One big swing-state race highlights how Democrats are figuring out their path forward

Democrats’ way back to the House majority could run through a swing district in the nation’s biggest swing state.

Democrats’ way back to the House majority could run through a swing district in the nation’s biggest swing state. The question is which path the party will choose to try to get there.

Since February, five Democrats have launched campaigns for Pennsylvania’s 7th Congressional District, a Lehigh Valley seat held by Republican Rep. Ryan Mackenzie, which has flipped back and forth and seen some of the closest races in the country in recent years.

The primary field — which includes a firefighters union leader, a former federal prosecutor (and former Republican) who resigned, a community advocate and two local officeholders — has turned into a crowded microcosm of the different approaches Democrats are taking to appeal to voters, define their party and frame themselves as strong candidates in the age of President Donald Trump.

In interviews, the five Democratic candidates — state firefighters union president Bob Brooks, Ryan Crosswell, who resigned from the Justice Department; Carol Obando-Derstine, an engineer and former Senate aide; Lamont McClure, the Northampton County executive; and Mark Pinsley, the Lehigh County controller — each outlined distinctive pitches to voters. They are dividing partially along ideological lines, but more so on issues of emphasis and biography, all while trying to signal something more visceral: Who, in the words of one candidate, will be “Steady Eddie” and who will be “Action Jackson” in the face of major challenges in the country?

Bob Brooks has been endorsed by Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., and says he has the support of Democratic Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro, though there hasn’t been an official endorsement yet. Brooks said Democrats have forgotten about working-class people and said they need to “get back to the basics.”