PITTSBURGH — When Rep. Summer Lee (D-PA) faced Steve Irwin in the 2022 Democratic primary contest for the congressional seat that had been held by Mike Doyle since 1995, she had one thing he did not: a base of support.

Lee had been a community organizer and then a state representative before she ran for that seat. Irwin was a well-liked labor lawyer in the community and liberal much in the same way Doyle was, but he had no history of anyone ever voting for him.