U.S. House race · November 3, 2026
U.S. Representative, Pennsylvania District 7
Represents the district in the U.S. House of Representatives, which writes federal laws, approves the federal budget and taxes, and oversees the executive branch.
2-year term. The district covers the Lehigh Valley, including all of Lehigh, Northampton and Carbon counties and a small part of Monroe County, with the cities of Allentown, Bethlehem and Easton. Republican Rep. Ryan Mackenzie is seeking a second term and was unopposed in the May 19, 2026 Republican primary; Bob Brooks won a four-way Democratic primary over Ryan Crosswell, Lamont McClure and Carol Obando-Derstine. Andrew Tupone filed to run under the Green Party label, but the Commonwealth Court ruled him ineligible because the party had not nominated him, and the Pennsylvania Supreme Court upheld that ruling in September 2026; he has said he intends to run as a write-in candidate.
The candidates
Listed alphabetically by last name.
Bob Brooks
President, Pennsylvania Professional Fire Fighters Association; retired Bethlehem firefighterBob Brooks is a retired Bethlehem firefighter and president of the Pennsylvania Professional Fire Fighters Association, the statewide firefighters' union. His campaign focuses on living costs, Medicare for All, higher taxes on the wealthiest Americans, union rights and a ban on stock trading by members of Congress.
Ryan Mackenzie
U.S. Representative, Pennsylvania District 7 (in office since 2025)Ryan Mackenzie is a first-term Republican congressman from Lehigh County who served in the Pennsylvania House of Representatives from 2012 to 2024. His campaign focuses on tax relief and living costs, protecting Social Security and Medicare, border security, and limits on stock trading by members of Congress.
Compare on the issues
Summaries of each candidate's stated positions. See each profile for sources and details.
| Issue | Bob Brooks Democratic | Ryan Mackenzie Republican |
|---|---|---|
| Energy & Environment | Opposes federal legislation that limits local control over where data centers are built, and supports new nuclear and natural gas power plants while expanding renewable energy. | Cosponsored the Ratepayer Protection Act, which would require data centers and other customers with at least 100 megawatts of peak demand to pay the full cost of grid upgrades needed to serve them. |
| Health Care | Supports Medicare for All and restoring federal Medicaid cuts, and says he would work to lower prices for drugs such as insulin. | Introduced the bipartisan Net Effective Cost Transparency and Prescription Drug Affordability Act in September 2026, which he says would increase transparency and competition among pharmacy benefit managers and lower drug costs. |
| Immigration | Says the immigration system should deter illegal entry and secure the border while treating people humanely and giving law-abiding immigrants a chance to earn citizenship. | Says his work on the Homeland Security Committee helped secure the border and added resources against human trafficking and drug smuggling. |
| Economy & Jobs | Supports raising the federal minimum wage and tying it to inflation, and passing the PRO Act to make it easier to join a union. | No public position found yet |
| Elections & Democracy | No public position found yet | Announced in July 2026 the CITE Act, his bill to require federal candidates to divest individual stocks or use a blind trust; is an original cosponsor of the Stop Insider Trading Act and says he backs congressional term limits. |
| Social Security & Medicare | No public position found yet | Says he refused to support any budget that reduced Social Security benefits and voted to invest more in Medicare every year, and supported higher Medicare Advantage reimbursement rates. |
| Taxes | Supports a billionaire minimum tax and repealing parts of the 2017 tax law that he says benefited billionaires and large corporations. | No public position found yet |