Overview
- Brooks defeated incumbent Ryan Mackenzie Tuesday after the Associated Press called the race with Brooks at roughly 56.6% and Mackenzie at 43.4%.
- Brooks ran as a 53-year-old retired Bethlehem firefighter and union leader who focused his message on affordability and working-class issues and drew early support from Gov. Josh Shapiro.
- The campaign featured heavy outside spending and negative ads that highlighted a recently settled $130,000 legal dispute involving Brooks and claims about workers’ compensation, which Brooks’s team disputed.
- The 7th District’s mix of Allentown urban voters, suburbs, Republican rural areas and a sizable Latino population shaped the result as Brooks targeted precincts that had voted Republican in 2022.
- Democrats see the flip as a needed pickup in a district President Donald Trump helped turn red in 2024 and a signal that local economic messaging and lower Trump approval helped shift the electorate.