BETHLEHEM, Pa. — Yet another congressional hopeful entered a bursting field of candidates hoping to serve as the Lehigh Valley's next U.S. representative Tuesday.
Aidan Gonzalez, of Bethlehem, formally entered the race for Pennsylvania's 7th Congressional District over the holidays.
His newly launched website included few personal details, and his social media account on X had no posts. Northampton County Democratic Committee Chair Mathew Munsey confirmed Gonzalez is an officer with the newly reformed Lehigh Valley Young Democrats.
On his campaign website, Gonzalez cited the need to close tax loopholes for large corporations, rebuild America's housing supply and bring emergent technology jobs such as nuclear fusion research to the Lehigh Valley.
Gonzalez is the sixth Democrat to formally file their candidacy with the FEC. The rest of the field includes firefighter union boss Bob Brooks, former federal prosecutor Ryan Crosswell, former Northampton County Executive Lamont McClure, energy engineer Carol Obando-Derstine and Lehigh County Controller Mark Pinsley.
Each candidate will need to file petitions with 1,000 signatures of registered Democrats living in the district to appear on the primary ballot.
The winner of the Democratic primary is expected to challenge Republican incumbent U.S. Rep. Ryan Mackenzie. The first-term Republican has been a vocal supporter of President Donald Trump but has broken at times with party leadership. Most recently, he signed a discharge petition that will force a vote on reviving tax credits for the Affordable Care Act that expired at the end of 2025.
PA-7 is one of a handful of battleground districts in the country, and both political parties pump massive resources into the race in hopes of securing a majority in the House. The chamber has been narrowly divided for years, making swing seats all the more important to controlling the legislative agenda.
The district comprises Carbon, Lehigh and Northampton counties plus a slice of Monroe County. Democrats have a slight advantage in party registration, but the region's large segment of independent voters makes it a political toss-up.
