Does party membership stigmatize someone for life?
Or maybe you can switch to an ideology that suits you today?
Ryan Crosswell is trying to walk that fine line as a former Republican turned Democratic candidate in the 7th Congressional District.
Crosswell is one of four candidates on Tuesday’s ballot in the Lehigh Valley, along with Bob Brookspresident of the Pennsylvania Professional Firefighters Association, former Northampton County executive Lamont McClureand director of energy Carol Obando-Derstine.
One glaring difference between the quartet – Crosswell is the lone former Republican.
The former federal prosecutor voted as a registered Republican in every presidential and midterm election from 2012 to 2022. He changed his registration in December 2024 before announcing he was running for the PA-07 seat, currently held by Representative Ryan Mackenzie.
Early in his legal career, the U.S. Marine Corps Reserve lieutenant colonel was an associate attorney for… Little Mendelson in Charlotte, North Carolina The firm describes itself as “the largest law practice in the world dedicated exclusively to representing management in all aspects of labor and employment law.”
According to John LoganLittler Mendelson, a professor of labor history at San Francisco State University, is a union-busting law firm.
“Littler was undoubtedly the nation’s most famous union avoidance law firm for decades, dating back to the 1970s and 1980s.” he told The Keystone. “If you hire Littler Mendelson and you’re dealing with workers trying to organize, it’s like planting a flag that says, ‘Unions welcome here,’ and everyone knows it.”
Union leaders took notice.
“Ryan Crosswell is destroying unions,” said AFL-CIO president Jim Irwin. “I think it needs to be said and people should know it because he’s been a Democrat for less than a year. I really think a lot of people in the party are falling for this.”
After leaving Littler Mendelson, Crosswell eventually joined the Department of Justice. From 2017 to 2020, during the first Trump administration, he was based in the Southern District of California and handled multiple immigration cases.
“I have prosecuted many, many people for coming to this country illegally.” – he said to NOTUS.
In his most recent position as a federal prosecutor in the Public Integrity Section of the U.S. Department of Justice, Crosswell handled major cases involving public corruption, election threats, and campaign finance violations at both the domestic and international levels. He received the Deputy Attorney General Award for Exceptional Service, conducted national and international training on effective corruption investigations, and played a key role in updating the Justice Department’s federal public corruption law monograph.
Crosswell said he decided to leave his post at the Justice Department after a disagreement with the administration over a corruption case against New York City Mayor Eric Adams.
“When Donald Trump tried to get prosecutors in my section to use the Justice Department as a weapon against his enemies, I would never do it, so I stepped down,” he wrote on his campaign website.
He left Washington and returned to Pennsylvania, where he spent his early years. Crosswell graduated from Pottsville High School, where he ran cross country and wrestled for the Crimson Tide.
However, there are questions about Crosswell’s resignation from the Justice Department and his change of affiliation from Republican to Democrat.
He said he resigned due to mismanagement of the Eric Adams case in February 2025. However, the domain name “CrosswellForPA.com” was changed purchased December 15, 2024. Twelve days later, Crosswell changed his party affiliation from Republican to Democratic and said he would move to the district in early 2025.
He He admitted he voted for Republicans – both winners and losers – in previous elections.
“I voted for my voting record, transparently, in my first election for Bush. McCain was my hero. And then I voted for Romney.”
And then there’s the question of when he actually moved to the district.
July 20, 2025 in Crosswell provided an address in Washington (825 10th Street NW, Apt. 453) regarding a $250 donation to a congressional candidate Derek TranDemocrat from California.
While there are unanswered questions about his move, registration and strategy, it still doesn’t answer the question of whether Crosswell truly believes the Republican Party has abandoned him, or is leaving the GOP to run as a Democrat a purely strategic move?
“Ryan has been voting Democrat for ten years,” the campaign manager said Nick Mattes. “When Donald Trump asked him to break his oath of office, he resigned and testified against him. The costs to families are skyrocketing and the rule of law is collapsing under Donald Trump. Ryan is the only candidate in this race with a track record of standing up to Trump and the ability to hold him accountable. That’s exactly what he will do in Congress.”
You may remember the case Arlen Specterwho served as a U.S. senator from the Keystone State from 1981 to 2011. Specter was a Democrat from 1951 to 1965, then switched to the GOP from 1965 to 2009. Finally, when his seat seemed to be in jeopardy, Specter switched back to the Democratic Party once again. He lost in the 2010 Democratic primary Józek Sestakdefeated by Republicans Pat Toomey in the general election.
In March 2009, Specter originally announced he would run for his seat as a Republican, but changed his mind a month later. “As the Republican Party moved further and further to the right, I became more and more opposed to the Republican philosophy and more and more aligned with the philosophy of the Democratic Party.”
National data that changed party affiliation switch on Hillary Clintonwho was a Goldwater girl and campaigned for the Arizona Republican in 1964. She officially became a Democrat later in the 1960s after attending the 1968 GOP convention.
Leon Panetta he began his political career as a Republican and briefly worked in the Nixon administration. He switched parties in 1971 due to concerns about the Nixon administration’s civil rights policies.
AND Elizabeth Warren she started life as a conservative who voted for the Republicans due to the party’s pro-business orientation, and only switched to the Democratic Party in the mid-1990s. Warren supported Brooks in the PA-07 nomination.
Crosswell used his experience with the Justice Department as the impetus for his move.
“At a time when there is a real authoritarian threat, the Democratic Party is a party that stands for democracy,” he added. he told students at Lehigh University in March.
