Shadowy right-wing-linked super PAC targets Bob Brooks prior to primary election

May 14, 2026

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Good Afternoon everyone,

It’s Thursday, May 14, and welcome back to another edition of the Keystone labor report. If you missed Tuesday’s edition, you can find it here.

We’re under one week away from Pennsylvania’s primary election, and you can find a voter guide to the races we’ll be paying close attention to.

Lastly, I’d like to give a quick shoutout to my Virginia Dogwood co-worker Michael O’Connor for covering Democratic Virginia Gov. Abigail Spanberger’s decision to veto legislation that expands collective-bargaining rights for hundreds of thousands of Virginia public-sector workers.

You can watch him catch Spanberger off guard on her decision to veto the bill here.

Sean Kitchen

Political Correspondent, The Keystone

(Sean Kitchen / The Keystone)

Republicans in Congress are panicking ahead of Tuesday’s primary election and are doing everything they can to prevent Bob Brooks, a former firefighter and union leader, from advancing to the general election against US House Rep. Ryan Mackenzie (R) this fall.

Brooks, who has the support of Gov. Josh Shapiro (D), US Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), and a coalition of labor unions and progressive organizations, is facing an onslaught of negative attacks from the Lean Left PAC, a Republican-linked super PAC.

Republicans have poured more than $1 million into the race in the final days of the primary, prompting Democrats and other organizations to get involved.

“Republicans are dropping a massive late bag of cash to defeat Bob Brooks — a candidate who has built a coalition spanning from Bernie Sanders and the Working Families Party to Josh Shapiro and the Blue Dogs — because they’d rather face a weak, disgraced, and corrupt former county executive who raised $20,000 in his last fundraising quarter. Republicans are scared shitless of running against Bob and are instead spending millions to prop up the weakest possible general election opponent,” Nick Gavio, Mid-Atlantic communications director of the Working Families Party, said in a statement on Tuesday.

READ more about Lean Left PAC here

Voters in the Lehigh Valley, one of Pennsylvania’s most important swing regions, believe that Congress is failing them, according to NOTUS.
US Sen. John Fetterman (D-Pa.) appeared on Bill Maher’s podcast on Monday.Maher called President Donald Trump’s treatment of reporters “refreshing,” and Fetterman responded by laughing and saying, “Yeah, the ultimate ‘Quiet piggy.’”
314 Action, a super PAC supporting Dr. Ala Stanford, pulled all of their ads supporting Stanford ahead of Tuesday’s primary election, per the Philadelphia Inquirer.

(Graphic: Desiree Tapia / Photo: Bill Clark CQ-Roll Call, via Getty Images)

After becoming one of Congress’ most prolific stock traders, US House Rep. Rob Bresnahan (R-Pa.) has backed off the practice, and has started donating money to organizations and causes in northeastern Pennsylvania.

Some of that money is trickling towards groups that help people impacted by President Donald Trump’s budget cuts, which Bresnahan voted for, and that has some constituents questioning the move.

”I think he’s trying to make himself look better. He’s worried about his image. He’s voted against a lot of critical programs that his constituents rely on, and because of that, he has lost favor with a lot of people,” Grace Robinson, a Monroe County resident, said in an interview.