It's hard not to read the PA HD 34 primary results as evidence in the debate over whether protests in response to the murder of George Floyd will cause white suburban backlash. (quick thread)
(First pausing to emphasize that any debate over electoral consequence should not distract from the existential issues of race-based structural and physical violence Floyd's death reflected—nor from the urgency of supporting protestors putting themselves on the front lines now).
If suburban whites were going to react to the events of recent days by pulling back from progressive candidates or those speaking up for racial justice, we should have seen that yesterday in PA HD 34. It's a 70% white district, whose past was riven by court-ordered integration
Summer Lee won a stunning upset in 2018, ousting a 20 yr incumbent enmeshed in SWPA Dem establishment (white, male, socially conservative). A DSA member, Lee has placed racial justice & police accountability front & center in her activism from the start archive.theincline.com/2018/01/23/how…
Lee's opposition to fracking & support for healthcare worker organizing won her powerful enemies, & Allegheny County Dem powerbrokers worked hard to recruit & support a challenger to her this year. Here's a great article from @AndrewSeidman with context inquirer.com/politics/penns…
It has been, to put it mildly, a nasty campaign. With accusations that Lee was coddling criminals front and center pittsburghcurrent.com/pa-house-candi…
Summer Lee was prominent (alongside other electeds) at Saturday's massive protest march in response to Floyd's murder & demanding action against police violence. After 3 peaceful hours, the march ended with burning cars, tear gas, smashed windows, arrests triblive.com/local/pittsbur…
While emphasizing that those who attacked property at the end of the march went against organizers' plans & goals, unlike other local officials Lee has *not* leaned into the narrative that external agitators made the violence of police response unavoidable
Folks had been voting by mail for a month in this district; Election Day came yesterday. Any of Lee's tens of thousands of white suburban constituents who might have been newly angered by the events of the weekend could show up to the polls & vote for a centrist white man instead
When the first 7000 mail-in ballots were counted last night, Lee had won 74% of the vote
With two-thirds of Election Day precincts now reporting, Lee's winning share has risen to 77% of the vote.
I mean, sure, the rest of the precincts & latest arriving mail-in ballots could hold some surprises, but... 🤷♀️
I mean, sure, the rest of the precincts & latest arriving mail-in ballots could hold some surprises, but... 🤷♀️
Update: 94% of precincts in, and Summer Lee holds 76% of the 14,000+ votes cast. Meanwhile, this👇today. When there are moms in the mall parking lot in Pleasant Hills protesting in support of #BlackLivesMatter ... we're in unprecedented political space
Huh: This
