Former Republican Ryan Crosswell vies for Lehigh Valley congressional seat as a Democrat

Former Republican Ryan Crosswell, who resigned his post as a federal prosecutor in the Department of Justice in February in a break with the Trump administration, has announced that he is running for Congress in the Lehigh Valley — as a Democrat.

Crosswell, a 44-year-old Marine veteran who was born in Pottsville, joins Democrats Carol Obando-Derstine and Lamont McClure in the effort to unseat Republican U.S. Rep. Ryan Mackenzie in Pennsylvania’s 7th Congressional District.

“In Congress,” Crosswell said, “I will work to lower costs for hardworking Pennsylvanians, protect healthcare and the Social Security and Medicare benefits that seniors have earned, and fight political corruption and attacks on our democracy, rights, and freedoms.”

Crosswell, who left the GOP and became a Democrat late last year, has raised the ire of both of his opponents, who now find themselves in a three-way race for the Democratic nomination.

“[Crosswell] is a lifelong Republican who has never lived in the Lehigh Valley” and had spent time in the Trump administration “attacking civil rights,” said McClure, the Northampton County executive.

And a statement released by the office of Obando-Derstine, a onetime staffer for former U.S. Sen. Bob Casey, declared: “Voters don’t want a D.C.-backed Republican parachuting into this district. They want someone who understands their struggles.“

Crosswell garnered some renown for leaving the Justice Department over the handling of New York City Mayor Eric Adams’ now-dismissed corruption case.

The Biden administration had indicted Adams on charges of accepting bribes from Turkey. When Trump came into office, however, prosecutors were ordered to drop the matter after Adams pledged to help U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents deport undocumented immigrants.

In dismissing the case, U.S. District Judge Dale Ho wrote in his decision: “Everything here smacks of a bargain: Dismissal of the indictment in exchange for immigration policy concessions.”

Crosswell, who has little connection to the Lehigh Valley, wrote in his resignation letter that his superiors “made clear there would be professional consequences if the motion [to dismiss the Adams case] was not filed.”

He added on his website that “when Donald Trump tried to get the prosecutors in my section to use the Department of Justice as a weapon against his enemies, that was something I would never do, so I stepped down.”

He added that he is aiming “to stop the biggest threat our democracy has ever known, even if he’s the President of the United States.”

Much is at stake as the trio of Democrats battle to take on Mackenzie in Pennsylvania’s 7th Congressional District, which represents Carbon, Lehigh, and Northampton Counties, plus part of Monroe County.

The race could have significant implications for the balance of the U.S. House in the 2026 election.

Former Democratic U.S. Rep. Susan Wild, who held the seat for three terms before Mackenzie bested her last November by a single percentage point, has endorsed Obando-Derstine.

While his opponents question the authenticity of Crosswell’s break with Trump and his nascent tenure in the Democratic Party, it is not that unusual, said Christopher Borick, a professor of political science and director of the Muhlenberg College Institute of Public Opinion.

“During the two Trump administrations, it’s become more common for officials to leave over disagreements,” he said

As an example, Borick pointed to David Jolly, the former Florida congressman who left the Republican Party because of his rejection of Trump and is now running for governor of his state as a Democrat.