Former DOJ trial attorney enters 7th Congressional District race
A former federal trial attorney who resigned over the Department of Justice’s decision to drop corruption charges against New York Mayor Eric Adams has become the third Democrat to announce plans to unseat Republican Ryan Mackenzie from the 7th Congressional District.
Ryan Crosswell, 44, said he took oaths as a federal lawyer and a Marine to defend his country and can no longer stand on the sidelines watching what is happening in Washington, D.C.
“As working people struggle to get by and afford the rising cost of living, D.C. politicians are making the problem worse,” said Crosswell, who lives in Allentown, in an announcement released today.
“They’re threatening the Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid benefits Pennsylvanians rely on to make ends meet, while enriching themselves by trading stocks off insider information and giving their billionaire donors another massive tax cut at the expense of the middle class.”
Crosswell said he has been a public servant, not a politician, and sees himself as someone who will stand up for his constituents.
“I want voters to know that I'll do what's right for the country,” he said. “I'm someone they can trust and will work hard,” Crosswell said in an interview Monday morning with Armchair Lehigh Valley.
In seeking the Democratic nomination next spring, Crosswell joins Northampton County Executive Lamont McClure and Carol Obando-Derstine, a former PPL supervisor and regional manager for U.S. Sen. Bob Casey, who was defeated in November. She is backed by Susan Wild, who lost to Mackenzie in November after serving three terms.
His entry into the race was mentioned as a possibility in an April article in Politico.
The 7th Congressional District, considered a toss-up by national political analysts in 2026, includes all of Carbon, Lehigh and Northampton counties and a tiny portion of Monroe County.
Crosswell is a former trial attorney for the Department of Justice’s Public Integrity Section, a department charged with the investigation and prosecution of all federal crimes affecting government integrity.
He drew national attention earlier this year when he resigned over the DOJ’s decision to drop corruption charges against New York City Mayor Eric Adams. Crosswell was not directly involved in the case, but testified about it during an April Congressional hearing held by Democrats.
“I loved being a federal prosecutor,” he said in an interview. “But I was not willing to do a job where I felt that I would essentially be going against the oath that I took. So I resigned, and I didn't just resign. I testified about it.”
“And now, I’m fighting back. To stop big tech and a handful of billionaires from taking our money and our data,” Croswell said in his campaign announcement. “To stop Ryan Mackenzie from rigging the economy so the rich get richer but everyday Pennsylvanians have to work harder than ever just to get by. And to stop the biggest threat our Democracy has ever known, even if he’s the President of the United States.”
Crosswell said Mackenzie doesn’t seem willing to do his job to protect his constituents.
“He has sat by while the Trump administration has allowed its cronies to seize our money and our data, he's a deciding vote on this tax bill that is going to kick hard working Americans off their medical coverage. It's going to add enormous debt and all because it benefits his mega donors,” he told Armchair Lehigh Valley.
Crosswell grew up in Pottsville in Schuylkill County. He has never lived in the Lehigh Valley until recently but visited the area as a child.
“It was only 45 minutes away and I was here all of the time,” Crosswell said. “Allentown is kind of the big city when you are from Pottsville,” he said. As a District 11 athlete, he said he competed in wrestling, track and cross country events in the Lehigh Valley.
After resigning from the DOJ, Crosswell said he wanted to come back to Pennsylvania. “I’m home now and I’m happy to be here.”
Until recently, Crosswell had been a registered Republican. It’s something that McClure and Obando-Derstine have already taken aim at Crosswell over with McClure providing a list of Crosswell’s past Republican registrations.
“Ryan Crosswell is a lifelong Republican who has never lived in the Lehigh Valley. Even worse, Crosswell spent four years working for the Trump Department of Justice as they attacked civil rights, voting rights, and women’s rights — and only resigned to run for Congress,” McClure said in a press release. “Ryan Crosswell isn’t running for Congress to help Pennsylvania families. He’s running to help himself.”
Obando-Derstine’s campaign said she “has spent over twenty years delivering for families in this district, helping lower energy costs, helping people prepare for good-paying jobs, and serving as Sen. Bob Casey’s Regional Manager. Voters don’t want a D.C.-backed Republican parachuting into this district. They want someone who understands their struggles and has deep roots in this community. That’s Carol.”
Meanwhile, the National Republican Campaign Committee also released a statement on Crosswell, saying he “is the latest out of touch Democrat to join this pathetic race to the left. While these Democrats desperately try to out-crazy each other, Ryan Mackenzie is continuing to do actual work making Pennsylvania safer and more affordable. Ryan Crosswell doesn't stand a chance.”
Democrat Carol Obando-Derstine enters 7th Congressional District race
Northampton County Executive McClure will fight for working class if elected to Congress
In response, Crosswell said he grew up in a household where his father, a small business owner, was a Republican while his mother was a Democrat. “I’ve never been a particularly partisan individual,” he told Armchair Lehigh Valley.
At one point, Crosswell said he believed that the Republican Party was the fiscally responsible party and good on national security. “That’s not true anymore.” He said he voted for Hillary Clinton, Joe Biden and Kamala Harris for president.
He said he believes the Democratic Party “is the party fighting for the middle class. It’s trying to save Medicare and Medicaid. Right now it’s the party that protects women’s right to choose, and, quite frankly, it’s better on national security.”
Before joining the DOJ’s Public Integrity Section in 2020, Crosswell was an assistant U.S. attorney for the Southern District of California and Middle District of Louisiana, where his work included investigating terrorism, financial crimes, human trafficking, public corruption, fraud, child exploitation, firearms and narcotics.
He earned a bachelor’s degree in history and secondary education in 2003 from Vanderbilt University and a master’s degree in history from Duke University and a law degree in 2007 from Duke’s law school.
Croswell said he was motivated to join the Marines by the Sept. 11, 2001, terror attacks, attending officer training school while in law school.
As a Marine officer, he served as a criminal defense counsel at the Marine Corps Air Station Miramar in California from November 2009 to September 2011.
He now works for Singleton Schreiber, a law firm with offices in six states that promotes itself as protecting the interests of people against corporate wrongdoing.