Dellicker out raises three GOP challengers in 7th Congressional District race
Incumbent Democrat Wild brought in more than all Republican candidates combined
Kevin Dellicker began 2024 with the most money among Republican congressional candidates seeking their party’s nomination for the 7th Congressional District, according to campaign finance reports filed this week with the Federal Election Commission.
However, the GOP candidates, who are in four-way contest in the April 23 primary, are far behind the incumbent, Democrat Susan Wild, who is seeking her fourth term representing the Lehigh Valley area.
Wild’s campaign committee raised $2.15 million last year and, after expenses, ended with nearly $1.6 million. Her cash on hand is more than three times larger than the combined coffers of the four GOP candidates — a financial advantage that her eventual GOP competitor will have to surmount.
Dellicker’s campaign raised $241,827 and, after expenses, had $205,692 to start the primary season. The other candidates are state Rep. Ryan Mackenzie, who raised $203,832 and, after expenses, had $137,615; Maria Montero, who brought in $147,783 and, after expenses, was left with $59,887, and Allen Issa, who raised $23,080 and had $15,993 after expenses.
Two years ago, Dellicker, making his first run for political office, lost the primary to veteran candidate Lisa Scheller, who outspent him 10-1 and grabbed 51% of the vote. Scheller, a former Lehigh County commissioner and the party's congressional nominee also in 2020, lost for the second time to Wild in 2022.
Scheller, who is not running a third time for Congress, is backing Montero this year. She gave Montero’s campaign $3,330 and is one of three hosts for a campaign fundraiser Feb. 7 in Jim Thorpe.
November election outlook
The Nov. 5 election for the 7th District, comprising Lehigh, Northampton and Carbon counties and a small portion of Monroe County, once again is expected to be a close race, political observers say, particularly if President Biden’s approval ratings don’t improve by fall.
The 538 political data site, in its average of major polls, pegs Biden’s approval rating at 39.3%, with 54.5% disapproving of the job he has done.
The Cook Political Report classified the 7th as a “toss up,” meaning either party could win.
“But Democrats could have a tough time defending [Rep.] Susan Wild (PA-07) … if President Joe Biden's approval ratings remain mired around 40% and Donald Trump energizes more white non-college graduate voters to the polls in 2024,” the Cook Political Report noted recently.
Another election analysis from Sabato’s Crystal Ball, affiliated with the University of Virginia’s Center for Politics, also rated the November contest a toss-up.
The 2022 race in the 7th was also considered a toss-up and ended up being the most costly House race in Pennsylvania, closing in on $14 million.
Chris Borick, director of the Muhlenberg College Institute of Public Opinion, credited Wild’s 2022 win to her campaigning skills, which saw her crisscrossing the 7th, explaining how President Joe Biden’s infrastructure bill, CHIPS Act and other policies were helping businesses and families.
Wild stayed away from culture war issues but put abortion rights front and center, he said, noting she benefited from the U.S. Supreme Court’s Dobbs decision in June 2022, which gave states the right to decide on abortion. The ruling motivated Democrats to vote.
“She got a big break with the Dobbs decision,” Borick said. He said abortion will again play a large role in this year’s election.
Looming large, however, will be the presidential race, which, as of now, looks like it will be a repeat contest between Biden, a Democrat, and Trump, a Republican.
“The dynamics of Trump and Biden will impact down ballot races,” Borick said.
A Muhlenberg poll taken last year between Nov. 20 and Dec. 13 found the likely presidential contenders in a statistical dead heat (Biden 42%,Trump 41%) among registered voters in Pennsylvania if the election were held at that time. The poll was based on a telephone survey of 421 registered voters in Pennsylvania.
Because of the expectation of another close race in 2024, regardless of the GOP candidate, congressional campaign organizations for both major political parties again identified the 7th District as a key race.
The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee last March included Wild in its effort to provide additional money and resources in the fall campaigns in two dozen-plus races.
Three days later, the National Republican Congressional Committee listed Wild’s 7th District among 27 Democratic seats it is targeting to flip to the GOP.
This year, Wild may have a primary opponent. Jenna Alwalah of Allentown, who declared her candidacy last month, has not made a formal announcement and did not raise any money in 2023. And Lewis Shupe of Allentown filed paperwork with the FEC to indicate his candidacy as an independent in November; he did not raise any money in 2023, either.
The Republican field
Kevin Dellicker
Dellicker of Heidelberg Township is a veteran who served a total of four tours in Afghanistan and Iraq in the years after 9/11 as an intelligence officer with the National Guard. He is now a commander of his National Guard unit. He owns Dellicker Strategies, which helps businesses and organizations, including school districts in New Jersey and Pennsylvania, with broadband internet access and cybersecurity.
In his 2020 primary campaign, he raised $233,027. He’s already exceeded that with $241,827 as of Jan. 1, with nearly four months before the primary.
One of his large donations, $3,300, came from William Bachenberg, who owns Lehigh Valley Sporting Clays and is president of Camp Freedom. In 2020, Bachenberg served as chairperson of the so-called alternate Pennsylvania Electoral College members who stood ready to cast their votes for Donald Trump had he prevailed in his lawsuits claiming he, not Joe Biden, had won the state. Last year, Bachenberg was sued in federal court in Michigan by a New York cybersecurity company for allegedly failing to pay for a forensic analysis of voting machines in Pennsylvania’s Fulton County. Bachenberg, in a response to the lawsuit, denies the allegations,
Dellicker loaned his campaign $36,000, according to his campaign finance report. Additionally, Nazareth area race-car driving legend Mario Andretti contributed $1,000 to the campaign.
Ryan Mackenzie
A state representative since winning a special election from the 134th District in April 2012, Mackenzie was reelected to his seventh two-year term last November. Because of redistricting, Mackenzie last year was shifted into the 187th District, resulting in a primary contest against fellow Republican incumbent Gary Day. Mackenzie won the May 2022 primary with 61% of the vote and was unopposed in the general election.
Mackenzie, who lives in Lower Macungie Township, twice before was a candidate to represent the Lehigh Valley in Congress – in 2018 from the former 15th District and in 2022 from the 7th. Each time he withdrew before the primary, focusing instead on being reelected to the state House. When he announced his congressional candidacy last year, he said he would not seek reelection to the state House.
Mackenzie received more than $97,000 from WinRed, an online conservative fundraising operation for candidates.
Among his donors were the Associated Builders & Contractors Inc. PAC ($5,000), and nearly $18,000 from present and past colleagues in the state Legislature, including $1,000 each from the campaign committees of Lehigh Valley House members Ann Flood, Joe Emrick and Zach Mako.
Mackenzie’s mother, Milou, who also serves in the state House from the 131st District, personally gave $3,300 to the congressional campaign. Her election campaign committee also donated $1,000.
Lee Butz, chairman of the board of the Butz Family Companies in the Lehigh Valley, contributed $1,000 to Mackenzie’s campaign. (He also gave $500 to the Dellicker campaign.)
Maria Montero
Montero grew up in Allentown and Summit Hill, graduating from Marian Catholic High School in Rush Township, where she serves on the board of directors. As a single mother of a son, Montero earned a bachelor’s degree from St. Joseph’s University in Philadelphia and a law degree from Widener University. After law school, she practiced workers’ compensation law.
In 2001, Montero, who lives in Easton, was named to the Governor’s Advisory Commission on Latino Affairs by former Gov. Tom Ridge. Ten years later, former Gov. Tom Corbett appointed her as the executive director of the Pennsylvania Commission for Women. Montero co-founded the Lehigh Valley’s Power of Women Networking Initiative.
In addition receiving money from Scheller, Montero’s campaign got contributions from the Florida congressional campaign for John Quinones, $2,000; Duane Morris Government Committee, $4,000; Lehigh Valley developer Lou Pektor, $3,300; Frank Schoeneman, CEO for the Empire Education Group based in Pottsville, Schuylkill County, $3,300; the Meuser for Congress campaign committee, $2,000, and Team Montero, an affiliated committee, $4,000.
Allen Issa
Issa is a law student at Penn State who lives in Allentown. He graduated in 2019 from the University of California, Riverside with a bachelor’s degree in physics with a concentration in biophysics, according to his LinkedIn page.
On his campaign website, he says his first name comes from the city of Allentown, “the city to which my parents immigrated from Syria. … Allentown is where the American Dream began for my family – where we learned the core Lehigh Valley values of hard work and service to community.” He has served as a congressional aide and as a legal fellow last summer.
He raised the least amount of money in the GOP field – $23,080 – with most of that coming from people in California.
Democratic candidate
Susan Wild
The year-end campaign finance report shows Wild of South Whitehall Township received $1,614,166 in individual contributions, $1,788 from political party committees and $542,771 from political action committees. She ended the year with $1,578,261.
Wild’s $752,326 in spending went to salaries, administrative costs, political consulting fees, travel and technical services, among other costs.
Large donors included $3,300 each from Thomas Marchozzi, EVO and CFO of LVHN; Monica Isaacman of Easton, CEO of Rook Holdings LLC; David Goodrich of Schnecksville; Les Canney of Massachusetts; Erica Lawson, a San Francisco physician; Katy Jo Stewart, an attorney from Washington state; Michael Bills of Virginia, a founder of BlueStem Asset Management; Yaron Minsky of New York, a Jane Street Capital programmer; Christopher Pappo of Philadelphia; Molly Gochman of Texas; Sankey Williams of Haverford; Lisa Minsky-Primus, a New York physician and philanthropist; Corning Painter of Texas, CEO of Orion S.A.; David Trone of Maryland, owner of Total Wine & More; Lester Crown of Chicago, president of Henry Crown & Co.; Marsha Laufer of Florida; Kathy Kwan, a grantmaker from California, and Karla Jurvetson, a California physician.
Act Blue funneled $324,554 to Wild in 2023 while $35,462 flowed from JStreet PAC. Both act as clearinghouses for donors.
PAC donors included: $10,000 each from Tri-State Maxed Out Women PAC and California Leadership United for Victory PAC; $6,000 from the MA 4 Dems PAC in Massachusetts, and Jobs and Innovation Matter PAC; $5,000 each from National Air Traffic Controllers Association PAC, International Association of Firefighters Interested In Registration and Education PAC, and House Majority PAC; $4,000 each from National Roofing Contractors Association PAC and Blue Majority PAC; $3,500 each from the PAC of Credit Union National Association and American Council of Engineering Companies PAC; $3,300 from Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer’s Fight Like Hell PAC; and $3,000 each from Shore PAC, Houla PAC and Bridge the Gap PAC
Health care-related donations included $1,000 each from the American College of OB-GYNs PAC and Federation of American Hospitals PAC.