Biography & Campaign Analysis
2026 race
Bob Brooks, president of the Pennsylvania Professional Firefighters Association, is the Democratic nominee in the 2026 election for Pennsylvania's 7th congressional district, which is based in the Lehigh Valley.
The incumbent is Republican Ryan Mackenzie, who flipped the district in 2024 with 50.5% of the vote.
Brooks won a four-way Democratic primary with 41.0% of the vote, ahead of former federal prosecutor Ryan Crosswell, former Northampton County Executive Lamont McClure and Carol Obando-Derstine, a former member of the Pennsylvania Advisory Commission on Latino Affairs.
Andrew Tupone, whom Democrats accused of running as a spoiler to draw votes from Brooks, was ruled ineligible for the ballot as a Green Party candidate and has said he intends to mount a write-in campaign. Brooks faces Mackenzie in the general election on November 3, 2026.