![The New Yorker | A Andrade-Rhoades/WAPO/Getty](https://ifp.nyu.edu/wp-content/uploads/2024/02/The-New-Yorker-1024x668.jpg)
The New Yorker | A Andrade-Rhoades/WAPO/Getty
In 1975, after completing a master’s degree in social work at the University of California, Berkeley, Lee went to work for Ron Dellums, a Black congressman from Oakland known for his opposition to the war in Vietnam, eventually becoming his chief of staff. When Dellums retired, in 1998, Lee won a special election to replace him in Congress, and she has been there ever since. In California’s crowded primary, can a longtime congresswoman sell her progressive ideals to the mainstream?