The House primary giving hints about where the national Democratic Party is heading

BETHLEHEM, Pa. — Bob Brooks kept his message to the point in a six-minute address to union leaders and supporters on Monday.

Brooks, the head of the state firefighters union and a Democratic candidate for a battleground House seat in the Lehigh Valley, described himself as a “working-class candidate” and “working-class person” who has been working since he ran a paper route at age 10. “The whole system is rigged against us,” he said — and the only way to combat such an imbalance of power is by “sending people like us to Washington, D.C., to represent us.”

Across town, Democratic rival Ryan Crosswell, a Marine veteran and former federal prosecutor whose headline-grabbing resignation from the Justice Department preceded his campaign, offered a very different message. In an interview with NBC News, he described leaving the Justice Department’s Public Integrity Section — over an order to drop a corruption case against then-New York City Mayor Eric Adams — as “a real No Kings moment,” pointing to the anti-President Donald Trump protest movement.

The Republican-turned-Democrat said Trump “is literally trying to write Article One out of the Constitution — that is violating the law.” He decried a “lawless” administration and explained that he tries “to tell people corruption is a kitchen-table issue” and that lawlessness and corruption have “been a key focus in this race.”

“I think that this is a unique moment in American history,” Crosswell said, adding, “This is a time in this country where I think we’re really struggling for our own soul.”

The competing messages also highlight a battle for the soul of the Democratic Party. What’s notable in the party’s primary for Pennsylvania’s 7th Congressional District, arguably the state’s most competitive, is how leaders across the party’s ideological spectrum — from Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., to Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro — have all lined up on one side of this equation: With Brooks.

The rationale is straightforward, according to Democratic operatives working on and watching the race: They see Brooks as best positioned to connect with voters in the district on economic hardships and message on what they believe will be the top issue this fall, the economy. They believe the party sorely needs more everymen like Brooks, a gruff retired firefighter who would be one of the only House members without a college degree if elected.

The primary moves come as national Democrats are trying to ensure a broader appeal beyond the party’s anti-Trump base.

Party leaders rallying behind Brooks is “an admission that we need more normal people and fewer lawyers,” said Andrew Mamo, a spokesperson for The Bench, a Democratic group boosting candidates across the midterm map, including Brooks. “There are far more firefighters in the country than a-list lawyers.”

Crosswell, meanwhile, fits the mold of a candidate Democrats have often sought in swing races around the country — and in Pennsylvania: Military experience, prosecutorial chops, and ease with anti-Trump messaging. Even now, Crosswell has been able to tap into a reservoir of donor support, which has boosted his fundraising above his competition.

“They don’t have to just hear me promise I’ll stand up to Trump — I’ve already done it,” Crosswell said. “I took a tough stand at a time when people were bending the knee … I think I’ve fought harder against this administration than any candidate, not in this race, in the country. I think that’s evident that matters to people.”

Brooks, Crosswell, and two other candidates — former Northampton County Executive Lamont McClure and Carol Obando-Derstine, an engineer and one-time aide to former Sen. Bob Casey, D-Pa. — are competing to face off with first-term Republican Rep. Ryan Mackenzie in the fall. The Tuesday primary is one of the first of 2026 featuring a contested fight in a battleground district — one where Mackenzie defeated former Rep. Susan Wild, D-Pa., by 1 point in 2024.

Carol Obando-Derstine, a candidate for the Democratic nomination in Pennsylvania's 7th Congressional District, speaks speaks with attendees at an event in Bethlehem on May 11.Matt Rourke / AP

Trump carried it by 3 points in 2024 and former President Joe Biden won it by 1 in 2020. Shapiro, who will appear at the top of the ticket this fall, carried the district by 12 points in 2022.

In an interview, Brooks — who also owns a snow-removal and lawn care business and coaches baseball locally — said his prominent supporters “see and understand the fact that people just like me have been leaving this party in droves for years because they see it as a party of elites, and they felt left behind.”

“They see that it needs change, and I can offer that change,” he continued, adding, “So those people that have left the party can look at me and see themselves in me.”

The dual endorsement from Sanders and Shapiro certainly attracted attention. “When you can get them both to endorse you, maybe it says more about Bob than it does about either of them,” David Melman, elected leader of the Pennsylvania Joint Board of Workers United SEIU, said at a Brooks event on Monday.

But while his backers also include former Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg, the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee and The Working Families Party, among others, Brooks has not put the primary race away.

A survey sponsored by the Congressional Progressive Caucus PAC showed McClure within striking distance last month, and that was before a super PAC with ties to Republicans began spending to boost him in the race. Through last month, Crosswell had generated the biggest fundraising haul, outraising Brooks by nearly $600,000 (though the largest outside spending has come on Brooks’ behalf via Stronger Together PA, which has spent more than $1 million boosting him.) Obando-Derstine, meanwhile, has sought to build on inroads with the Lehigh Valley’s Latino community — which makes up about 20% of the district.

Republicans offered respect for the coalition Brooks was able to pull together on the left, with one longtime Republican operative in Pennsylvania describing Brooks as “kind of a unicorn candidate.” But a national Republican operative working in the state said given that backing they have been surprised “Brooks hasn’t been able to pull away.”

Brooks, who gave a shaky debate performance last month, faced scrutiny over controversial years-old social media posts obtained by The Washington Post that included calling former NFL quarterback Colin Kaepernick a “douchebag” over his police brutality protests. His working-class credentials were questioned after a financial disclosure with the Federal Election Commission estimated his and his wife’s assets between $148,000 and $3.89 million.

And, this month, Brooks told a group of college students that Shapiro asked his union to back Republican Stacy Garrity for state Treasurer over Democrat Erin McClelland, who had publicly been deeply critical of the governor while he was being considered as then-Vice President Kamala Harris’ running mate. Axios first reported on the remarks, which were recorded. NBC News separately obtained the recording.

“I worry that what we’re trying to do is say, ‘Hey, look at this guy. He’s just like you,’” a Democratic operative who has worked with multiple potential 2028 contenders said in an interview. “Selectively, that can be helpful. But everybody thought we were doing that with [Sen. John] Fetterman, and it didn’t really work.”

“But it does seem like the party is calibrating their preferred candidate a little bit, where they are an outsider, everyman, every person,” this person, who requested anonymity as they are not authorized to speak with the press, added.

Brooks apologized for some of the posts but said they were being “selectively“ dug up. He has said the investments were part of his wife’s retirement savings. Both he and Shapiro insist Brooks misspoke when describing the episode with Shapiro and his union in 2024.

A Shapiro aide reiterated the governor’s support for Brooks as well as their longstanding relationship, noting the two plan to campaign together in Bethlehem on Sunday.

“The fact that all of these Democrats stayed behind him and said, ‘Yes, Bob is our guy,’ shows that we are building that bigger tent,” Mamo said of the resurfaced social media posts. “We are not trying to kick people out because they don’t fit 100% of what Josh Shapiro or Bernie Sanders or anybody else thinks, if they’re great people with great values who care about their community, we want to get behind you.”

His rivals have rejected the idea that the full party is behind him. Wild, the former congresswoman for the district, has backed Obando-Derstine, while former Rep. Matt Cartwright, D-Pa., who represented the neighboring 8th District, is backing Crosswell. In an interview, McClure pointed to endorsements from local Democratic officials in the district.

Lamont McClure, a candidate for the Democratic nomination in Pennsylvania's 7th Congressional District, speaks in Bethlehem on May 11.Matt Rourke / AP

“So the entire Democratic Party is not for Bob Brooks,” he said. “Maybe the entire D.C. establishment is, and you’ll have to ask Brooks why he’s the preferred candidate of the DC establishment.”

Obando-Derstine, who served as a Latino outreach adviser for Casey, said key contours of the race are being missed — including that the majority of voters in the district are women and that the Latino community, one Democrats are trying to figure out how to perform better with than was the case in 2024, is a substantial segment of the electorate.

“One thing that I know about this district is that they’re independent thinkers,” Obando-Derstine said. “They don’t like for outside forces who are not from this district to tell them who they should vote for.”

Grace Crampsie Smith, a Bethlehem City Councilwoman, said she would be pleased with any of the non-Crosswell candidates pulling out a victory on Tuesday, after finding his recent move back to the district to seek office concerning. She added the race has gotten increasingly heated in the final weeks.

“It’s become really like a bloodbath in the last month or so, more Democrats running against each other,” she said, adding the race “has raptured groups with this party, which just makes me sad and concerned.”

Brooks is one of a number of similar blue-collar-coded Democratic and independent candidates who’ve had varying levels of success early in 2026 election, including Oyster fisherman Graham Platner in Maine’s Senate race, industrial mechanic Dan Osborn in Nebraska’s Senate contest, and veteran Nathan Sage, who recently ended his bid for Senate in Iowa.

Given that the race is taking place in Pennsylvania, Brooks has been compared to Fetterman, the state’s most prominent official who sought that everyman appeal. But the senator’s positioning and overtures to Republicans have left many Democrats with a sour taste.

“We are completely different people,” Brooks said. “I have worked all my life. John has a trust fund. Not a knock on him. [But he was] kind of pretending to be a working-class guy. There’s no pretending here.”

“You know who doesn’t think I’m John Fetterman?” Brooks added. “Josh Shapiro. Bernie Sanders. Those guys don’t think I’m like John Fetterman.”

Nick Gavio, a spokesperson for the Working Families Party and Fetterman campaign veteran, said this contest offers the perfect test of two theories of the case for what kind of Democrat can best represent a swing district and appeal to those outside the party’s natural coalition: A working-class populist or a former Republican who has turned on his party.

“Crosswell is a candidate who was perfect for 2018,” Gavio said. “He is just a candidate for an era that isn’t really there anymore. I don’t know that swing voters around the country are looking for that right now. Anyone who was looking for that is already a Democrat and will vote for whoever wins this race.”