While residents across the Lehigh Valley are dealing with rising costs, Rep. Ryan Mackenzie (R-Lehigh) is getting ready to participate at President Donald Trump’s midterm convention in Dallas later this week.
“[Mackenzie’s] going to Dallas, he’s going to speak and, and pass the hat looking for campaign funds to continue to act as the ‘yes man’ for an unpopular president,” Allentown Mayor Matt Tuerk told The Keystone. “I wish that he was doing things that actually help people in Allentown, but right now he’s not.”
Meet the candidates: Ryan Mackenzie and Bob Brooks face off in PA-07
A new report from Democratic lawmakers on the US Joint Economic Committee found that Pennsylvania families paid an extra $4,200 due to rising grocery store prices, an increase in energy costs, and an increase in healthcare premiums after Republicans refused to extend Affordable Care Act (ACA) tax credits that expired at the end of last year.
So far, over 190,000 Pennsylvanians have dropped their insurance through Pennie, the commonwealth’s official health insurance marketplace, since the start of the year.
Pennie customers living in the three counties that make Pennsylvania’s 7th Congressional district have seen their monthly premiums increase by an average of 160%.
“ People no longer have the same access to healthcare,” Tuerk said.
He added, “I know that you can see more and more people lining up at food pantries because it’s getting increasingly difficult to put food on the table and they’re just turning to any means necessary to feed their families.”
Mackenzie joined a small group of Republicans who voted in favor of extending the ACA subsidies, but he also voted in favor of Trump’s One Big Beautiful Bill Act, which cut Medicaid by nearly $1 trillion and the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) by $186 billion.
According to the Pennsylvania Department of Human Services, over 17,500 of Mackenzie’s constituents will lose Medicaid coverage and over 6,000 will lose their SNAP benefits.
Mackenzie backed over a dozen right-to-work bills while serving in the Pa. House
Bob Brooks (D), a retired 20-year firefighter and union leader running against Mackenzie, accused the congressman of being a “lap dog” for Trump.
“Working people across the Lehigh Valley are paying more for gas, groceries, and health care because of Ryan Mackenzie’s votes in Washington. Instead of fixing it, he’s flying to Dallas to kiss the ring of Donald Trump and his party bosses,” Brooks said in a statement.
Brooks is looking to retake the seat for Democrats after Mackenzie won in 2024 by roughly 4,000 votes. Political forecasters consider Mackenzie as one of the most vulnerable Republicans up for reelection in the fall and have rated the race a toss-up.
Since launching his campaign, Brooks has received endorsements from all parts of the Democratic Party, including from leaders as diverse as US Sens. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) and Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) and Gov. Josh Shapiro.
He’s also one of four Democrats in the country to earn endorsements from Sanders and the moderate-leaning Blue Dog Coalition.
Brooks added, “This is exactly why people are fed up with a broken Washington that isn’t working for working people. While he’s in Texas, I’ll be here doing what I’ve always done: showing up for the people who actually pay his salary. Mackenzie answers to Trump first, and I answer to the Lehigh Valley first.”
