SUBSCRIBE TO OUR FREE NEWSLETTER
Daily news & progressive opinion—funded by the people, not the corporations—delivered straight to your inbox.
5
#000000
#FFFFFF
5
#000000
#FFFFFF
Democratic Pennsylvania congressional candidate Laurie MacDonald speaks during a January 28, 2024 debate at Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh.
(Photo: screen grab)
Summer Lee Challenger Says Constituents 'Have No Families... Live in Squalor'
"This is how A LOT of politicians on both sides of the aisle feel about disadvantaged communities," said Nina Turner. "They usually don't say it out loud, though."
Jan 29, 2024
In what one observer called a "cartoonishly racist" rant, a right-wing Democrat running for progressive Congresswoman Summer Lee's seat shocked attendees of a Sunday primary debate by berating people living in the Pennsylvania district she's seeking to represent.
Laurie MacDonald, a former Republican who heads a nonprofit that serves crime victims, squared off against Lee and Edgewood Borough Councilmember Bhavini Patel during the often raucous 12th Congressional District debate at Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh. In a baffling response to the audience booing her answer to a question about congressional support for gender-affirming healthcare for transgender people, MacDonald lashed out at her would-be constituents.
"My opponent, the people who live in her district have no families, they live in squalor," MacDonald said, referring to Lee and drawing boisterous disapproval from the audience.
"You think you know, right, well guess what, I worked there," she continued. "I have helped those communities."
"I don't need to take that," MacDonald shot back at her hecklers. "My record speaks for itself. I've walked the walk, I've talked the talk, I help families. I help everybody. I don't have a prejudiced, white, black, purple, pink bone in my body. I love everybody. And I love all of you too, even if we disagree."
Former Democratic Ohio state Sen. Nina Turner was among the many social media users who criticized MacDonald's remarks.
"If we want to tell the whole truth, this is how A LOT of politicians on both sides of the aisle feel about disadvantaged communities," Turner said. "They usually don't say it out loud, though."
An Urgent Message From Our Co-Founder
Dear Common Dreams reader, It’s been nearly 30 years since I co-founded Common Dreams with my late wife, Lina Newhouser. We had the radical notion that journalism should serve the public good, not corporate profits. It was clear to us from the outset what it would take to build such a project. No paid advertisements. No corporate sponsors. No millionaire publisher telling us what to think or do. Many people said we wouldn't last a year, but we proved those doubters wrong. Together with a tremendous team of journalists and dedicated staff, we built an independent media outlet free from the constraints of profits and corporate control. Our mission has always been simple: To inform. To inspire. To ignite change for the common good. Building Common Dreams was not easy. Our survival was never guaranteed. When you take on the most powerful forces—Wall Street greed, fossil fuel industry destruction, Big Tech lobbyists, and uber-rich oligarchs who have spent billions upon billions rigging the economy and democracy in their favor—the only bulwark you have is supporters who believe in your work. But here’s the urgent message from me today. It's never been this bad out there. And it's never been this hard to keep us going. At the very moment Common Dreams is most needed, the threats we face are intensifying. We need your support now more than ever. We don't accept corporate advertising and never will. We don't have a paywall because we don't think people should be blocked from critical news based on their ability to pay. Everything we do is funded by the donations of readers like you. When everyone does the little they can afford, we are strong. But if that support retreats or dries up, so do we. Will you donate now to make sure Common Dreams not only survives but thrives? —Craig Brown, Co-founder |
Our work is licensed under Creative Commons (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0). Feel free to republish and share widely.
In what one observer called a "cartoonishly racist" rant, a right-wing Democrat running for progressive Congresswoman Summer Lee's seat shocked attendees of a Sunday primary debate by berating people living in the Pennsylvania district she's seeking to represent.
Laurie MacDonald, a former Republican who heads a nonprofit that serves crime victims, squared off against Lee and Edgewood Borough Councilmember Bhavini Patel during the often raucous 12th Congressional District debate at Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh. In a baffling response to the audience booing her answer to a question about congressional support for gender-affirming healthcare for transgender people, MacDonald lashed out at her would-be constituents.
"My opponent, the people who live in her district have no families, they live in squalor," MacDonald said, referring to Lee and drawing boisterous disapproval from the audience.
"You think you know, right, well guess what, I worked there," she continued. "I have helped those communities."
"I don't need to take that," MacDonald shot back at her hecklers. "My record speaks for itself. I've walked the walk, I've talked the talk, I help families. I help everybody. I don't have a prejudiced, white, black, purple, pink bone in my body. I love everybody. And I love all of you too, even if we disagree."
Former Democratic Ohio state Sen. Nina Turner was among the many social media users who criticized MacDonald's remarks.
"If we want to tell the whole truth, this is how A LOT of politicians on both sides of the aisle feel about disadvantaged communities," Turner said. "They usually don't say it out loud, though."
In what one observer called a "cartoonishly racist" rant, a right-wing Democrat running for progressive Congresswoman Summer Lee's seat shocked attendees of a Sunday primary debate by berating people living in the Pennsylvania district she's seeking to represent.
Laurie MacDonald, a former Republican who heads a nonprofit that serves crime victims, squared off against Lee and Edgewood Borough Councilmember Bhavini Patel during the often raucous 12th Congressional District debate at Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh. In a baffling response to the audience booing her answer to a question about congressional support for gender-affirming healthcare for transgender people, MacDonald lashed out at her would-be constituents.
"My opponent, the people who live in her district have no families, they live in squalor," MacDonald said, referring to Lee and drawing boisterous disapproval from the audience.
"You think you know, right, well guess what, I worked there," she continued. "I have helped those communities."
"I don't need to take that," MacDonald shot back at her hecklers. "My record speaks for itself. I've walked the walk, I've talked the talk, I help families. I help everybody. I don't have a prejudiced, white, black, purple, pink bone in my body. I love everybody. And I love all of you too, even if we disagree."
Former Democratic Ohio state Sen. Nina Turner was among the many social media users who criticized MacDonald's remarks.
"If we want to tell the whole truth, this is how A LOT of politicians on both sides of the aisle feel about disadvantaged communities," Turner said. "They usually don't say it out loud, though."
We've had enough. The 1% own and operate the corporate media. They are doing everything they can to defend the status quo, squash dissent and protect the wealthy and the powerful. The Common Dreams media model is different. We cover the news that matters to the 99%. Our mission? To inform. To inspire. To ignite change for the common good. How? Nonprofit. Independent. Reader-supported. Free to read. Free to republish. Free to share. With no advertising. No paywalls. No selling of your data. Thousands of small donations fund our newsroom and allow us to continue publishing. Can you chip in? We can't do it without you. Thank you.