Firefighter and leader of Unia Bethlehem entered the crowded field of Democrats fighting for the Congress in the Lehigh Valley.
Bob Brooks, president of Pennsylvania Professional Fire Fighters Association, is fighting to represent the 7th district of Pennsylvania, currently led by the Republican Republicans of Ryan Mackenzi, who defeated the three-democratic US representative Susan Wild by one percentage point in November.
“I spent my life, serving my community and living the challenges of ordinary people, regardless of whether it was behind the bar, pouring beer or behind the wheel of a fire truck, putting fires in Bethlehem,” Brooks said in a message. “And I personally know how it is to live in fear of exclusion or see the payment eaten by higher prices.”
The district is one of the closest battlefield in the state, and the Democrats look at it as one of the four who hope to pick up in the middle of the pursuit of regaining the home of the USA.
Brooks began his campaign on Tuesday with ponderous support from Pennsylvania lieutenant Austin Davis, a democrat; Dream. Bernie Sanders (Ind., VT.); American representative Chris Deluzio, Democrat of Alleghena’s County; International Firefighters Association; and Pennsylvania Seiu, Association of Service Workers.
Brooks said that Governor Josh Shapiro, who applied for re -election in 2026, is also behind his campaign.
“I do it with the support of the governor,” said Brooks. “At the moment he is working on adopting the budget, so he doesn’t focus on politics. When it ends, I can’t wait to have it here in the district.”
Several democrats have already set themselves in a queue to compete for a chance to face Mackenza.
Lamont McClure, executive director of Northampton He announced his offer in FebruarySaying that he wanted to allow a long runway to build support.
Since then, Carol Obando-Derstine, a former employee of Bob Casey, who was supported by Wild, joined this field, just like the former Republican Ryan Croswell, who gave up his position as a federal prosecutor in the Department of Justice in February. Lehigh Valley controller Mark Pinsley announced that he was participating in July.
No single candidate went through, although there are still nine months to the original Pennsylvania.
But early support indicate the brewing of the party support coalition related to Brooks. He was also supported by the former general auditor Eugene Depasquale, who became a favorite on Monday to become the next chairman of the State Party.
Supporting Shapiro, a moderate governor, which is said to have presidential ambitions in 2028, and Sanders, one of the most progressive members of the democratic coalition, would show a number of ideological support of two popular leaders.
“In Harrisburg he was a real partner of the Shapiro-Davis administration,” said Davis in a statement. “Bob is the leader of the working class, which we do not see enough in Washington-will lead with grit, heart and unwavering involvement in people who keep our condition.”
Sanders called Brooks someone who has the courage to oppose corporate greed and a corrupt political system to always fight for the working class. “
Brooks began his campaign with a large dose of workers’ photos when the Democrats are looking for ways to recover employees about blue. His logo is his name inside the outline of the fireman’s badge. The campaign film brings all the works that Deliveman’s Pizza, dishwasher, bartender, landscape-on-the-scenes of the steel plant Betlehem and Brooks riding on ATV in a cut t-shirt.
“So what should I say? Should I sit down and say that Washington is a dumpster fire and I will throw it away?” He asks at the place of the direct camera.
“It’s not just about straightening the fire,” he says. “It’s about what you can build from ashes.”
Brooks spent 20 years as a firefighter in Bethlehem and represents over 8,000 firefighters throughout their state as the president of Pennsylvania Professional Fughers Association. There, he helped to adopt a state account improving mental health insurance for firefighters struggling with post -traumatic stress injury.
He also runs a small family business dealing with snowy Nemot and lawn care, and trains the baseball and university baseball.
“Bob never had a silver spoon – he just creaks his hands, a deep sense of duty and an unwavering obligation to do what is right,” said his release on the premiere of the campaign.
The edition was also described by his tattoo – a bulldog in a fire helmet.
