ALLENTOWN, Pa. — With support from the National Republican Congressional Committee, Pennsylvania House candidate Ryan Mackenzie debuted his campaign’s “Battle Station” office Thursday evening — in a swing district whose Democratic incumbent can’t stop insulting her constituents.
“I have been a pragmatic conservative trying to find solutions for the problems that face our community,” Mackenzie, a 12-year state representative from Lehigh County, told his enthusiastic audience of staffers and volunteers at the newly opened office in Allentown.
“And that’s so important because so often we see that politicians . . . don’t accomplish anything for the American people.”
Launched in January, the NRCC’s Battle Station initiative is designed to establish early contact with 3 million swing voters in competitive House districts.
NRCC data identify these voters and provide the framework for the initiative’s multimillion-dollar investment.
Mackenzie, 41, is taking aim at Democratic incumbent Susan Wild, who has represented Pennsylvania’s 7th Congressional District since 2018.
The district encompasses four counties: all of Carbon, Lehigh and Northampton counties, as well as southern Monroe County.
Two county GOP chairmen, Lehigh’s Joe Vichot and Northampton’s Glenn Geissinger, spoke Thursday in support of Mackenzie — and dunking on Wild became a theme.
“Many of you, the reason why you’re here is because [Mackenzie] has done things to help you as our representative,” Vichot said.
“Susan Wild obviously won’t do that — she makes fun of people that don’t agree with her.”
Wild has been caught making disparaging comments about her constituents at least three times in recent years — especially those in red-leaning Carbon County, whom the congresswoman said “drank the “Trump Kool-Aid” and needed to be “schooled” after the area was added to her district last election cycle.
Taking a more optimistic tone, Geissinger hunched his bet on a Mackenzie victory in notoriously purple Northampton County.
“The one thing that I will tell you right now, and I can see it from this room, is that Ryan Mackenzie is gonna win in Northampton County in November,” Geissinger said to applause.
Home to the city of Easton and much of Bethlehem, “NorCo” has backed the winner of the last four presidential elections and often decides statewide races. In 2022, Wild won the county by fewer than 4,000 votes and the overall district by fewer than 6,000.
With the district receiving national attention, the NRCC says opening a Battle Station for Mackenzie could be enough to defeat Wild.
“Ryan Mackenzie has strong ties to his community and has proven to be effective in delivering results for the Lehigh Valley,” NRCC spokesman Mike Marinella told The Post.
“This new Battle Station will be critical in mobilizing voters to elect Ryan Mackenzie and send extreme Democrat Susan Wild packing.”