NOW PLAYING
Rep. Summer Lee (D-Pa.) said Sunday the attacks from the GOP over the rise of socialist candidates in the Democratic Party are “political noise” and not indicative of voters’ true concerns.
“That is a lot of political noise, and I think … you’ll find that when we talk to everyday people, they are not as deeply into some of these political fear [and] divisive tactics,” Lee said on MS NOW’s “Connect” while in Michigan to campaign for progressive candidate Abdul El-Sayed in the state’s Senate Democratic primary.
“People at the end of the day … they want to know that their government cares about them,” added Lee, a former member of the Democratic Socialists of America (DSA).
Lee specifically noted the concerns voters have told her regarding prescription drug costs, housing, education and the impact of AI on their jobs, saying Americans want lawmakers to “get to the business” on those issues.
Multiple democratic socialists and progressives have won in House Democratic primaries this summer, with three candidates — Darializa Avila Chevalier and Brad Lander in New York City and Melat Kiros in Colorado — unseating multiterm incumbents. Lander does not call himself a democratic socialist, but he is a former member of the DSA.
Republicans in Congress have used those victories to argue that “communists” are taking over the Democratic Party, with Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) saying last month the far-left candidates “are a danger to you and your family.”
El-Sayed, meanwhile, is facing off against moderate Rep. Haley Stevens (D-Mich.) in the Michigan primary — with the winner likely to face former GOP Rep. Mike Rogers (Mich.) in November.
The primary in the Wolverine State, set for Tuesday, has pitted Democratic centrists and progressives in both chambers of Congress against each other. In addition to Lee, Reps. Pramila Jayapal (D-Wash.), Ro Khanna (D-Calif.), Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.), Ilhan Omar (D-Minn.) and other progressives in the lower chamber have backed El-Sayed, the former director of the Wayne County Department of Health, Human and Veterans Services.
During her interview Sunday, Lee blasted the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) for spending millions in support of Stevens.
“They’re spending it, and they’re spending it under their own name because they want the attention,” the second-term representative said of AIPAC. “And what they’re doing is wrong.
“In my district and so many others, they oftentimes distort, they spread disinformation and they have very little care about the people who actually should get to choose their representative.”
Add as preferred source on Google Tags Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez Haley Stevens Ilhan Omar Mike Johnson Pramila Jayapal Ro Khanna Summer LeeCopyright 2026 Nexstar Media Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Comments: Link copiedMore House News
See All
House Former Rep. Kay Granger dies at 83 by Ashleigh Fields 4 hours ago House / 4 hours ago 
