ALLENTOWN, Pa. — Voters hoping for the seven Democrats in Pennsylvania's crowded 7th Congressional District race to distinguish themselves may have walked away disappointed Monday night.
The candidates were in virtual lockstep on every issue at a forum at Resurrected Life Church.
The septet — firefighter union boss Bob Brooks, former federal prosecutor Ryan Crosswell, political newcomer Aiden Gonzalez, former Northampton County Executive Lamont McClure, energy engineer Carol Obando-Derstine, Lehigh County Controller Mark Pinsley and perennial candidate Lou Shupe — instead offered shades of similar answers on issues as diverse as housing, medical debt and energy policy.
In the 90-minute event, none of the candidates opted to attack or criticize anyone else in the Democratic field.
With few differences emerging in terms of policy points, the candidates instead used the questions from moderator Rev. Greg Edwards to highlight their background and personal histories.
Bob Brooks
Brooks stressed his blue-collar roots throughout the event, recounting how he was raised by a single mother and how they hustled to make ends meet by picking up work as it became available.
He said he received SNAP benefits as a child and young adult, and medical debts nearly sent him into foreclosure multiple times.
Those life experiences have left him fully aware of how hard many families are being hit by Congress' decision to cut those benefits as part of the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, he said.
His ability to connect with working families — many of whom are former Democrats who got fed up with the party — is what could make a difference in a highly competitive race this November, he said.
"I have the unique ability to pull those people back to our party, and that is my goal," Brooks said.
When Edwards asked whether federal spending on ICE and aid to Israel made sense, given the struggles of working families at home, most candidates were quick to criticize ICE's practices.
They also pledged support for programs such as Medicaid and the Affordable Care Act.
Brooks was one of the few speakers to mention Gaza.
"It's devastating, and if you have a heart, eyes and ears, you can see this. Israel needs to follow international laws," he said.
Brooks also was the first candidate to voice support for removing the cap on Social Security tax. Removing the cap, he said, would make the system solvent for 100 years.
In 2026, people have a 6.2% Social Security tax on earnings of up to $184,500. Earnings above that threshold are not taxed.
Ryan Crosswell
Crosswell may have stood out most during the debate for how similar his stances on most major issues were to the rest of the field.
That wasn't a given entering the night considering he was a registered Republican as recently as December 2024.
Throughout the evening, Crosswell kept pointing to the need to raise taxes on wealthier Americans, saying it could address needs with housing, child care, education and transportation.
When Pinsley began to answer a taxation question by chanting "Tax the rich! Tax the rich!" a laughing Crosswell raised a green index card, something attendees were asked to do if a candidate said something with which they agreed.
"We will always have issues of affordability as long as we don't have major tax reform," Crosswell said. "I believe we should shift the tax burden from the middle and lower class onto the wealthiest Americans."
Crosswell, a former Marine defense attorney and federal prosecutor, argued that his nomination would give Democrats the best chance to win in November.
He said that his background would rob incumbent U.S. Rep. Ryan Mackenzie of familiar tropes that Republicans are stronger on issues such as national defense and crime.
"When veterans run as Democrats, they win," Crosswell said.
Aiden Gonzalez
Gonzalez, 27, spoke less about his personal experiences and resume than the other candidates did.
After McClure spoke about his first job as an attorney 30 years ago, Gonzalez cracked, "If you’ve looked at me, you’ll know I don’t have three decades of experience."
Instead, he focused more than the other candidates did on policy issues, including his support for free public transportation and hiking the corporate tax rate.
As did other candidates, he backed restoring tax breaks for renewable energy technology and expanding LIHEAP, a federal program that helps low-income households pay their energy bills.
He alone, however, spoke about the need to support research into nuclear fusion, which he called the "space race of the 21st century."
"This is going to be us or China that crafts the technology to make unlimited renewable energy, and it really should be us," Gonzalez said.
At the same time, he perhaps was the most laissez-faire candidate when it came to housing.
While other candidates stressed an immediate need to create government-subsidized housing, Gonzalez was skeptical that people wanted to live in government-issue homes.
While acknowledging that members of his generation believed they'd be more likely to meet aliens than buy a home, he said lawmakers needed to take steps to eliminate red tape and limit corporations' abilities to scoop up housing stock and drive up rent prices.
"If we solve these things systemically, we resolve these problems over time," Gonzalez said.
Lamont McClure
If Gonzalez brought up his personal experience the least, McClure may have been the candidate to discuss his record the most.
On affordability, he mentioned how he cut county taxes in 2022. On transportation, he brought up his past role in steering the Lehigh Valley Transportation Study.
When the conversation turned to utility costs, McClure highlighted his testimony opposing rate hikes because of the harm it would cause small businesses.
McClure may have been the candidate most critical of Mackenzie during the forum. He criticized the freshman congressman for not withholding his votes for the One Big Beautiful Bill Act or to reopen the government unless Congress protected Affordable Care Act tax subsidies.
While Mackenzie signed discharge petitions that forced a vote on the subsidies in the U.S. House, McClure argued that was Mackenzie giving the minimum effort to provide himself political cover.
The ACA tax breaks have languished in the U.S. Senate, and millions of Americans have seen their ACA premiums more than double in 2026.
"Mackenzie is so craven he tried to con his people," McClure said. "There's a lot of cons going on in this race, and we are going to call them out."
McClure also highlighted his record of opposing President Donald Trump and his allies.
Under McClure's tenure, Northampton County barred ICE from entering the county courthouse and started requiring agents to present a judicial warrant before releasing inmates into their custody.
In 2021, McClure won the executive race over Republican Stephen Lynch, who made his MAGA credentials the basis for his campaign.
"If you want someone whose fought Trump, fought ICE, fought MAGA and defeated them, Lamont McClure is your candidate for Congress," he said.
Carol Obando-Derstine
Like Brooks and Crosswell, Obando-Derstine presented her campaign in terms of electability.
The Lehigh Valley has a fast-growing Latino population, but one that has frequently not engaged in the region's politics. Obando-Derstine, a Colombian immigrant, contended that she was the candidate best positioned to change that.
"I can build the broadest coalition that taps into the strengths of our community," she said.
When the topic turned to rising utility rates, Obando-Derstine may have been the candidate to speak in the most detail.
As did other candidates, she attacked the Trump administration for its decision to withdraw support for renewable energy initiatives.
However, she noted that the Trump administration has proposed eliminating the Energy Star program, which certifies energy efficient appliances.
She also lamented DOGE cuts that slashed efforts to develop long-term renewable energy batteries.
"That’s criminal," she said. "That should not have happened. This is how we invest in our future."
Obando-Derstine also promoted her grassroots ties to the community.
Her work for the early childhood education program Head Start, her time overseeing a food pantry and her involvement in Women, Infant and Children while an aide to former U.S. Sen. Bob Casey gives her a better understanding of the needs of the Lehigh Valley, she said.
Mark Pinsley
Every candidate opposed the Trump administration's escalation of ICE enforcement, but Pinsley called for rebuilding the nation's immigration system from scratch.
He criticized how immigration courts are overseen by employees of the executive branch instead of independent judges and called for the abolition of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
Before Trump ended a massive influx of ICE and border patrol agents in Minnesota this month, critics had accused the administration of embracing Gestapo tactics to target minority communities.
Pinsley didn't echo those attacks directly Monday but made his position clear.
"I'm Jewish," Pinsley told the crowd. "Look, you know what ICE is, right? You know what ICE is."
During his closing statement, he took credit for kicking ICE out of Lehigh County. However, it may be more accurate to say Lehigh County Executive Josh Siegel evicted Homeland Security Investigations at Pinsley's urging.
When pressed on housing, most candidates focused their attention on the roadblocks to constructing more and the rise of corporations snatching up properties.
Pinsley, however, focused on the problem as more of an affordability issue. He proposed increasing the minimum wage to an annual rate of $45,000.
Lou Shupe
Shupe, who has launched congressional bids twice before but has yet to appear on a ballot, may have been the candidate to separate himself most from the field during the forum.
He was the candidate most critical of other Democrats, blaming former President Joe Biden for skyrocketing rents and taking Allentown officials to task for clearing out a homeless encampment over the summer.
Shupe often agreed with other candidates on issues such as transit and affordability, but spent his time focusing on unique solutions or outside-the-box takes.
For example, he agreed the wealthy should be taxed more, but spoke more about his support for giving people tax write-offs if they supported nonprofit journalism.
"It would allow them to stand up for the people," Shupe said.
When it came to the housing crisis, Shupe said his solution was tiny houses. While the movement hasn't caught on in the Lehigh Valley, groups across the state and around the world have promoted the miniature units as a way to combat homelessness and to minimize housing costs.
Rather than give a traditional closing statement, Shupe encouraged people to read the book "The Anxious Generation."
In it, author Jonathan Haidt posits that the rise of smart phones and the decrease in play time has caused a sharp increase in mental health problems in children over the past 15 years.
Monday's event was organized by Lehigh Valley Stands Up, POWER Action Fund, Transit for All PA and Working Families Power.
The winner of the Democratic primary in May is expected to take on Republican incumbent Mackenzie. In addition, third-party candidates Frank Golden and Michael Granados have logged their campaigns with the Federal Election Commission.
Pennsylvania's 7th Congressional District is considered among the nation's most contested — and expensive — political battlegrounds.
The district holds near-equal numbers of registered Democrats and Republicans with a large contingent of unaffiliated voters.
Given the razor-thin majority in the U.S. House over the past six years, both major parties have made winning the district a high priority, sparking record campaign spending in that time.
The district represents all of Carbon, Lehigh and Northampton counties, plus a sliver of Monroe County.
