BETHLEHEM, Pa. — The Lehigh Valley's Democratic primary featured four candidates with different strengths and weaknesses, political hopefuls who tried to appeal to different demographics within Pennsylvania's battleground 7th Congressional District.
Races like this often turn into who can better marshal their supporters and realize the best turnout.
Entering the primary, Lamont McClure claimed his time as an elected official in Northampton County gave him strong support there.
Carol Obando-Derstine, the only Latina in the race, said the region's growing Hispanic communities would rally to her.
Ryan Crosswell, a Marine and former federal prosecutor, looked for backing from veterans and voters with higher levels of education.
Instead, the race was dominated by firefighter union boss Bob Brooks on nearly every front.
While Obando-Derstine did carry some neighborhoods in Center City Allentown and Crosswell performed well in some wealthy suburban precincts, Brooks won nearly everywhere and by convincing spreads.
Crosswell, who appears to have finished in second place with 14,576 votes, could add all of Obando-Derstine's 12,136 votes to his tally and still lose to Brooks by a 2-percentage point margin.
Unofficial results show Brooks swept every municipality in Lehigh County and the small sliver of Monroe County.
While each candidate carried a municipality in Carbon County, the overall effect was the same. Brooks won there with 38% of the vote, the same as in Lehigh and Monroe counties.
Brooks did even better in Northampton County, securing 43% of the overall vote, according to the state website. He nearly swept every municipality there, too, dropping East Bangor to McClure by one vote.
Jenna Kaufmann, Brooks' campaign manager, attributed Brooks's success to his message. The retired city firefighter campaigned on his blue-collar roots and said the district needed an everyman to stand up for the working class in Washington.
"That message resonated in every corner of the district from Lehigh County to Northampton County to Carbon, and it's why Bob won decisively," she said in an email Friday.
Money and endorsements
But while Brooks' assorted resume of fighting for workers' rights, bartending and driving snowplows may have resonated with Lehigh Valley voters, the financial might behind Brooks allowed his message to reach voters across the district.
Brooks' campaign finance report filed in early May shows he spent $919,215 through April 29 — just as paid TV spots kicked into high gear. Only the Crosswell campaign surpassed his spending with $1.3 million through the same time period.
But many of Brooks allies pumped money into the PA-7 race on his behalf. Stronger Together PA, a Super PAC with a website dedicated strictly to Brooks' election, reported spending another $1.7 million towards his campaign days before the primary. The group appears to be primarily funded by firefighter unions from across the country and The Bench, a hybrid PAC based out of Washington.
"They're the majority Dems," Brooks said of The Bench during his victory speech Tuesday night.
"Without them, we're probably not standing here. They have been phenomenal in the effort of supporting this campaign from start to where we stand, and they're going to be here for the rest of the way."
In the same speech, Brooks thanked the Congressional Progressive Caucus. Its campaign finance report filed hours after the primary ended showed it spent $140,300 on digital ads promoting Brooks.
The caucus also paid for polling that the campaign used to argue that Brooks was stepping away from the rest of the field, though it's not clear how much that cost.
All of that funding allowed Brooks to capitalize on another strength that his allies couldn't match — high-profile endorsements.
High-profile endorsements
Brooks entered the congressional race last summer with the backing of U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders, perhaps the most iconic progressive in American politics.
Gov. Josh Shapiro, Pennsylvania's popular governor known more for his pragmatism, officially endorsed Brooks in December.
Both were featured prominently in Brooks’ advertising, and Shapiro appeared alongside him in ads that saturated the region in the closing weeks of the campaign.
Chris Borick, a political scientist at Muhlenberg College, said Brooks’ victory is in part Shapiro’s as well.
Brooks has said he entered the race after encouragement from Shapiro, who is widely seen as a potential 2028 presidential contender. Borick said Shapiro’s involvement reflects his influence in shaping Democratic races in battleground Pennsylvania, and a Brooks victory in November would strengthen both men’s standing within the national party.
"I think this victory was one that Gov. Shapiro could take credit for having a serious hand in," Borick said.
That said, it's Brooks' profile and history that have drawn politicians like Shapiro, Sanders and others to his cause. They recognized his message as a powerful one and stood behind him because of it, he said.
It's also why many of his supporters have been willing to look past Brooks' blemishes, such as a lawsuit alleging that Brooks is hiding his assets to avoid a $162,000 debt owed to his former mother-in-law, that he failed to report that debt to Congress as required by law and for supporting gun rights on social media the day after a gunman shot 45 people at an El Paso Walmart.
As the cost of gas and groceries climb and healthcare and energy bills spiral out of control, voters also are clamoring for someone who identifies with the pinch they're feeling in their pocketbooks, Borick said.
Brooks, who's made no secret of relying on SNAP benefits in his childhood and talked about staring down foreclosure due to medical bills, resonated with those voters.
"I think the more powerful explanation was that Brooks offered something that was a better fit for this moment in time. I think that was very much on voters' minds," Borick said.
Brooks will now take that history to the November election, where he'll face Republican incumbent Ryan Mackenzie. The race will serve as a clash of styles as Mackenzie, a graduate of Harvard Business School, has spent most of his adult life in elected office.
Mackenzie has supported President Donald Trump's biggest policies this term, including voting for the One Big Beautiful Bill, allowing the president to continue the war in Iran and defunding foreign aid and public media.
