casey Sr., the senator’s father, serving because the Keystone State’s governor from 1987 to 1995, following years of serving in varied different elected roles.
This yr, Casey is dealing with an anticipated closely-watched and uphill battle to carry onto his seat – which the longtime senator even conceded in an interview with NBC Information final month. The Prepare dinner Political Report lists Casey’s seat as “leans Democrat,” whereas Casey’s 2024 race has repeatedly been listed as a must-watch this election cycle, as his seat might flip purple.
PHILADELPHIA, PA – NOVEMBER 05: (L-R) Actress Debra Messing, U.S. Sen Bob Casey (D-PA) recording artist Katy Perry and Democratic presidential nominee former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton greet supporters throughout a get-out-the-vote live performance on the Mann Heart for the Performing Arts on November 5, 2016 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. With three days to go till election day, Hillary Clinton is campaigning in Florida and Pennsylvania. (Photograph by Justin Sullivan/Getty Pictures) (Getty Pictures)
“It’ll be a close, tough race,” Casey mentioned final month. “But look, there’s a lot on the line every time. Every time I’ve run for public office in Pennsylvania, I’ve had to earn the vote and the trust of the people. And I got to do that, again.”
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Casey is predicted to face off towards Republican Dave McCormick following the state’s primaries. McCormick is an Military fight veteran and former CEO of hedge fund Bridgewater Associates, who served because the Commerce Division’s Below Secretary of Commerce for Business and Safety in addition to Below Secretary of the Treasury for Worldwide Affairs beneath former President George W. Bush’s administration. His spouse, Dina Powell, additionally served beneath former President Donald Trump’s administration as Deputy Nationwide Safety Advisor for Technique.
Republican U.S. Senate candidate Dave McCormick meets with Israeli officers. (Dave McCormick Marketing campaign / Fox Information Digital)
McCormick final month known as for Lee’s “immediate resignation” whereas making an attempt to rally Casey to hitch him within the demand in a video posted to X. The video message got here in response to outrage over Lee agreeing to seem as a speaker for a fundraiser hosted by the Philadelphia chapter of Muslim advocacy group, the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR).
Lee finally canceled her look, following backlash, saying the cancelation was meant “to prevent the Muslim community from being the target of any more politically motivated Islamophobia and to ensure my Jewish and LGBTQ+ constituents know their concerns are heard.”
McCormick has lengthy been calling out Lee’s rhetoric on Israel, together with proper after the battle started in October, when Lee claimed Israel bombed a hospital in Gaza – which was a story promoted by shops such because the New York Occasions in October, earlier than the Occasions backtracked and mentioned it “relied too heavily on claims by Hamas.”
McCormick known as on Casey to rescind his endorsement of Lee in a remark to Fox Information Digital.
“Summer Lee has been sowing the seeds of antisemitic hate as Hamas brutalizes the Israeli people. For Senator Bob Casey to sit idly by as she fails to stand up for Pittsburgh’s Jewish community, which she’s supposed to be representing, is dangerous. Casey needs to rescind his endorsement of Lee immediately. You can’t fight antisemitism and support Summer Lee,” McCormick instructed Fox Information Digital this week.
McCormick additionally addressed the report detailing how Lee’s marketing campaign quietly eliminated Casey’s identify from the “red box” part of the marketing campaign web site in a tweet final week, saying Casey ought to “come out and rescind his endorsement” of Lee, however is as a substitute taking the “say-nothing, do-nothing” strategy.
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A current Emerson School Polling/The Hill survey discovered McCormick is closing in on Casey, at 41% assist to Casey’s 45%. The identical ballot discovered Trump has 47% of Pennsylvania voters in comparison with Biden’s 43%.
Casey got here beneath hearth from police teams this week, when a pro-defund the police group, Indivisible Philadelphia endorsed the Senator. Folcroft Deputy Police Chief and Delaware County FOP Lodge 27 President Chris Eiserman held a press convention on Wednesday, the place he slammed Casey for aligning himself with the progressive group, whereas pledging his assist for McCormick within the election.
“At a time when there were four shootings in four days on our local public transit system, and law enforcement across the Commonwealth is understaffed, Casey’s decision to align himself with these defund the police activists is alarming and extremely dangerous,” Eiserman mentioned Wednesday.
Casey’s marketing campaign workplace did reply to Fox Information Digital’s request for remark concerning Indivisible Philadelphia’s endorsement this week, saying the senator has offered wanted instruments to regulation enforcement, whereas going after McCormick.
“Senator Casey has delivered hundreds of millions to fund bulletproof vests, SWAT gear, police cars, and ballistics shields for officers, and has worked alongside law enforcement to address threats like fentanyl trafficking,” marketing campaign spokesperson Maddy McDaniel mentioned. “David McCormick went against law enforcement when he opposed a border deal that was supported by border patrol, and he spent his career investing for the Chinese government, which is now teaming up with Mexican cartels to pump fentanyl into Pennsylvania. We can’t trust him to prioritize our safety — only his bottom line.”
The marketing campaign workplace didn’t handle whether or not Casey agrees with Indivisible Philadelphia’s assist of defunding the police in favor of funding social staff or medical professionals to deal with sure public questions of safety.
WASHINGTON, DC – FEBRUARY 15: Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu (C), stands with members of the U.S. Senate, (L-R), John Barrasso (R-WY), Ben Cardin (D-MD), Robert Casey (D-PA), Senate Minority Chief Chuck Schumer (D-NY), Senate Majority Chief Mitch McConnell (R-KY), Bob Menendez (R-NJ) and John McCain (R-AZ), throughout a gathering on the U.S. Capitol on February 15, 2017 in Washington, DC. (Photograph by Mark Wilson/Getty Pictures)
The Greater than 40 rabbis and Jewish leaders within the Pittsburgh space who printed the open letter this month condemned Lee for what they mentioned was her failing to come back by on a promise to “call out antisemitism and temper your own language.”
“Last fall we wrote to you with concerns about your rhetoric and votes in relation to the events of October 7 in Israel, the subsequent war and the rise in antisemitism in America,” the rabbis and Jewish leaders wrote within the letter. “You graciously agreed to meet with us, and in that meeting you promised us that you would call out antisemitism and temper your own language.”
“Sadly, three months later, you have not followed through on those commitments,” they wrote. The letter acknowledged Lee has “continued to use divisive rhetoric, which, at times, we have perceived as openly antisemitic.”
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Lee is dealing with a Democratic challenger within the major, which can be held on April 23, earlier than the final election on Nov. 5.
