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On this special series of the Lehigh Valley with Love Podcast, we sat down with candidates running for U.S. House in Pennsylvania’s 7th Congressional District ahead of the May 19, 2026 primary.
To keep this fair and useful, every candidate was asked the same core questions. Mark Pinsley is not included because he dropped out. We also reached out multiple times to Congressman Ryan McKenzie’s office and did not receive a response.
In this episode, we speak with Bob Brooks, a career firefighter with the City of Bethlehem and a union leader. Brooks talks about affordability in the Lehigh Valley, what federal policy can do to expand housing supply, and how he thinks about public safety, healthcare, and local development.
Campaign: https://brooksforcongress.com/
Day to day financial stress
Brooks says the biggest day to day financial stresses he hears about are healthcare and housing, and he focuses first on housing. He argues the region needs to build a lot more housing quickly and says that requires cutting red tape, including permitting and zoning reforms. He supports first time home buyer help and talks about expanding programs similar to the HELPERS Act style loan concept. He also argues for cracking down on bulk home buying by private equity and corporate purchasers that he says distort the housing market.
Healthcare and ACA premium tax credits
Brooks says he supports extending the ACA premium tax credits and argues they should not be removed without a replacement plan. He warns that cutting help people rely on will raise costs, and he links paying for coverage support to tax policy changes. He argues for a minimum tax on billionaires and large corporations, saying that would fund major priorities. He also says making programs permanent will require negotiation and compromise, and he frames himself as a negotiator from his labor leadership experience.
Immigration enforcement, legal pathways, and work authorization
Brooks frames the issue through public safety and argues enforcement efforts should focus on serious criminals, not everyday people. He says the purpose of ICE should be to target drug dealers and people committing violent crimes, and he argues the agency should be refocused. He also calls for streamlining the pathway to citizenship and supports adding more immigration judges to speed up the process, criticizing long wait times.
Warehouses and data centers
Brooks says he will side with workers, and evaluates projects based on whether they bring real jobs and benefits. He says he is concerned about data centers in particular because of infrastructure impacts, especially strain on the electric grid. He says federal involvement is limited compared to local government, but argues there is room for federal regulation related to electricity markets and for slowing or tightening approvals. He also argues data centers should be required to generate their own power rather than pulling heavily from the existing grid.
Homelessness
Brooks argues federal action should expand housing options and help people afford them. He supports expanding Housing Choice Vouchers, but says vouchers are capped and that cap is linked to the lack of available housing. He argues the solution requires building more housing and increasing affordable and entry level housing. He also emphasizes mental health funding, saying mental health needs are a major factor in homelessness and that resources have not matched the scale of need.
Third place in the Lehigh Valley
Brooks says his third place is a baseball field behind the Nazareth Intermediate School, where he coaches varsity baseball for Nazareth High School. He describes it as a place where he can put his phone away and focus on helping young people grow.
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