Pennsylvania Results: Bob Brooks Wins as Progressives Await News on Chris Rabb
· The Intercept
Pennsylvania firefighters’ union head Bob Brooks sailed to victory in his Lehigh Valley Democratic primary Tuesday night, marking a win likely to be claimed by the left and center alike while progressives await news in a hotly contested race in Philadelphia.
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Brooks handily defeated his primary opponents in the 7th Congressional District, former federal prosecutor Ryan Crosswell; former Northampton County Executive Lamont McClure; and Carol Obando-Derstine, an engineer who previously worked for former Sen. Bob Casey, D-Pa., and former Gov. Tom Wolf.
Brooks campaigned on affordability and fighting corruption, highlighting his union bona fides rather than aligning with a specific wing of the Democratic Party.
On the campaign trail, the retired firefighter argued that the real divide in his district was between the working class and the billionaire class and their allies. “The whole system is rigged against us, and the only way we’re going to fix it is by sending people like us to Washington, D.C., to represent us,” Brooks said at a recent event.
As the 7th District race was called for Brooks, voters waited for results in Philadelphia’s 3rd District, where progressives and moderates were in a tight showdown. Just before 10 p.m. on Tuesday, the left’s candidate, state Rep. Chris Rabb, held a growing lead over Dr. Ala Stanford, a more moderate Democrat backed by a pro-Israel super PAC.
In the Lehigh Valley, by contrast, progressives and more mainstream Democrats united behind Brooks. Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro has been an outspoken surrogate for Brooks, who was also endorsed by Sen. Bernie Sanders and the Working Families Party.
“We deserve representatives who come from the working class and will stand up for the working class, and that’s what Bob has done for his entire life and career,” said Nick Gavio, mid-Atlantic communications director for the Working Families Party, in a statement announcing the party’s endorsement.
The Cook Political Report rates the district a toss-up, and Brooks is expected to face a tight general election contest against incumbent Republican Rep. Ryan Mackenzie. Mackenzie narrowly flipped his Lehigh Valley seat from blue to red in 2024 and is widely considered to be one of the most vulnerable members of the House this cycle.
Brooks benefited from critiques of his opponent, Crosswell, a former Republican who launched his campaign after quitting the Department of Justice in the early days of the Trump administration, when federal prosecutors were under pressure to drop corruption charges against then-New York City Mayor Eric Adams in return for Adams’s cooperation on immigration enforcement. Crosswell faced criticism for his previous role in prosecuting “many, many” immigration cases as an assistant U.S. attorney while running for district with one the largest, but politically diverse, Latino communities in the state.
“Trump has built his agenda on targeting our immigrant community. I’ve seen exactly what that means for families like mine,” Obando-Derstine, who was born in Colombia, wrote in a statement to The Intercept. “Anyone who chose to carry out those attacks against our community has no business being in office. We deserve leaders who stand with us when it matters, not just when it’s easy.”
Advertisements from a mysterious super PAC called “Lead Left” also became a backdrop to the race. The ads attacked both Brooks and Crosswell on their progressive credentials, and sought to curry left-leaning support for McClure. “Lamont McClure kicked ICE out of Northampton. He takes on Trump and wins,” says the narrator in one of the advertisements.
Although the donors are anonymous, the super PAC reportedly has connections to a prominent Republican donation-processing firm.
A New Squad Member in Philadelphia?
In Philadelphia, the Democratic Party’s left flank is still hoping to add to its ranks in Congress in what’s been viewed as a contest between the party’s moderate and progressive wings.
Progressives coalesced around Rabb in the tight four-way race to replace retiring Rep. Dwight Evans, D-Pa. Limited polling showed the race at times led by state Sen. Sharif Street, a middle-of-the-road Democrat who was formerly the chair of the Pennsylvania Democratic Party, or by Stanford, a pediatric surgeon backed by a pro-Israel super PAC that sponsored the April poll showing her in the lead. Also on the ballot was Shaun Griffith, an attorney who has yet to break through in the polls.
Whoever wins the Democratic primary is heavily favored to win in November in the deep blue 3rd Congressional District.
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The race has unfolded along some of the same fault lines animating the broader Democratic Party — from the influence of special interest groups to the genocide in Gaza. Rabb, who has been a vocal critic of U.S. military support for Israel, has attracted a slew of endorsements from progressive members of Congress like Reps. Rashida Tlaib, D-Mich., and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., who rallied alongside him in the final days before the election. Street, meanwhile, earned the support of Sen. Cory Booker, D-N.J., who joined a get-out-the-vote event for him on Monday that was reportedly sparsely attended.
Rabb has collected endorsements from 10 members of Congress, the Philadelphia Inquirer, and progressive groups including the Pennsylvania Working Families Party, the Philadelphia chapter of the Democratic Socialists of America, Justice Democrats, and Jewish Voice for Peace Action.
Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro, considered one of the Democratic Party’s moderate rising stars, waded into the race in its final weeks to try to stop a powerful Philadelphia union backing Street from inadvertently boosting Rabb’s campaign with attack ads against Stanford, Axios reported.
Street has endorsements from the Muslim League of Voters; dozens of local unions including the Philadelphia Building Trades, the Communication Workers of America Local 13000 and the Philadelphia Council AFL-CIO; and a slew of other elected officials and advocacy groups.
This developing story has been updated.
The post Pennsylvania Results: Bob Brooks Wins as Progressives Await News on Chris Rabb appeared first on The Intercept.