Shapiro, Sanders-backed union boss Bob Brooks wins Pennsylvania’s 7th primary
NEWNow you can listen to Fox News articles!
One of the most divided congressional districts chose its Democratic nominee on Tuesday evening, in Bob Brooks. was expected to win Pennsylvania’s 7th district.
The contested primary has brought divisions in the Democratic Party front and center, including firefighter union boss Bob Brooks – endorsed by Gov. Josh Shapiro and Sen. Bernie Sanders, Vt. – former state prosecutor Ryan Crosswell, Northampton County Executive Lamont McClure and EMILY’s List-endorsed candidate Carol Obando-Destine, who is seen as the preferred candidate for the state’s last Democratic representative, former Rep. Susan Wild of Allentown.
Brooks received several high-profile endorsements from Shapiro, Sanders, Sen. Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts, Lt. Gov. Austin Davis and top state Democrats, including House Majority Leader Matt Bradford of Skippack and Sen. Vincent Hughes of Northwest Philadelphia.
TRUMP USES A ‘NEW GOLDEN AGE’ FOR AMERICA AS HE MEET IN THIRD-LARGEST PRE-INDUSTRIAL CITY
The skyline of Allentown, Pennsylvania, the state’s third largest city, can be seen from the Tilghman Street Bridge. (Charles Creitz)
Brooks also received the endorsement of the mayor of the largest city in the area – Allentown, the third largest city in the Commonwealth.
Meanwhile, McClure — the only local office holder in the race — didn’t get a chance to take on Brooks any time soon.
Brooks appeared to be facing intraparty controversy after old posts resurfaced on social media expressing moderate or conservative views — including one that used a sexist term to describe former San Francisco 49ers quarterback Colin Kaepernick for criticizing BLM-era law enforcement.
CERTIFICATE THAT STRENGTHENED MADANI IN NY WIN LOOKS TO DESTROY HOUSE GOP MEMBERS IN PA
Recent construction on Eighth Street in Allentown has featured a vintage-style campaign sign for Bill Heydt, the city’s last Republican mayor who served from 1994 to 2002. (Charlie Creitz)
Crosswell was born in nearby Schuylkill County but spent many years working in Washington at the Department of Justice. He was one of several prosecutors who resigned in protest of the Trump administration’s dropping of the investigation into former New York City Mayor Eric Adams. Adams has since become less critical of the right and has often criticized his successor, Zohran Mamdani, on social media.
Rep. Ryan Mackenzie, R-Pa., attends a House Education and Labor committee hearing titled “Beyond The Ivy League: Stop the Spread of Antisemitism on American Campuses” at the Rayburn Building on May 7, 2025. (Tom Williams/CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images)
The tri-city center of the Allentown-Bethlehem-Easton region – in an area known as “ABE” or “The Valley” – has a blue-collar history that went national through Billy Joel’s famous song about Bethlehem Steel and other industries that “shut down all the industries,” when Steel was used as a metal. call the politicians who are pushing for what will come next.
That “next” includes a wave of new warehouses and firms dedicated to interstate trade, as well as growth linked to the technology sector.
GOP CHALLENGER UNSEATS REP. SUSAN WILD PENNSYLVANIA
Farmland in the northern part of the state is gradually being developed into homes and warehouses – much to the anger of many long-time residents – as the influx of people from high taxes in New Jersey and New York, as well as the changing social and economic climate in the area, is bringing liberal and progressive voters to the once “Reagan Democrat”-agrarian and union-oriented district.
The former Bethlehem Steel blast furnaces can be seen on Pennsylvania Route 412 near the Lehigh University campus. (Charles Creitz/Fox News Digital)
The current boundaries of the region still reflect that diversity, as the further north, the more rural, agricultural or forested – and conserved – the area becomes. Wild has been criticized twice for appearing to insult the Trump-supporting area of Carbon County, the only three counties in the 7th District to vote for Mackenzie in 2024.
The Republican in the race, Rep. Ryan Mackenzie of Lower Macungie, represented the state in western Lehigh County for many years before upsetting Wild by one percent in 2024.
CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD THE FOX NEWS PROGRAM
Mackenzie has drawn praise from President Donald Trump and criticism from the left, whose protesters often gather outside his office and spill out onto Cedar Crest Boulevard in southwest Allentown.
With the House GOP majority hanging in the balance, it remains to be seen which side has enough power to field a candidate in a race the nation will be watching closely.
