An already crowded Democratic primary in a top House battleground in Pennsylvania is about to become a proxy battle between party leaders.
Firefighters union head Bob Brooks is kicking off a campaign Tuesday to unseat GOP Rep. Ryan Mackenzie in Pennsylvania’s Lehigh Valley, his team shared first with POLITICO. And he’s starting with a number of heavyweight endorsements from across the party spectrum that set up the possibility of edging out the candidate who had seemed like the favorite of some state and national Democrats.
Brooks, who is pitching himself as a working-class everyman, is entering the primary in the state’s 7th Congressional District with the backing of Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), Pennsylvania Lieutenant Governor Austin Davis, Rep. Chris Deluzio (D-Pa.), the SEIU state council and the International Association of Fire Fighters.
Those endorsements reveal a split in the political establishment: Carol Obando-Derstine, a onetime aide to former Sen. Bob Casey (D-Pa.), has already won the support of the influential liberal group EMILY’s List as well as former Rep. Susan Wild (D-Pa.), who represented the district for three terms before narrowly losing to Mackenzie last year.
Northampton County Executive Lamont McClure and former federal prosecutor Ryan Crosswell are also running for Mackenzie’s seat.
Mackenzie is a top target of national and statewide Democrats in next year’s midterm elections who see him as one of the most vulnerable Republicans in the House. His district is a perennial bellwether that Donald Trump flipped in 2024 after Joe Biden won it in 2020. The fact that a Democratic congressman and top member of Gov. Josh Shapiro’s administration are throwing their weight behind Brooks suggests that some in the Democratic establishment have not been impressed by the current primary field looking to defeat Mackenzie.
“I’m running for Congress because Washington doesn’t give a damn about working people, and it’s time for that to change,” Brooks said in a statement. “Congressman Mackenzie hasn’t held a real job a day in his life and sells out Pennsylvania working families every chance he gets — he voted this summer to kick thousands of our neighbors off their health care.”
Brooks, who leads the 8,000-member Pennsylvania Professional Fire Fighters Association, highlights his experience in his campaign kickoff video, which includes images of his firefighter helmet and quips like, “Washington is on fire, but we’re gonna run in there and build something better from the ashes.”
His spot calls for “universal health care,” a progressive priority, and to “make things more affordable.”
Brooks’ entry comes as some Democrats privately cited lackluster fundraising numbers from Obando-Derstine, who brought in just $208,000 in her first few months of her campaign, which was less than Crosswell collected despite having jumped in a month earlier.
The campaign launch spot shows Brooks standing alongside Shapiro, a popular incumbent, at a press conference.
Brooks, who has never run for elected office before, is betting that his background as a firefighter and support from the IAFF is likely to garner attention at a time when the union has trended away from Democrats and Trump has made inroads with the traditional Democratic constituency. Last year, the IAFF did not endorse Kamala Harris or Trump, a blow for Democrats after the union served as a key ally to former President Joe Biden.
In a statement, IAFF General President Ed Kelly said Brooks is “one of us — plain and simple” and will “have the backs of working folks every step of the way.”
Brooks’ advisers include Tommy McDonald and Eric Stern, both veterans of Sen. John Fetterman’s 2022 campaign.
