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Lamont McClure listens during a Democratic primary forum hosted by the Greater Lehigh Valley Chamber of Commerce in Bethlehem, Pa., on Wednesday, April 1, 2026. (Jai Smith \/ Lehigh Daily)<\/p>\nBETHLEHEM, Pa. \u2014 Four Democrats made competing cases Wednesday for the right to challenge Rep. Ryan Mackenzie in one of the most competitive congressional districts in the country.<\/p>\n
The candidates\u2014firefighter and union president Bob Brooks, former Northampton County Executive Lamont McClure, energy engineer Carol Obando-Derstine, and ex-federal prosecutor Ryan Crosswell\u2014spent 60 minutes at a forum hosted by the Greater Lehigh Valley Chamber of Commerce.<\/p>\n
Underlying much of the debate was a single number from 2024: 11,000.<\/p>\n
That\u2019s roughly how many votes Mackenzie\u2019s margin over Susan Wild was in Carbon County two years ago. That margin erased Susan Wild\u2019s leads in Lehigh and Northampton and handed Republicans a seat they now hold by one point. The May 19 primary is six weeks out.<\/p>\n
Each candidate offered a different account of how to close that gap.<\/p>\n
McClure<\/p>\n
Lamont McClure listens during a Democratic primary forum hosted by the Greater Lehigh Valley Chamber of Commerce in Bethlehem, Pa., on Wednesday, April 1, 2026. (Jai Smith \/ Lehigh Daily)<\/p>\n
McClure made the most direct claim to Carbon County, arguing Mackenzie would not repeat his 2024 margins there if he were the nominee.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe is not beating me 70 to 30 in a county that can rightfully call me a favorite son,\u201d McClure said, pointing to his roots in Weatherly, where he graduated high school in 1988 and where his late father ran the housing authority for 40 years.<\/p>\n
Mackenzie\u2019s actual margin in Carbon County in 2024 was roughly 66 to 34, according to official results.<\/p>\n
McClure served eight years as Northampton County executive and chose not to seek another term. He said it was the early months of Trump\u2019s second administration\u2014the pace of cuts, Elon Musk\u2019s role in federal agencies\u2014that pushed him into the race.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe chaos that Musk and Trump were sowing really inspired me to get in this race because I knew I had the experience and the courage to take on Trump and fight back,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
He largely ran on his governing record. McClure said he returned $25 million to taxpayers through a property tax cut and distributed another $25 million to small businesses during the COVID-19 pandemic.<\/p>\n
FEC records show McClure raised $480,615 through the end of 2025 and had $287,590 cash on hand, though $200,000 of his total receipts came from a personal loan he made to his own campaign, leaving roughly $280,000 raised from outside donors.<\/p>\n
On the economy, he said: \u201cIf we can spend a billion dollars a day sending missiles into Iran, we can have health care for our citizens in the United States.\u201d<\/p>\n
Crosswell<\/p>\n
![\"ryan](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/ryan9-copy-1600x900.jpg\")
Ryan Crosswell speaks during a Democratic primary forum hosted by the Greater Lehigh Valley Chamber of Commerce in Bethlehem, Pa., on Wednesday, April 1, 2026. (Jai Smith \/ Lehigh Daily)<\/p>\n
Crosswell spent more than a decade as a federal prosecutor across three postings \u2014 Baton Rouge, San Diego and Washington, D.C. \u2014 before serving in the DOJ\u2019s Public Integrity Section, which handles corruption cases against public officials. He is also a Marine Reserve lieutenant colonel.<\/p>\n
Public records show he switched his registration from Republican to Democrat in December 2024, shortly before his February 2025 DOJ resignation\u2014a timeline his opponents have cited as opportunistic.<\/p>\n
Crosswell has said he voted for Hillary Clinton, Joe Biden, and Kamala Harris while still registered as a Republican, and that the Democratic Party better aligns with his values.<\/p>\n
His entry into the race traces directly to a single decision: on Feb. 17, 2025, he resigned from the DOJ after the Trump administration ordered his section to drop corruption charges against New York City Mayor Eric Adams.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen Donald Trump tried to force my section to drop the criminal case against Eric Adams, I refused, and I resigned,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
At a recent Carbon County event of roughly 55 people, he said more than half signed up for his campaign. He cited 27 combined years of military service and federal prosecution as the basis for his argument that his r\u00e9sum\u00e9 speaks to voters in the district\u2019s reddest parts.<\/p>\n
\u201cI am the one person that Pam Bondi and Stephen Miller do not want you to send to Congress,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
On the economy, Crosswell said groceries are up 8 percent in 2025, \u201cwell ahead of the national average.\u201d According to the USDA Economic Research Service, food-at-home prices rose 2.3 percent in 2025.<\/p>\n
Federal data show that specific categories, such as beef and eggs, increased significantly more, but Crosswell did not cite a source for the figure during the debate.<\/p>\n
Crosswell said he has raised more than the other three candidates combined last quarter. The most recent FEC filings, covering through Dec. 31, 2025, show he raised $1,144,864 and had $612,249 in cash on hand, the largest war chest in the Democratic field.<\/p>\n
First-quarter 2026 fundraising figures, which would cover the period Crosswell referenced at the debate, are not yet due to the FEC and were not available at the time of publication. All fundraising figures in this article reflect filings through Dec. 31, 2025.<\/p>\n
All four candidates expressed opposition to Citizens United on Wednesday \u2014 the 2010 Supreme Court ruling that opened the door to unlimited corporate and outside spending in federal elections \u2014 even as each operates within the system it created.<\/p>\n
McClure was the most specific, calling the ruling \u201cbaffling\u201d and arguing the Supreme Court was wrong to treat corporations as having First Amendment rights. He called for a constitutional amendment to overturn it.<\/p>\n
Brooks, the second-leading fundraiser in the Democratic field based on available FEC filings, was the most candid about the tension. He said Citizens United should be \u201cdone away with,\u201d but added: \u201cYou can\u2019t hate the player, hate the game. You\u2019ve got to play the hand you\u2019re dealt.\u201d<\/p>\n
Obando-Derstine agreed that the system drowns out candidates\u2019 important messages. Crosswell said he was the first in the race to pledge not to accept corporate PAC money.<\/p>\n
Brooks<\/p>\n
![\"bob](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/bob11-edited-2-1600x900.jpg\")
Bob Brooks speaks during a Democratic primary forum hosted by the Greater Lehigh Valley Chamber of Commerce in Bethlehem, Pa., on Wednesday, April 1, 2026. (Jai Smith \/ Lehigh Daily)<\/p>\n
The Bethlehem firefighter and state union president described filling three diesel trucks at twice the usual cost, a son who left a Penn State satellite campus with more than $105,000 in student debt and a moment of choosing between a mortgage payment and a medical bill.<\/p>\n
On the question of how to engage the Trump administration, he was direct: \u201cYou\u2019ve got to fight fire with fire\u2014no pun intended. You can\u2019t always take the high road when they go low\u2014no more strongly worded letters.\u201d<\/p>\n
Brooks is the only candidate in the race with no prior experience in public office. As president of the Pennsylvania Professional Fire Fighters Association, he spent nearly a decade lobbying Harrisburg for post-traumatic stress injury coverage for first responders.<\/p>\n
That effort produced Act 121, signed by Gov. Shapiro in October 2024 and in effect since Oct. 30, 2025, which removed the legal burden requiring first responders to prove \u201cobjective abnormal working conditions\u201d to qualify for workers\u2019 compensation benefits related to PTSI.<\/p>\n
He said Gov. Josh Shapiro and Rep. Chris Deluzio encouraged him to run, and that once he decided to get in, he concluded he was the best candidate for the job. He is endorsed by Shapiro, Sen. Bernie Sanders and Pete Buttigieg, among others, and noted that most of his campaign staff are in their mid- to late 20s.<\/p>\n
FEC records show Brooks raised $609,957 and had $340,767 cash on hand through the end of 2025, covering the period from July through December.<\/p>\n
Obando-Derstine<\/p>\n
![\"carol-obando](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/carol1-edited-2-1600x900.jpg\")
Carol Obando-Derstine speaks during a Democratic primary forum hosted by the Greater Lehigh Valley Chamber of Commerce in Bethlehem, Pa., on Wednesday, April 1, 2026. (Jai Smith \/ Lehigh Daily)<\/p>\n
Obando-Derstine left her position at PPL Electric Utilities in April 2025 and launched her campaign two weeks later. She said Wild, who chose not to seek a fifth term, asked her to run.<\/p>\n
\u201cShe did ask me to run. She didn\u2019t want to do it again, and she thought I had the best chance at beating Ryan Mackenzie,\u201d Obando-Derstine said. \u201cAnd I said yes \u2014 because why not me?\u201d<\/p>\n
The Colombian-born immigrant and former PPL engineer repeated a list of credentials she said no other candidate in the field\u2014or the general election\u2014can match: the only woman, the only immigrant, the only Spanish speaker, the only energy engineer.<\/p>\n
\u201cI am not sitting on the sidelines when Trump is trying to make it feel like it\u2019s a crime to be Latino in America,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
On energy, she made her most specific case. At the debate, she said the district is facing \u201ca resource adequacy issue\u201d and \u201cunprecedented demand\u201d driven in part by data centers connecting to the grid \u2014 and that navigating it requires the kind of technical expertise she said Congress currently lacks.<\/p>\n
In a post-debate interview, she went further: \u201cWe have to be laser-focused on ensuring that they don\u2019t shift costs to working families and small businesses. I know how these systems work, and I know who they fail when they don\u2019t.\u201d She added: \u201cPoliticians promise, but engineers deliver.\u201d<\/p>\n
On immigration, she was more pointed than she had been on stage: \u201cWho better than an actual immigrant who went through the immigration process to fight Trump\u2019s ICE?\u201d<\/p>\n
Obando-Derstine is endorsed by Wild and EMILY\u2019s List. FEC records show she raised $431,919 from May through December 2025 and had $123,508 cash on hand at year\u2019s end, the lowest cash position in the Democratic field heading into the primary stretch.<\/p>\n
ICE<\/p>\n
The debate over ICE enforcement has been active in the district well before Wednesday\u2019s forum. In January, Lehigh County Executive Josh Siegel evicted ICE and the Department of Homeland Security from a county-owned office in Allentown after the agency failed to pay more than $115,000 in rent over nearly three years.<\/p>\n
Lehigh County Controller Mark Pinsley, who had briefly run for this congressional seat before dropping out, framed the move bluntly: \u201cWe\u2019re going to deport ICE.\u201d Mackenzie called Siegel and Pinsley \u201cself-interested extremists.\u201d None of the four candidates on Wednesday called for abolishing the agency outright.<\/p>\n
Brooks was the most direct: \u201cWith ICE, we have armed men running around, throwing people in vans. They\u2019re killing people.\u201d<\/p>\n
Crosswell, whose law firm is currently suing ICE over illegal detentions, proposed legislation requiring agents to remove masks and identify themselves.<\/p>\n
He drew a line between what he called appropriate enforcement in normal circumstances and the current administration\u2019s conduct. \u201cIn normal times, ICE can serve an important function\u2014they would deport people here illegally that were violent, dangerous, some sort of threat, felons,\u201d he said. \u201cThe problem right now is they\u2019re deporting people that have been here for 10 to 15 years.\u201d<\/p>\n
McClure pointed to his 2020 executive order banning ICE arrests at the Northampton County Courthouse and said of the agency: \u201cIf it can\u2019t be reformed, it needs to be abolished.\u201d<\/p>\n
Obando-Derstine connected the issue to her own background: \u201cWhat Trump is doing is targeting people who look like me and my family.\u201d<\/p>\n
In a post-debate interview, she stopped short of calling for abolition but said: \u201cWhen a system is targeting people just because of the way they look and doesn\u2019t care if they\u2019re citizens or not \u2014 that\u2019s wrong. They don\u2019t have sufficient training. They\u2019re unaccountable.\u201d<\/p>\n
Mackenzie, the incumbent they are all running to unseat, has staked out a different position. He voted to triple ICE\u2019s budget as part of the One Big Beautiful Bill and has broadly defended the administration\u2019s enforcement approach.<\/p>\n
He has also said that agents operating in plain clothes should be identifiable, telling Lehigh Valley Political Pulse in January that \u201cI think these individuals need to be properly identified.\u201d Crosswell, on Wednesday, proposed legislation requiring agents to remove their masks and identify themselves by name.<\/p>\n
Fetterman<\/p>\n
Brooks referenced Fetterman\u2019s signature look. \u201cFirst of all, I\u2019m not able to wear a hoodie anymore,\u201d he said. He added that he hadn\u2019t spoken to Fetterman in over a year and that \u201cI think some things have changed in his life that have made him take different opinions,\u201d without elaborating.<\/p>\n
Obando-Derstine said: \u201cI have a problem with people who say one thing and do another.\u201d<\/p>\n
McClure answered in a single sentence \u2014 he said he had endorsed Conor Lamb over Fetterman in the 2022 Democratic Senate primary \u2014 and left it there.<\/p>\n
Crosswell said he values compromise but not what he saw from Fetterman. \u201cI think John Fetterman thinks that he\u2019s doing something noble by just totally turning on his values,\u201d he said. \u201cIt\u2019s not acceptable.\u201d<\/p>\n
The\u00a0debate\u00a0episodes will air on April 6th and 13th at 7:30 PM on WFMZ\u2019s Business Matters.<\/p>\n
The primary is on May 19. The general election against Mackenzie is on Nov. 3.<\/p>\n
Pennsylvania\u2019s primary is closed \u2014 only registered Democrats may vote. The registration deadline is May 4. Voters can register and request mail-in ballots at vote.pa.gov<\/a>.<\/p>\n \n This is the part where we ask.\n <\/p>\n \n No billionaire owner. No paywall. Just you keeping local news free.\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n $5 keeps us going \n 100% funds local journalism.\n <\/p>\n
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