Maria Montero is running in the 7th Congressional District to restore the American dream
She is among three Republicans vying for a chance to beat incumbent Susan Wild in November
Editor’s note: This post on Maria Montero is the first of three profiles of the candidates seeking the Republican nomination for the 7th Congressional District on April 23. You can read Ryan Mackenzie’s profile here. Read Kevin Dellicker’s profile here.
Maria Montero, a first-generation American on her father’s side whose maternal great-grandfather was a coal miner, is making her first bid for Congress.
Montero, a lawyer who lives in Easton, is among three Republicans vying for their party’s nomination in the 7th Congressional District in the April 23 primary.
The seat is held by Democrat Susan Wild of South Whitehall Township, who is seeking her fourth term and is unopposed this month.
Challenging Montero are Kevin Dellicker of Heidelberg Township, a business owner and veteran making his second try at winning the nomination, and Ryan Mackenzie, a state representative from Lower Macungie Township who serves in the 187th House District.
The 7th Congressional District covers all of Lehigh, Northampton and Carbon counties and a small portion of Monroe County.
U.S. representatives serve for two years and earn $174,000 a year. Only Democrats and Republicans can vote for their respective party candidates in the primary.
Montero has said she is running for Congress because she wants to “restore the American Dream.”
“The No. 1 priority for me is putting America first,” said Montero, a 47-year-old personal injury lawyer who grew up alternating between Allentown and Summit Hill, Carbon County. “It’s the reason why my family came here from Ireland, from Italy and Peru; because it’s the only country in the world where someone who’s poor and comes from nothing can achieve greatness.”
She also believes that out of the three GOP candidates vying for the party’s nomination, she has the best chance of defeating Wild in the Nov. 5 general election.
“The last (Republican) only lost this seat by 2,500 votes,” she said during a March candidate’s forum in Lehighton. “So, the question is, who here is the person that can beat Susan Wild? Is it the person who is not only the most conservative, but the person who can grow the Republican Party?”
In November 2022, Wild defeated Republican Lisa Scheller by 5,837 votes.
Montero declined to make herself available for this profile. Her press secretary canceled a scheduled interview on March 6, saying Montero had a conflict. The aide then didn’t respond to requests to reschedule.
Her profile has been drawn from responses she provided during three public forums, including debates televised on March 11 and 18 on WFMZ’s “Business Matters” and another one sponsored by the Lehighton 9/12 Project on Blue Ridge TV-13. She also addressed the Lehigh Valley Tea Party at the group’s January meeting.
Background
Montero is a graduate of Marian Catholic High School in Rush Township, Schuylkill County. She earned a bachelor’s degree from St. Joseph’s University in Philadelphia and a law degree from Widener University, according to her website.
She is employed by the Allentown law firm Haggerty, Goldberg, Schleifer & Kupersmith. From 2014 to 2023, she worked as director of public affairs for the Pennsylvania Convention Center, according to her LinkedIn account.
She co-founded the Lehigh Valley Power of Women Networking Initiative, served on the board of directors of the Hispanic Center of the Lehigh Valley and is a former member of the DeSales University board of trustees, according to her website.
Foray into politics
Montero has long been active behind the scenes in politics. According to media reports, Montero previously chaired the Schuylkill County Young Republicans and served as assistant chair for the Schuylkill County Republican Committee.
In 2011, then-Gov. Tom Corbett, a Republican, tapped her to serve as the executive director of the Pennsylvania Commission for Women and Governor’s Advisory Commission on Latino Affairs.
The next year, she lost in her bid to serve as a delegate and an alternate delegate to the Republican National Convention from the 17th Congressional District .
Montero announced her candidacy for Congress on July 31. She raised $147,783 for her campaign in 2023 and had $59,887 at the start of the year. Among her donors was Scheller, who gave $3,330.
Dellicker’s campaign raised $241,827 and, after expenses, had $205,692 to start the primary season. Mackenzieo raised $203,832 and, after expenses, had $137,615. The next campaign expense report is due April 12.
ISSUES
Immigration
Montero said one of her top priorities if elected is securing the U.S. southern border.
“That’s where the fentanyl is coming through,” she said during the Lehighton forum.
Montero criticized Wild for voting against 2023’s U.S. Border Security Act, a bill that would limit eligibility for asylum, which is considered a pardon for unlawful entry into the U.S., require employers to use an electronic system to verify the employment eligibility of new employees, and restart the building of a Mexican border wall.
She said her father’s side of the family emigrated from Peru legally. “We waited in line,” she said.
Abortion
Montero describes herself on her website as believing in “the sanctity of life.”
She told Lehigh Valley News she doesn’t believe abortion is a matter for Congress to consider as a result of the U.S. Supreme Court’s 2022 Dobbs decision, which overturned Roe v. Wade and left abortion matters up to the states.
"At a federal level, I do not think that we as legislators should be involved in dictating abortions, period," Montero was quoted as saying.
As a single mother who had her son at age 18, Montero said she knows what it’s like to struggle and to get help.
“My family supported me and I want that for women,” she said when asked during the Lehighton debate what she would say to women who feel their reproductive rights have been taken away by the Dobbs decision.
“Women deserve real choice,” said Montero.
She criticized Democratic Gov. Josh Shapiro’s decision last year to end the state’s $7.2 million contract with Real Alternatives, which has distributed state and federal funds to dozens of Pennsylvania centers, including Catholic Charities, anti-abortion counseling centers and maternity homes, that provide support and housing for pregnant women, according to the Associated Press.
She said the funding cut is affecting women who are in “really hard situations. And so, what I pray and hope for is that we can have real alternatives for women who are in situations that want to choose life.”
Gun control
At the “Business Matters” forum, when asked about control and curbing violence, Montero said: “We need to do everything possible to make sure that we protect our Second Amendment rights because the major issue with these shootings is that there is such a lack of moral clarity in our country. The people seriously don’t know what’s right from wrong, and we need elected officials that show that type of moral clarity that not only ensures that we help individuals that may have mental health crises. But we also need to support life. … If you have a total lack of life and respect of life, of course there’s going to be shootings.”
Environment/climate change
When asked about the environment, Montero said she knows how important hospitality and tourism are to the Poconos – noting people are drawn there for its clean air and water, and those commodities need to be protected.
Calling herself an outdoorswoman, she noted she is a member of the nonprofit Pennsylvania Parks and Forest Foundation, which she said has raised millions of dollars “to make sure our parks and forests are clean.”
Montero said she supports increasing natural gas production and criticized President Joe Biden for denying an extension of the existing Keystone XL Pipeline system, which currently transports up to 600,000 gallons of oil a day from Canada to the U.S.
The 875-mile extension would have connected the existing pipeline to bring oil from Alberta, Canada, to Nebraska, crossing the Missouri and Yellowstone rivers, according to Harvard’s Environmental and Energy Law Program.
“That’s our pipeline to energy independence,” she said. “When we as Americans don’t have energy independence, we will be under the thumbs of Russian oligarchs.”
As someone who grew up in a family with a coal-mining history, she said coal is also an important resource. “We have the cleanest coal production that we’ve had in years.”
Clean coal often refers to coal plants that have been upgraded to sequester carbon dioxide emissions, a costly endeavor that makes it a difficult option for older plants to pursue. Sixty coal plants in Pennsylvania have shut down in the past 20 years, according to E&E News. The article cited as reasons less demand for coal, rising demand for natural gas and renewable energy and Pennsylvania’s bid to join the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative, which was struck down by the state Commonwealth Court on Nov. 1. Shapiro recently proposed an alternative program.
At the Lehighton debate, she said that EPA’s regulations can put a burden on businesses.
Market forces, not government interference, should drive the country’s response to climate change, she said.
“People are saying that we want a cleaner environment and they’re holding companies accountable for that,” she said. “They’re also buying with their feet and their dollars and buying products from more responsible companies. That’s a good thing.”
China
Montero champions taking a hard stand against China. “Communism is evil and it must be destroyed,” she said. “They are infiltrating our country with fentanyl. They are infiltrating our social media. They’re buying our farmlands.”
Fentanyl is typically manufactured in Mexico using Chinese ingredients, and then smuggled into the United States by large Mexican drug organizations.
“Make no qualms about it, we will make sure that the United States is protected from our Chinese threat if I’m elected. The U.S. needs strong leadership that identifies the evil.”
Ukraine
At the Lehighton forum, Montero, in discussing ways to help U.S. veterans, brought up the war in Ukraine. “We have spent over $100 billion in the Ukraine. I want to spend that money right here in the United States and protect our vets.” As of February, the U.S. has given $75 billion for Ukraine’s war effort, according to the Council on Foreign Relations. Continued funding has been stalled by House Republicans.
Russia
During the “Business Matters” forum, Montero said, “Russia is a major threat to America's independence.” To counter the threat, she proposes producing more gas and oil in the U.S. “It’s because I believe in … energy independence and that's how we fight Russia. We make sure that we drill, we make sure that we produce gas, and that's gonna protect our interest,” she said.
Economy
Montero said the U.S. has a major “overspending” problem, but at the same time needs to do more to support small businesses, the country’s “No. 1 employer.”
There are 31.7 million small businesses in the U.S. employing 16 million people, according to the U.S. Small Business Administration.
She said too many small businesses have to jump through “loopholes” just to survive. “I believe in lowering taxes,” she said. “I believe in deregulation.”
Education
Montero supports the GOP-sponsored Parent’s Bill of Rights that passed the House in 2023, saying it’s a way to empower parents at the federal level. The legislation would require schools to post information about their curricula for students, including providing parents with a list of books and materials offered in school libraries, according to NBC News.
She also supports “empowering” technical and vocational schools, noting that some of the best jobs in the district are held by people with trade and skill sets.
Trump
Montero supports former President Donald Trump in his reelection bid. At the Tea Party forum, Montero called him a “patriot,” saying, “We got our country back with Donald Trump and that is so important for us to remember because we need candidates who are going to be able to partner with him, walk with him side by side and make sure that we can grow our party.”
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