The University of Pittsburgh recently canceled a speaking event with a local congressional candidate, adding tension to a three-way Democratic contest among Allegheny and Westmoreland county voters that is becoming increasingly contentious, and local political experts predict things will only get louder and nastier in the run up to the April election.

Democratic Congressional candidate Bhavini Patel, of Edgewood, announced Wednesday the Pitt David C. Frederick Honors College canceled a speaking engagement with Patel citing concerns over her safety and potential disruptions to the event.

Critics have questioned that characterization, and the Lee campaign called it a weak smear attempt and a “sloppy political stunt.”

Patel is running in the 12th District, which includes Pittsburgh, eastern Allegheny County suburbs including Plum, the Mon Valley, and Westmoreland County communities such as Murrysville, North Huntingdon, Penn Township, Sewickley, Jeannette and parts of Hempfield.

U.S. Rep. Summer Lee, D-Swissvale, is the incumbent seeking reelection, and Laurie MacDonald, CEO of advocacy group Center for Victims, is also running in a Democratic primary that has already seen arguments erupt in candidate forums and social media insults lobbed among supporters.

Event postponed

Patel, a graduate of Pitt’s honors college, was scheduled to speak at an alumni speaker series event on Wednesday. But the day before, Honors College Dean Nicola Foote wrote in an email to Patel that the school would need to reschedule the event.

In the email, provided to TribLive by the Patel campaign, Foote wrote the college had “run into complications with the location of the event as it stands tomorrow; scheduling it for fall would give us the ability to secure a location free from potential disturbances.”

Patel claimed that the event was rescheduled due to bullying tactics from people opposed to her campaign. Patel campaign manager Andrew DeCarlo said the campaign is referring to a recent Pittsburgh City Paper article that was shared by supporters of Lee and Lee’s staff.

The City Paper story highlighted a fundraising call Patel had recently with California physician Mihir Meghani, a longtime supporter of Hindu American causes. Patel is Indian-American and said the story spread xenophobic misinformation and anti-Indian sentiment.

DeCarlo said the campaign believes the cancellation was due to rumors of potential disturbances in the wake of supporters of Lee “spreading misinformation” and “xenophobic attacks on the Indian-American community.”

“You expect to see these racist, xenophobic and hateful scare tactics in a Republican primary,” Patel wrote on social media. “You don’t expect to see it from those working on behalf of and championing a sitting Democratic member of Congress. It’s not ok.”

In a statement to TribLive, Pitt said “as the event drew closer, it became clear that it would not be possible to host the event at the originally planned location and keep the focus of the event on her experience as a Pitt alumna.”

Pitt added that Patel was invited to speak as an alumni, not as a political candidate. The university’s policy as a nonprofit prohibits it from “directly or indirectly engaging in any political campaign activities.”

A flier for the event advertised Patel’s first-generation immigrant background and her status as an elected official, but didn’t mention her congressional campaign. Patel is a borough council member in Edgewood.

Some of Lee’s supporters online have questioned Patel’s characterization that the event was called off due to potential disturbances, and instead said the event was rescheduled to comply with rules about not to participate in campaigning.

Lee campaign spokesperson Emilia Rowland criticized Patel for bringing up Lee at all surrounding this issue and said she had no role in it .

“It’s strange and frankly sad to see someone attempt to drag the Congresswoman into such a sloppy political stunt at the expense of one of our universities,” Rowland said.

Nasty race

Duquesne University political science professor Lew Irwin said the Pitt cancellation is just another dramatic event in the 12th District primary that will continue to be the loudest in the area. And he expects to see even more tension, attacks, and campaigning moving forward.

“It is probably going to get nastier before it gets nicer,” Irwin said.

He said the race has “already gotten pretty ugly,” citing the City Paper story and a recent turbulent candidate forum.

The race has also already attracted large campaign donations, which Irwin said will show up soon in campaign ads flooding the Pittsburgh airwaves.

Lee raised more than $1 million in the fourth quarter of 2023, easily outpacing Patel. MacDonald entered the race in January and has not announced fundraising totals.

But Irwin noted that pro-Israel groups are likely to spend millions against Lee, as they did in the 2022 election. He said while Patel’s cash on hand is significantly smaller than Lee’s, Patel should still see plenty of help in the form of attack ads against Lee.

Lee has garnered local and national criticism for her calls for a ceasefire in the Israel/Hamas conflict, and her opponents have attempted to use the issue to curry favor with Democratic voters, particularly Pittsburgh’s large Jewish community.

In a January candidate forum at Carnegie Mellon University, Patel accused Lee of ignoring Jewish constituents and claimed that Lee was not being supportive enough of Democrats and President Joe Biden.

Irwin said he sees Lee as the current front-runner in the race given her impressive improvement in fundraising.

But he expects Patel to continue attempts to attack Lee for not having “unqualified support” of Israel and accuse her of not supporting Biden.

He said the race will be filled with attacks aimed at riling up voters that may be skeptical of Lee’s progressive stances. And Patel will likely target older and more conservative Democratic voters in the suburbs — a similar tactic that helped Lee’s 2022 primary opponent get within 1,000 votes of victory.

“This puts a far more pointed contrast and exclamation point on differences between Lee and Patel,” Irwin said, noting Patel will want to cast herself as the mainstream Democrat while Lee will want to prove her progressive policies are winners for the district.

Patel’s website was recently updated to include a message encouraging suburban women and people over 50 to vote for her.

In the message, Patal says she is a lifelong Democrat who will fight for abortion rights and she “stands firmly with President Biden.” The message claims that Lee wants to “dismantle” the Democratic Party and undermine Biden.

Lee, for her part, has done work to solidify her support among Democrats. She recently held a pro-abortion rights rally with the Biden campaign in Pittsburgh and has met with Biden administration officials like U.S. Transportation Department Secretary Pete Buttigieg.

She also garnered endorsements from Democratic leadership in the U.S. House, and has popular Democrats like U.S. Sen. Bob Casey supporting her campaign.

Irwin said it’s a formula that will guarantee we hear more about the race over the next two months.

“I don’t see any other races in Western Pennsylvania that are going to have the energy that we are likely going to see in Lee and Patel,” he said.

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