Democrats’ way back to the House majority could run through a swing district in the nation’s biggest swing state. The question is which path the party will choose to try to get there.
Since February, five Democrats have launched campaigns for Pennsylvania’s 7th Congressional District, a Lehigh Valley seat held by Republican Rep. Ryan Mackenzie, which has flipped back and forth and seen some of the closest races in the country in recent years.
The primary field — which includes a firefighters union leader, a former federal prosecutor (and former Republican) who resigned, a community advocate and two local officeholders — has turned into a crowded microcosm of the different approaches Democrats are taking to appeal to voters, define their party and frame themselves as strong candidates in the age of President Donald Trump.
In interviews, the five Democratic candidates — state firefighters union president Bob Brooks, Ryan Crosswell, who resigned from the Justice Department; Carol Obando-Derstine, an engineer and former Senate aide; Lamont McClure, the Northampton County executive; and Mark Pinsley, the Lehigh County controller — each outlined distinctive pitches to voters. They are dividing partially along ideological lines, but more so on issues of emphasis and biography, all while trying to signal something more visceral: Who, in the words of one candidate, will be “Steady Eddie” and who will be “Action Jackson” in the face of major challenges in the country?
Bob Brooks has been endorsed by Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., and says he has the support of Democratic Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro, though there hasn’t been an official endorsement yet. Brooks said Democrats have forgotten about working-class people and said they need to “get back to the basics.”
“My opponents talk about working-class families. I am actually one,” he said.
Brooks said he was at a political event over the summer with Shapiro when the governor asked Brooks if he was interested in running for the 7th District.
“I said that I was and then he encouraged me to follow up and actually get in,” Brooks said.
Ryan Crosswell, who resigned as a federal prosecutor earlier this year in protest of the Justice Department’s decision to drop corruption charges against New York City Mayor Eric Adams, also left his former party, switching from Republican to Democrat. He said he’s running for Congress because he’s worried about the direction the U.S. is headed under Trump and said it has to be solved at the ballot box.
“People want someone who’s willing to fight,” Crosswell said. “In that regard, I’ve got the receipts. At some personal risk, I believe, I resigned. I testified to Congress.”
Obando-Derstine noted that she came to the United States from Colombia when she was 3 years old and has overseen a food pantry and ran an after-school program.
“I am in the best position to build that broad coalition because I understand the district and the struggles that working families face,” Obando-Derstine said. “I’ve worked here for decades. I have roots here.”
Obando-Derstine has been endorsed by former Democratic Rep. Susan Wild, who lost to Mackenzie last year by 1 percentage point. Wild told NBC News that Obando-Derstine’s background as an engineer will give her an advantage since manufacturing is a prevalent industry in the 7th District.
“I thought it would be very helpful to have that background,” Wild said.
Intraparty competition
Most of the candidates focused their criticisms on Mackenzie, but some have taken shots at rivals in their own party.
Brooks dismissed his opponents as career politicians who only “talk about” working-class families. Lamont McClure described Crosswell as anti-union and a latecomer to the Democratic Party.
“When we’re criticizing Crosswell, it’s because he’s trying to portray himself as some kind of hero and hero for democracy, when he does not resign from the Trump administration until February of this year,” McClure said.
Crosswell’s campaign manager, Noa Worob, said the claim that Crosswell is anti-union is “100% false” and said he never worked on a case that involved union-busting.
McClure argued he is the candidate Mackenzie fears most, pointing to a February House floor speech in which the congressman accused him of blocking federal immigration agents from making arrests in Northampton County, where McClure is the county executive.
“Mackenzie goes to the well of the House of Representatives to criticize me. He hasn’t done that with any of the other Democratic candidates, because he’s not afraid of them,” McClure said. “He’s afraid of me.”
In the floor speech, Mackenzie criticized the 2020 county policy that required U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents to have a court warrant to detain people at the county courthouse, warning that the policy put law enforcement and the public at risk. McClure has countered that Northampton County fully cooperates with ICE and said the policy ensures that everyone receives due process.
Mackenzie told NBC News in an interview that the Democratic candidates are only trying to appeal to the left wing of the party and said it’s a race about the “extreme.”
“That was evident in the announcement from the last candidate who entered the race, Mark Pinsley, saying that none of the candidates had adequately gone far enough left or been progressive enough,” Mackenzie said. “Each one who enters the race continues to want to go further to the left and have that conversation dragged in that direction.” (Mackenzie was interviewed this summer, before Brooks announced his campaign.)
A tough general election
Pinsley said his progressive platform helps people better understand the differences between him and Mackenzie, but he does not think the split among Democrats is about progressives versus moderates.
“I’m not necessarily sure that it’s whether it’s centrist or moderate or progressive or any of those things,” Pinsley said. “I really think what the issue is, is are you going to be ‘Steady Eddie,’ or are you going to be ‘Action Jackson.’”
Whichever Democrat wins the May primary next year will face a competitive general election against Mackenzie, which the nonpartisan Cook Political Report rates as a toss-up.
Reilly Richardson, a spokesman for the National Republican Congressional Committee, said in a statement that “whichever Democrat moves far enough to the left to win the messy PA-07 Democrat primary will be soundly rejected by Pennsylvanians. While Democrats fight amongst themselves, Congressman Ryan Mackenzie is delivering real results for the Lehigh Valley. Unlike Pennsylvania Democrats, Republicans are unified and ready to win again in 2026.”
The candidates will all reveal new details about their campaign finances next week, detailing how much they raised and spent in the third quarter. By the end of June, Crosswell had raised the most money among the Democrats.
Mackenzie had raised almost $1.47 million through June, and he had about $1.2 million on hand at the time — almost five times as much as the nearest Democrat.
Mackenzie said cost of living and affordability is the top issue facing people in the 7th District, and he reflected in the interview on how closely divided his slice of the Lehigh Valley is.
“This district is evenly divided between urban, suburban and rural components. Those regional areas, geographically, end up voting very differently, but they are blended together in one Greater Lehigh Valley,” he said, adding: “As a representative for the community, you are representing all of those diverse interests.”
He added that he has worked to assuage concerns over the Medicaid cuts in Trump’s “big beautiful bill” by highlighting the work requirements in the law and said it is “reasonable” to put in place.
“You just have to have the longer conversation to be able to convey what was actually in the legislation,” Mackenzie said.
Eli Cousin, a spokesperson for the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, said that “Democrats will flip this seat thanks to Mackenzie’s own record, which includes ripping away health care from his constituents and supporting sweeping tariffs that are jacking up prices and eliminating jobs — including hundreds of Mack Trucks workers right in Allentown.”
Cousin is referring to April layoffs at a truck plant in the 7th District, where the company cited tariffs as part of the reason for laying off 250 to 350 workers. Mackenzie told The Washington Post at the time that he was “disappointed” by the decision and met with local union leaders, though he defended the tariffs and said Trump is taking action to address decades of “unfair trade practices.”
Mackenzie said at a town hall last month that the “uncertainty” and changes in rates from the administration was “definitely not helpful.”
