This is the third part of our series highlighting key congressional primary elections across the commonwealth.
The 7th Congressional District contest on the Democratic side will be one of the most closely watched races not only in the commonwealth but across the country as four candidates compete for the chance to fight Representative Ryan Mackenzie in November.
The Pennsylvania primary election will be held on Tuesday, May 19.
Bob Brooks
- Experience: President of the Pennsylvania Professional Firefighters Association. He spent 20 years as a firefighter in the city of Bethlehem.
- Priorities
- Repeal Citizen United and roll back our elections from the 1%
- Ban corporate money from political PACs, period
- Congressional Stock Trading Ban
- Term limits
- Restore cuts to Medicaid and ensure Medicare for All
- Repealing Republican cuts to Headstart, providing subsidies to working parents to cover day care costs, and expanding publicly funded preschool programs to preschool children
- Pass the minimum tax to a billionaire
- Defend Social Security and sign onto the Medicare and Social Security Fair Share Act
- Approve up-to-date nuclear and natural gas plants and we will build renewable energy sources
- Universal background checks, closing the gun show loophole and enforcing waiting periods
- Protecting anti-discrimination laws, defending marriage equality, and ensuring that everyone can live comfortably like one.
- Fundraising: : $124,931 from January 1 to March 31. Cash on hand: $252,363.
- Quotable: “Billionaires and large corporations rule while the rest of us are left alone. I lived a working-class life. There was a time when manual labor could provide a decent living. This is no longer the case. The system is not broken. It works as it was designed: by and for the super-rich.”
- Cufflinks: : Website | Facebook | Twitter | Instagram | YouTube | Blue
Ryan Crosswell
- Experience: Former federal prosecutor. Marine Corps Reservist.
- Priorities
- Protecting Pennsylvanians’ health care and undoing devastating Republican cuts to Medicaid
- Implement a public health care option to ensure that everyday Americans have access to the same quality health care as members of Congress
- Repeal the Big Ugly Act and restore neat energy tax credits
- Codifying a nationwide ban on partisan land manipulation and legislative border changes by mid-decade
- 18-year terms for Supreme Court judges with introduced safeguards ensuring that the Senate will not block presidential candidates
- Constitutional amendment seeking overthrow Citizens United
- Term limits for members of Congress
- Stock trading prohibited by members of Congress
- Restore Roe v. Wade protections and abortion rights as the law of the land
- Reduce the budget deficit by forcing the ultra-rich to pay their fair share of taxes
- Universal background checks centralized using the FBI’s criminal database
- Closing the gun show loophole
- Fundraising: : $125,263 from January 1 to March 31. Cash on hand: $437,396.
- Education: B.A., Vanderbilt University 2003; M.A., Duke University 2007; J.D., Duke University School of Law, 2007
- Quotable: “I’m running for Congress because it’s time to once again defend our country. As a Marine and then a federal prosecutor, I spent my life serving this country. But when Donald Trump tried to get prosecutors in my section to use the Department of Justice as a weapon against their enemies, I would never do that, so I stepped down. And now I’m fighting.”
- Cufflinks: : Website | Facebook | Twitter | Instagram | YouTube | Blue
Lamont McClure
- Experience: Advocate. Former Northampton County Executive 2018-2025.
- Priorities
- The housing crisis is a national problem that cries out for national solutions
- Priority must be given to tackling tariffs that have contributed to high construction costs
- Increased healthcare spending – especially Medicaid
- Protect our democracy
- Fundraising: : $12,185 from January 1 to March 31. Cash on hand: $141,702.
- Education: B.A., Wilkes University, 1985. J.D. Duquesne University Law School, 1995.
- Quotable: “The utter chaos that Trump and his billionaire appointees have brought upon us may seem overwhelming, but there is hope. You don’t have to turn everything upside down, lay off workers, or cut essential services to cut taxes and shrink government. As a county executive, I’ve proven that you can improve essential services, give workers well-deserved raises, and at the same time cut taxes and shrink the size of government.”
- Cufflinks: : Website | Facebook | Twitter | Instagram | YouTube | Blue | Threads
Carol Obando-Derstine
- Experience: Energy Director, PPL Electric Utilities. Former Regional Manager and Statewide Director of Latino Affairs for Senator Bob Casey. Former executive director of nonprofit organizations: SkillsUSA Council and Children’s Coalition of the Lehigh Valley.
- Priorities
- Raise the federal minimum wage and tie it to inflation
- Expanding tax breaks for the middle class and phasing out tax donations to billionaire donors
- Roll back harmful tariffs imposed by the Trump administration
- Restoring neat energy and efficiency incentives that lower electricity bills and create good-paying union jobs
- Increase access to affordable, high-quality insurance by strengthening the Affordable Care Act and its subsidies
- Fight for the future with universal health care
- Reinstate cuts to SNAP and WIC funding in ‘substantial ugly budget bill’ to combat food insecurity
- Protect voting rights by supporting the For the People Act
- Defend marriage equality and promote justice and equality for LGBTQIA+ people
- Defend reproductive freedom and gender-affirming care, and codify Roe v. Wade in federal law
- Oppose the Trump administration’s goals against immigrant communities
- Support congressional term limits; Prohibit members of Congress from trading stocks.
- The end of a united citizenry; Ban partisan and racial gerrymandering
- Fundraising: : $21,964 from January 1 to March 31. Cash on hand: $95,645.
- Education: B.A., Rutgers University, 1999; M.A., Pennsylvania State University, 2002; M.Eng., Lehigh University, 2022
- Quotable: “I will not stand idly by while Donald Trump and Ryan Mackenzie take away health care from millions of Americans and take food from families’ tables to give trillions in tax cuts to their billionaire donors. I am fortunate to be able to live my American dream, and I have always strived to pass it on every day to help families living on the economic edge not only survive, but thrive.”
- Cufflinks: : Website | Facebook | Twitter | Instagram | YouTube | Blue
