BETHLEHEM, Pa. — The fundraising heavyweights in the Lehigh Valley's congressional race continued to financially distance themselves from the pack through the end of 2025, according to the latest round of campaign finance reports.
All together, six candidates for Pennsylvania's 7th Congressional District raised more than $1.5 million toward their midterm campaigns through the last three months of the year.
But nearly 90% of that funding went to Republican incumbent Ryan Mackenzie and two of his Democratic challengers, former federal prosecutor Ryan Crosswell and firefighter union boss Bob Brooks.
The other three candidates who reported fundraising — Democrats Lamont McClure, Carol Obando-Derstine and Mark Pinsley — ended the quarter with less money than with which they started.
Aiden Gonzalez, a political newcomer who declared his candidacy with the FEC over the holidays, filed a declaration stating that his campaign had neither raised nor spent $5,000 in the final days of 2025.
Lewis Shupe, a perennial candidate who has failed to make the ballot in the past, was not required to file a campaign finance report because he launched his campaign in 2026. The same applied to Michael Granados, a former director of marketing at Miller Symphony Hall who announced his candidacy as an independent in January.
The size of a campaign's checkbook doesn't guarantee victory, but deep pockets can help candidates introduce themselves to voters and spread their message in what's bound to be an expensive campaign.
In 2024, the district was one of the costliest U.S. House races in the country. The candidates and their allies spent more than $38 million in their efforts to influence voters in one of the nation's most contested political battlegrounds. While that was a record amount for a Lehigh Valley congressional race, this year's contest is already on pace to surpass it. Candidates spent $2.2 million on the PA-7 race before the start of 2026.
The district represents Carbon, Lehigh and Northampton counties plus a small slice of Monroe County. The district is split nearly evenly between registered Democrats and Republicans, making it one of the few toss-up districts in the country. The U.S. House has been narrowly divided since 2020, making PA-7 critical to the national parties as they fight for the majority.
Ryan Mackenzie
Mackenzie, a first-term Republican who previously served as a state lawmaker, raised the largest amount of any candidate. The former Pennsylvania House representative raised more than $651,876 in the fourth quarter of 2025. His campaign finished the year with $1.8 million on hand.
Mackenzie has the most funding of any single candidate in the race, but Democrats on the whole have out-raised him so far.
The biggest chunk of Mackenzie's new funding came from joint fundraising committees associated with Republican leadership. House Speaker Mike Johnson's Grow the Majority PAC transferred $110,000 to Mackenzie's campaign. Defend Our Majority, another committee associated with the Republican National Committee, raised more than $57,000 on Mackenzie's behalf. Majority Whip Mike Emmer, R-Georgia, transferred Mackenzie nearly $33,000 through his Emmer Majority Builder's PAC.
The remainder of his funding came from political action committees ($138,400) and individual donors. Of the $164,900 Mackenzie received from individual donors, more than $75,000 were small, unitemized donations. Mackenzie's status as an incumbent trying to defend a toss-up district saw thousands of small donations pour in from across the country through WinRed, the Republican Party's fundraising platform.
Other prominent donors include:
- U.S. Rep. Tom Barrett, R-Michigan — $3,000 through his PAC
- Duane Morris Government Committee, a PAC affiliated with the Philadelphia-based law firm — $3,000
- FirstEnergy Corp. PAC — $2,500
- State Rep. Milou Mackenzie, R-Lehigh, his mother — $1,000 through her PAC
- David Noel, Former board chairman at the United Way of the Greater Lehigh Valley — $2,500
- Sarah F. Perot, daughter-in-law of former presidential candidate Ross Perot — $7,000
- U.S. Rep. Lloyd Smucker, R-Pa. — a total of $5,000 through two different PACs
Ryan Crosswell
Crosswell, who resigned from the Justice Department in protest a year ago before moving to Allentown, led the Democratic field with over $433,791 in new funding. Of that amount, $407,164 came from individual donors. He finished the year with $612,249 in his war chest.
Crosswell's opponents have accused him of being a carpetbagger, and nearly all of his initial financial support came from outside the region. Last quarter, he continued to receive the bulk of his financial support from outside Pennsylvania, though his latest filings show some inroads with local voters. Local donors who contributed significant sums to Crosswell's campaign include Beth Cohen, a Bethlehem neurologist; physicians Brian Patson ($2,500) and Albert Sarno ($2,050); and Susan Yee, founder of Active Data and a trustee of Lehigh Valley Public Media who just moved to the nonprofit's community advisory board ($1,000).
In addition, Crosswell received $5,000 in funding from Crosspartisan PAC I. The Virginia-based PAC receives funding from the With Honor PAC, which works to elect "principled veterans" to Congress. Crosswell previously served as a U.S. Marine defense attorney. Like Mackenzie, he also received funding from the Duane Morris Government Committee PAC ($2,000).
New Politics - Next Mission, a joint fundraising committee that supports veterans who previously worked in the federal government, transferred more than $26,043 to Crosswell's campaign. Approximately 317,000 federal workers resigned, retired, were let go or bought out during the first year of President Donald Trump's second term.
Bob Brooks
Bob Brooks, president of the Pennsylvania Professional Fire Fighters Association, was the only other PA-7 candidate who grew their campaign coffers last quarter. He finished the year with $340,767 on hand after raising more than $301,697.
Of that amount, more than $64,750 came from PACs. Groups backing Brooks included the Save Democracy PAC, which looks to "confront and defeat Republican extremism" ($10,000); Medicare for All PAC ($5,000); and the Congressional Progressive Caucus PAC ($5,000).
A significant amount of Brooks' funding came from outside the region. That included donations from more than two dozen firefighting officials from across the country, a trend that continued from his first campaign finance report last year.
Other prominent local backers included Immigration attorney Ray Lahoud ($3,500), state Rep. Mike Schlossberg, D-Lehigh ($1,000 through his PAC) and state Rep. Peter Schweyer, D-Lehigh ($1,000 through his PAC).
Carol Obando-Derstine
Documents filed with the FEC show Obando-Derstine raised more than $100,625 over the last three months of 2025. However, her campaign spent more than $104,630 over the same time period, causing her war chest to shrink to $123,508 entering the year.
Individual donors provided Obando-Derstine with $81,374 last quarter, $24,404 of which came from small, unitemized donations.
Donors from last quarter include 314 Action Impact PAC, which supports Democratic scientists seeking office ($6,500); the political action committee Elect Democratic Women ($5,000), Allentown physician David Meehan ($5,000); the PODER PAC, which supports pro-choice Democratic Latinas ($2,500); and U.S. Rep. Nanette Barragan, D-California ($1,050 through her PAC).
Mark Pinsley
Pinsley, Lehigh County's controller, raised $52,088 in the closing months of 2025. Over the same period, his campaign spent $56,470, leaving it with a little over $50,000 on hand at the start of the 2026.
All of Pinsley's funding last quarter came from individual donors, and few of them came from the Lehigh Valley. LehighValleyNews.com identified just four donors with Lehigh Valley mailing addresses who donated a total of $950 to Pinsley's campaign.
Lamont McClure
McClure, a former Northampton County executive, reported raising $21,770 between October 2025 and the end of the year. After spending $22,548 on his campaign, he closed 2025 with $287,590 on hand. That placed him third in the Democratic field between Brooks and Obando-Derstine.
Most of McClure's funding to date comes from a $200,000 loan he spotted his campaign in the third quarter of 2025. In a recent interview on Lehigh Valley Political Pulse, he said the funding represents most of his life savings.
Nearly all of McClure's funding last quarter came from individual donors in and around the Lehigh Valley. Backers include the Easton firm Northeast Business Consulting LLC ($5,000); former Bethlehem Solicitor William Leeson ($1,000); and former Northampton County Councilman Kevin Lott ($500).
