By DOUGLAS GRAVES

Special to The Press

Kevin Dellicker, a Republican, has announced his run for Congress in Pennsylvania’s 7th District.

Congresswoman Susan Wild, a Democrat, is the incumbent.

The district includes Lehigh and Northampton counties, and the southern part of Monroe County.

Dellicker’s last stop on July 15 after a day-long tour of the district was at Olde Homestead Golf Club, Route 309, New Tripoli across from Northwestern Lehigh High School, of which he is an alumnus.

There he met a group of some 55 to 75 supporters, most from the local area.

Dellicker’s first challenge is to win the Republican nomination in the upcoming primary.

He will be competing with former Lehigh County commissioner, Lisa Scheller, who has also announced her candidacy.

The candidate was introduced by Lynn Township Supervisor Justin Smith, who described Dellicker as “dynamic, personable and inspiring.”

Smith characterized Dellicker as the “underdog” in the contests with Scheller and then with Wild.

“He will be the underdog,” Smith said. “He can do it! He has the tenacity to do it.”

Smith also characterized Dellicker as “a caring and considerate man” who “knows the big numbers,” a reference to his business acumen.

Dellicker took the microphone and described himself as “an ordinary guy you grew up with.”

“It’s time we sent someone with New Tripoli values to Washington, D.C.” Dellicker said.

“I have a track record of getting stuff done.”

He addressed foreign policy while reminding the audience of his background as a military intelligence officer.

“We have to check China,” Dellicker said, adding he supports a strong national defense to stand up to China.

He said in a later interview he was referring to China’s Belt and Road Initiative which is financing and building ports and other trade-related infrastructure in many countries around the world.

“They’re making a lot of hay in those other counties claiming there is an alternative to Western-style democracy,” Dellicker said.

“They have a bad ideology. They have plans to spread it.”

Dellicker shifted his focus to taxes, calling the national deficit a “farce.”

“Democrats love to say there are no taxes on the middle class,” Dellicker said.

He described a local landscaping business whose tax returns, he said, amounted to 150 pages.

“We’ve got to get government out of our lives,” he said, to a round of applause.

Dellicker then turned to families.

“We grow strong families who go to church, who learn right from wrong,” Dellicker said.

“We want to be left alone to raise our families.”

Dellicker and his wife, Susan, the parents of three young men, are the authors of the book “Twenty-Percent Soldiers,” which tells the true story of them balancing life and work while supporting four combat zone deployments with the National Guard.

Dellicker, a 26-year veteran of the National Guard, is the founder of a company that specializes in cybersecurity.