Summer Lee Challenger Says Constituents 'Have No Families... Live in Squalor'

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."