Surrounded by labor leaders and workers, Northampton County Executive Lamont McClure announced Feb. 27 he is running to represent Pennsylvania’s 7th Congressional District.

Republican Ryan Mackenzie won the 7th District seat, a two-year term, in the November 2024 election, beating incumbent Susan Wild. The district includes all of Carbon, Lehigh and Northampton counties and parts of Monroe County.

“Public service was instilled in me at the kitchen table,” McClure said. “My parents taught me that whatever God-given talent I have, I have an obligation to use it in service of others as well as myself. That’s why I’m running to serve you in Congress.”

Throughout his career, McClure, a Democrat, said he has established himself as a champion for working families against powerful corporate interests. He represented retired steelworkers against corporate asbestos manufacturers, fighting for justice for workers who were sickened through no fault of their own, he said.

He served on Northampton County Council from 2006 to 2013, where he authored legislation to distribute casino revenue to impacted townships and led efforts to help homeowners facing foreclosure.

As county executive since 2018, McClure said he cut property taxes while improving crucial services, helped keep small businesses alive during the pandemic, preserved more than 622 acres of open space and invested $25 million in farmland preservation, protected Gracedale Nursing Home from privatization and took on opioid manufacturers responsible for the fentanyl crisis.

“I’ve always been a fighter on your side against powerful interests, whether I was fighting the world’s largest corporations and their insurance companies on behalf of steelworkers and other trades people or while on Northampton County Council battling to protect the elderly residents of our nursing home from being sold out to a for-profit corporation or as county executive taking on and beating the opioid manufacturers who caused so much death and devastation through the fentanyl crisis,” McClure said.

McClure also took on President Donald Trump in his announcement, criticizing what he called the “chaos” Trump has unleashed that’s hurting working people in Pennsylvania.

“The utter chaos unleashed on us by Trump and Elon Musk may seem overwhelming, but there is hope,” he said. “It will take Congress growing a backbone and standing up to what they’re doing.

“We’ve shown in Northampton County that you can provide important services such as mental health, drug and alcohol and protection for our older residents, while cutting taxes and cutting the size of government,” McClure said.

For more information about McClure and his campaign, visit mcclureforpa.com.