Lehigh County controller Mark Pinsley ended his campaign for the Democratic nomination in the 7th Congressional District on Wednesday morning to turn his attention to a Pennsylvania State Senate seat.<\/p>\n
Pinsley bowed out of the crowded PA-07 race after raising just over $52,000 in Q4 and \u201ctaking a hard look at my campaign finances.\u201d<\/p>\n
In comparison, Ryan Crosswell raised over $443,000 during the same three-month period at the end of 2025.<\/p>\n
Pinsley does believe, though, that he has \u201cthe network, support, and experience to win the nomination for State Senate in the 16th District.\u201d<\/p>\n
The seat is presently occupied by Sen. Jarrett Coleman (R-Lehigh) who defeated Pinsley by eight points in the 2022 race to replace Patrick Browne who served from 2005-22. The state senate campaign marks the eighth race Pinsley has entered in the past 10 years and his third bid for the 16th District.<\/p>\n
\u201cAs Trump and the Republican Party drive America down a dark road, I cannot step away from the fight,\u201d Pinsley said. \u201cWhile the federal government remains gridlocked, it will be in Harrisburg and in state capitals across the country where we build the foundations of resistance and reform.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe opportunity in Pennsylvania is real. For the first time in more than thirty years, Democrats could hold a trifecta in Harrisburg, giving Governor Shapiro the ability to move forward without obstruction from Senate Republicans who have refused to raise the minimum wage and tax wealthy corporations fairly.\u201d<\/p>\n
With Democrats eyeing the \u201ctrifecta\u201d of holding the governor\u2019s seat as well as majority control in the State House and Senate, Pinsley said the party needs the strongest possible candidate.<\/p>\n
\u2018I would have been honored to fight for you in Washington,\u201d he said, \u201cbut my practical experience may be of greater use to you in Harrisburg.\u201d<\/p>\n
Opponents may look at Pinsley\u2019s exit from one race to enter another as a weakness rather than a strength.<\/p>\n
Pinsley joins a congested Democratic field to challenge Coleman along with Pennridge School Board Director Bradley Merkl-Gump, Richlandtown Mayor Wayne Codner, and local businessman Juan Vargas.<\/p>\n
\u201cI want to be clear about something: From day one, I have been running for Pennsylvania State Senate, District 16,\u201d wrote Vargas on social media. \u201cI chose this race deliberately. I haven\u2019t wavered. I haven\u2019t pivoted. And I\u2019m not walking away from a term my constituents entrusted me to serve.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat said, primaries are healthy. Voters deserve choices. We welcome Mark to the race.\u201d<\/p>\n
The 16th District represents Heidelberg, Lower Macungie, Lower Milford, Lowhill, Lynn, North Whitehall, Upper Macungie, Upper Milford, Upper Saucon, Washington and Weisenberg townships and Alburtis, Coopersburg, Macungie and Slatington as well as portions of Allentown and South Whitehall Township in Lehigh County.<\/p>\n
The Bucks County portion of the district includes Bedminster, Bridgeton, Durham, East Rockhill, Haycock, Hilltown, Milford, Nockamixon, Richland, Springfield, Tinicum and West Rockhill townships along with Dublin, Perkasie, Quarkertown, Richlandtown, Riegelsville, Sellersville, Silverdale and Trumbauersville plus a portion of Telford.<\/p>\n
Republicans have a 12.4% edge over Democrats in voter registration within the district, according to state data.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Lehigh County controller Mark Pinsley ended his campaign for the Democratic nomination in the 7th Congressional District on…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":119481,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[14],"tags":[153,155,154],"class_list":{"0":"post-119480","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-bethlehem","8":"tag-bethlehem","9":"tag-bethlehem-headlines","10":"tag-bethlehem-news"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/119480","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=119480"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/119480\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/119481"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=119480"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=119480"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=119480"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}