PITTSBURGH — Rep. Summer Lee’s (D-PA) decision to campaign alongside Hasan Piker in Michigan has drawn sharp criticism from Democrats across her congressional district. State Rep. Dan Frankel, a Pittsburgh Democrat and a former colleague in the state House, was among those critical.
Frankel, a longtime Pittsburgh legislator, and state Sen. Judy Schwann of Berks County, said they were deeply alarmed by Lee’s decision to campaign alongside Piker, a commentator who has repeatedly trafficked in antisemitic statements.
Lee is a Democrat who represents Pennsylvania’s 12th Congressional District. The district is a strongly Democratic seat that sits mostly in the city of Pittsburgh. It includes the Squirrel Hill neighborhood, where in 2018 the massacre of 11 Jews at the Tree of Life Synagogue marked the largest mass killing of Jews in the country. Lee participated in rallies on college campuses in Michigan Tuesday in support of Senate candidate Abdul El Sayed.
“We lived that tragic reality in 2018, when a gunman shouted ‘all Jews must die’ as he murdered 11 Jews in their Squirrel Hill synagogues, and we saw it just weeks ago, when a suspect rammed his truck into a synagogue just an hour’s drive from the planned event featuring Piker and the congresswoman,” Frankel said.
Piker was the headline speaker for the rallies and has earned strident criticism from both Democrats and Republicans for a multitude of comments that include him saying “America deserved 9/11,” calling Haredi Orthodox Jews “inbred,” and his response to the Oct. 7, 2023, attacks in Israel.
Frankel said that public officials have an obligation to be unequivocal about the voices that they elevate and the company that they keep.
Lee has faced fire from both her constituents and fellow Democrats. In 2024, she was set to speak on a stage with speakers known for extremist and antisemitic rhetoric. Dozens of western Pennsylvania rabbis sent an open letter to Lee, sharing their concerns about her rhetoric on Israel.
Julie Paris, a Squirrel Hill resident and Mid-Atlantic Regional Director for StandWithUs, criticized Lee’s decision to campaign alongside Hasan Piker, noting that the congresswoman represents the congressional district that experienced the worst attack on Jews in the United States. Paris added that we all have a responsibility to call out hatred, discrimination, and antisemitism wherever we see it.
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“At a time when antisemitism is rising to record levels, it has never been more important for our elected officials to take a firm stance against any figures who may be promoting or amplifying antisemitic and anti-Zionist messaging,” she said.
Paris said that Lee’s decision to campaign alongside Piker sends a message to her constituents that she does not represent all of us. “In her role as a leader in Congress, she has that responsibility to represent her Jewish, Zionist, and Israeli constituents just as she would any others.”