Pennsylvania primary may chart Democratic Party’s future direction

ALLENTOWN, Pennsylvania — This Lehigh Valley city, often cited by national media as a symbol of working-class struggles, is a microcosm of America’s blue-collar woes. Billy Joel even wrote a song about it. Nearby Bethlehem, once home to the world’s largest steelmaking operation, saw that plant close in 2003, replaced by a casino.

The region has seen better days, but this week, this working-class bastion could help decide the future of the Democratic Party.

Pennsylvania’s 7th Congressional District is among the most competitive in the country. In the last election, just one percentage point separated Democrat Susan Wild (49.5%) and Republican Ryan Mackenzie (50.5%), with a margin of barely 4,000 votes. The Democratic primary here has drawn national attention, with implications for the party’s direction: whether to embrace blue-collar populism or stick with insiders and liberal institutionalists who have faltered in recent elections.

The candidates illustrate the divide. Lamont McClure Jr., a lawyer and former Northampton County executive, emphasizes his experience. “I’m the only one that’s ever been an elected official,” he said. McClure has endorsements from local officials and Carbon County Democratic insiders.

Carol Obando-Derstine worked as a top renewable-energy engineer and now leads a nonprofit. She served as U.S. Senator Bob Casey’s senior Latino affairs adviser, arguing her high-level government and nonprofit leadership make her the right fit.

Ryan Crosswell, another lawyer and former registered Republican, served in Barack Obama’s Justice Department as a federal prosecutor. He previously worked at Littler Mendelson, a management-side labor firm often representing companies in union organizing campaigns (Crosswell says he did not work on union-busting efforts). He runs on an anti-corruption message: “I have more expertise in anti-corruption laws … than anyone in Congress.”

Such insider candidates often win Democratic primaries but tend to lose in tough swing districts. The party faces a trap: as liberal voters become wealthier and more educated, the candidate pool shifts toward lawyers, nonprofit executives, and professional-class progressives who appeal on credentials. That approach works with well-heeled primary voters but fails to win working-class voters in general elections. Many working-class voters resent the credentialed elite.

Only 33% of voters in Pennsylvania’s 7th District hold a college degree — 10 points below the national average. Some 38,000 work in manufacturing, about 27,000 in warehousing and trucking, and 12,000 in construction. Compared with roughly 14,000 professionals, the white-collar elite are outnumbered.

Working-class voters prefer blue-collar candidates — electricians and teachers over attorneys and executives — because they speak to economic challenges in plain language.

Bob Brooks, a veteran firefighter and head of the statewide firefighters union, offers that alternative. He lacks a college education; his grandfather was a Teamster truck driver, and he was raised by a single mother who worked as a bartender. He coaches varsity baseball at Nazareth High School. His campaign is unambiguously populist: “The Democratic Party has become the party of elites,” he said. “Our politics are being bought and paid for, and we have to stop that.” He added, “We’ve fought three wars since the minimum wage was last raised.”

Given his labor record, Brooks has won endorsements from numerous local unions and labor federations. More striking, he also earned backing from Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro, U.S. Senator Bernie Sanders, Congressman Chris Deluzio, Congresswoman Madeleine Dean, Elizabeth Warren, and Ruben Gallego. These national figures span party factions, from the ultra-progressive Working Families Party to the moderate Blue Dog PAC.

The internal tug-of-war is not simply a policy fight but a larger social question: how can progressives win back the working class? Populism has emerged as the answer — blue-collar outsider energy, a bold pro-worker program, focus on jobs and wages, “Made in USA” industrial policy, and an end to free-trade and free-market policies that benefited only the wealthy. That combination fueled ironworker Brian Poindexter’s primary victory in Ohio’s 7th District, powering industrial mechanic Dan Osborn’s independent Senate bid in Nebraska and the dark-horse candidacy of ironworker Trey Martin in Oklahoma’s 5th District.

Brooks fits the profile. He advocates for Medicare for All, repealing Citizens United, banning congressional stock trading, raising the minimum wage, new infrastructure investments, labor law reform, and free childcare. Unlike some progressives, he also emphasizes border security and more resources for police and first responders. He criticizes elite liberals for sneering at blue-collar MAGA voters as “deplorables” and says the party needs to win them back. He drives a Chevy diesel work truck for his lawn care side gig — a symbol of his connection to working-class concerns.

Brooks has what it takes to flip the district, and the Republican Party is already spending heavily to influence the race. That spending signals that Brooks is a real threat. It now falls to primary voters to decide if they are convinced.

Dustin Guastella is a research associate at the Center for Working Class Politics and the director of operations for Teamsters Local 623.