{"id":195941,"date":"2026-05-18T21:07:17","date_gmt":"2026-05-18T21:07:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/195941\/"},"modified":"2026-05-18T21:07:17","modified_gmt":"2026-05-18T21:07:17","slug":"pa-7-democratic-primary-top-race-on-tuesdays-ballot","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/195941\/","title":{"rendered":"PA-7 Democratic primary top race on Tuesday’s ballot"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>Voters wait to cast ballots in Bethlehem\u2019s 3rd District at St. Peter\u2019s Evangelical Lutheran Church on Election Day, Nov. 4, 2025. \/ Photo by Donna Fisher<\/p>\n

The 7th Congressional District Democratic primary is the marquee matchup in Tuesday\u2019s election, with four candidates seeking the nomination to take on first-term incumbent Republican Congressman Ryan Mackenzie in November.<\/p>\n

The four candidates in the primary, a prelude to the general election in ballot order are: Carol-Obando-Derstine, a former PPL supervisor and aide to U.S. Sen Bob Casey; Bob Brooks, president of the Pennsylvania Professional Fire Fighters Association and a former Bethlehem firefighter; Lamont G. McClure, former Northampton County executive and county council member; and Ryan Crosswell, a former federal prosecutor.<\/p>\n

The 7th District comprises all of Carbon, Lehigh and Northampton counties and three voting districts in Monroe (all of Eldred and Polk townships and District One in Ross<\/a>).<\/p>\n

The only other contested Lehigh Valley races are on the Democratic ballots in the 16th Senate District and 22nd and 187th House districts.<\/p>\n

The candidates for governor \u2013 Democratic Gov. Josh Shapiro and Republican state Treasurer Stacy Garrity \u2013 are unopposed in their primaries. <\/p>\n

Lt. Gov. Austin Davis is also unopposed in the Democratic primary, but two Republicans are seeking their party\u2019s nomination for lieutenant governor: John Ventre, a UPS supervisor from Westmoreland County, and Jason Richey, a lawyer and chairman of the Allegheny County Republican Committee Chairman who is endorsed by Garrity.<\/p>\n

Here are the contests and links to stories we\u2019ve published about them.<\/p>\n

Democratic ballot
Carol Obando-Derstine
Bob Brooks Jr.
Lamont McClure
Ryan Crosswell<\/p>\n

Republican ballot
Ryan Mackenzie, incumbent<\/p>\n

Obando-Derstine\u2019s candidacy shaped by immigrant roots, helping others<\/a>
McClure says his government experience makes him most qualified candidate<\/a>
In 7th, Crosswell wants to stand up for democracy, restore integrity<\/a>
Bob Brooks running for Congress to fix people\u2019s problems<\/a>
Suspected GOP-connected TV ad attacks Brooks, Crosswell, supports McClure<\/a>
Congressional candidate Bob Brooks apologizes for old Facebook posts<\/a>
Crosswell continues to lead Democrats in cash while Mackenzie\u2019s funding soars<\/a>
Democrats in 7th talk issues, denounce Trump<\/a>
Four Democrats remain in 7th Congressional District primary race<\/a>
Democrats running in 7th line up seasoned campaign teams, key endorsements<\/a>
Crowded field complicates Democratic primary in 7th House District<\/a><\/p>\n

22nd House District
Democratic ballot
Ce-Ce Gerlach
Ana Tiburcio, incumbent<\/p>\n

Republican ballot
Robert Smith Jr.<\/p>\n

In the 22nd, familiar names with winning records and big support define Democratic primary<\/a>
Bipartisan call for debate ahead of 22nd House District primary<\/a>
Tiburcio will remain on Dem primary ballot after petition challenge dropped<\/a>
Siegel backs Gerlach days after Tiburcio wins 22nd House special election<\/a>
Tiburcio wins 22nd, becoming first Latino state lawmaker from the Lehigh Valley<\/a>
With Guridy out, ASD director picked for special election in 22nd House District<\/a><\/p>\n

16th Senate District
Democratic ballot
Mark Pinsley
Bradley Merkl-Gump<\/p>\n

Republican ballot
Jarrett Coleman, incumbent<\/p>\n

In 16th, two Democrats want chance to face Coleman in November<\/a>
In the 16th, new PAC targets Merkl-Gump with mailer calling him a \u2018party boss puppet\u2019<\/a>
In 16th, Merkl-Gump gets $195,000 boost from state Senate Democrats<\/a>
Bucks senator calls PAC\u2019s campaign flier in 16th \u2018antisemitic\u2019<\/a>
Skill game executives, PAC give Sen. Jarrett Coleman nearly $400,000<\/a><\/p>\n

187th House District
Democratic ballot
Geoffrey S. Whitcomb
Rachel Cuevas<\/p>\n

Republican ballot
Gary Day, incumbent<\/p>\n

In 187th, two Democrats want to take on incumbent Gary Day in November<\/a><\/p>\n

Uncontested state primary races<\/p>\n

14th Senate District
Nick Miller, D, incumbent
Omy Maldonado, R, consultant who ran unsuccessfully in the 2022 GOP primary for the seat.<\/p>\n

18th Senate District
Democratic ballot
Lisa Boscola, incumbent
Taiba Sultana, a former Easton City Council member, is running a write-in campaign.
Sultana to run write-in campaign against state Sen. Boscola in Democratic primary<\/a><\/p>\n

Republican ballot
Scott Janney, director of gift planning for the Salvation Army<\/p>\n

131st House District
Milou Mackenzie, R, incumbent
Meriam Sabih, D, freelance writer who ran unsuccessfully against Mackenzie in 2024.<\/p>\n

132nd House District
Mike Schlossberg, D, incumbent
Caren Lowrey, R, drug educator and prevention specialist<\/p>\n

133rd House District
Jeanne McNeill, D, incumbent
No Republican is on the ballot.<\/p>\n

134th House District
Peter Schweyer, D, incumbent
Miriam Maldonado, R, business owner<\/p>\n

135th House District
Steve Samuelson, D, incumbent
Joseph Poplawski, R, home inspection company owner who ran unsuccessfully for Bethlehem City Council in November.<\/p>\n

136th House District
Robert Freeman, D, incumbent
Pilar Cavallo-Campisi, R, owner of Norwegian Spa in Easton<\/p>\n

137th House District
Joe Emick, R, incumbent
Jeff Warren, D, Northampton County commissioner<\/p>\n

138th House District
Ann Flood, R, incumbent
Jared Bitting, D, teacher who lost to Flood in 2024.<\/p>\n

183rd House District
Zachary Mako, R, incumbent
Deidre J. Kamber, D, attorney<\/p>\n

LEHIGH COUNTY<\/p>\n

Democrats will choose seven members \u2013 three male, three female and one other of their choosing. The candidates are Danielle Shackelford of Allentown; Aiden Levinson of Upper Milford; April Riddick of Allentown; Carmen Bell of Allentown; Celeste Dee of Bethehem, Gabrielle Klotz of Emmaus; Sarina Torres of Allentown; Julian Guridy of Allentown, Sunny Ghai of Upper Macungie, Lori McFarland of Upper Milford (current county party chair); Ben Stemrich of Allentown, and Kathleen Parsons of Upper Saucon.<\/p>\n

Republicans will choose two males and two females.The candidates are Joe Vichot of Upper Saucon (current county chair); Lisa Walter of Emmaus, Jeanette Wrobel of Alburtis, Linda Swankoski of North Whitehall and Blake Marles of Lower Macungie.<\/p>\n

Republicans will also choose two members in District 1 and District 2. District 1 candidates are Bob Daday of Allentown and Jaqueline Rivera of Bethlehem. District 2 candidates are Bernadette Comfort and Raymond Leister, both of Upper Macungie.<\/p>\n

NORTHAMPTON COUNTY<\/p>\n

Democrats will vote for six with three spots slated for males and three for females. The candidates are Baron Vanderburg of Palmer Township; Brandon Faust of Lower Nazareth; Jeff Kennedy Faubert of Lower Saucon; Alexander Bryan Altieri of Bethlehem Township; Leslie Altieri of Bethlehem Township; Michael Laws of Bethlehem; Michael Desrosiers of Wind Gap, April Niver of Easton, and Sandra O\u2019Brien-Werner of Easton.<\/p>\n

Republicans will choose a total of seven \u2014 three males, three females and one of their choosing. The candidates are Maria Montero of Easton; Benjamin White of Williams Township; Patrick Cubbage of Lehigh Township; Robert Dandi of Hanover Township; Daniel Campo of Bethlehem; Eve Cubbage of Lehigh Township; Shawn Welch of Hellertown; Korry M. Franke of Bushkill Township; Dawn White of Williams Township and Brandon Matlack of Bethlehem.<\/p>\n

All Hanover Township voters, even those registered as nonaffiliated or as members of minor political parties, are eligible to vote yes or no on this ballot question.<\/p>\n

The question reads: \u201cShall Article VIII (Contracts), Section 8.01 (Requirements), 8.03(b) (Bidding Procedure), and 8.04(d) (Exceptions to Competitive Bidding) of the Home Rule Charter of Hanover Township, Lehigh County, Pennsylvania be amended, and shall a new Section 8.06 (Adjustment of Contract Ceiling) be added to the Home Rule Charter of Hanover Township, Lehigh County, Pennsylvania, to establish base contract amount in the letting of contract amount in the letting of contracts which are tied to the Consumer Price Index, thereby a lowing for inflation related adjustments in such base contract amounts?\u201d<\/p>\n

The legal advertisement about the question includes an explanation: \u201cCurrently, Section 8.01 of the Charter requires all contracts or purchases of the Township involving sums in excess of $1,500 to be in writing, Section 8.03(b) requires multiple price quotes for all contracts or purchases in an amount in excess of $10,000, and Section 8.04(d) exempts contracts for labor, material, supplies or services aggregating less than $18,500 from the competitive bidding process. These thresholds were set in 1976, 2012, and 1990, respectively, and, as a result, are outdated. Updating these amounts requires a voter referendum, which requires significant time and resources to achieve. If you vote \u201cYes\u201d on this ballot question, it means that you support deleting the current language from the Charter and adding language providing for automatic inflation-related adjustment of the thresholds to reflect changes in the Consumer Price Index.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Voters wait to cast ballots in Bethlehem\u2019s 3rd District at St. Peter\u2019s Evangelical Lutheran Church on Election Day,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":195942,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[14],"tags":[153,155,154],"class_list":["post-195941","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-bethlehem","tag-bethlehem","tag-bethlehem-headlines","tag-bethlehem-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/195941","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=195941"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/195941\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/195942"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=195941"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=195941"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=195941"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}