Bob Brooks, a longtime Bethlehem firefighter who retired last year and the current president of the Pennsylvania Professional Fire Fighters Association, was a runaway winner in a four-person race for the Democratic nomination for the 7th Congressional District in the U.S. House of Representatives.

He earned the right to meet incumbent Republican Rep. Ryan Mackenzie in the November General Election.

Brooks was a solid winner in Lehigh, Northampton and Carbon counties, and also picked up a 100-plus-vote win in parts of Monroe County.

In unofficial totals that need certification, the Democratic nominee recorded a 2-1 victory over the other three opponents with 25,991 votes.

Finishing second was Carbon County native and former Northampton County executive Lamont McClure, with 12,793 votes, outdistancing Ryan Crosswell, who grew up in Pottsville and served as a federal prosecutor for 10 years but made national headlines when he resigned from the Justice Department in 2025 in protest of the Trump administration’s decision to drop corruption charges against then-New York City Mayor Eric Adams. Crosswell was third with 12,710 votes while tallying 10,667 votes in fourth place was Carol Obando-Derstine, a former regional manager for U.S. Sen. Bob Casey, as well as a regional affairs director for PPL Electric Utilities.

Mackenzie, who was unopposed, tallied 33,192 complimentary votes.

The district includes all of Carbon, Lehigh and Northampton counties and parts of Monroe County, including the townships of Eldred, Polk and some of Ross.

The breakdown of voting in those counties included:

Carbon – Brooks, 1,585; McClure, 899; Crosswell, 842; and Obando-Derstine, 793.

Lehigh – Brooks, 10,758; Crosswell, 7,108; Obando-Derstine, 5,872; and McClure, 3,137.

Monroe – Brooks, 311; Obando-Derstine, 196; Crosswell, 163; and McClure, 115.

Northampton – Brooks, 13,257; McClure, 8,642; Crosswell, 4,597; and Obando-Derstine, 3,806.