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Thursday, August 07, 2025

McClure Leads Dems in Early Poll For Pa. 7 Congressional District

So far, four Democrats are seeking their party's nomination for next year's Pa.-7 congressional battle against incumbent Ryan Mackenzie. Lamont McClure was the first out of the gate. He even dropped plans to seek a third term as Exec, which means NorCo taxpayers will be spared from paying his salary as he runs for another office. Lehigh County taxpayers will be less lucky. Controller Mark Pinsley, who's always running for something, will continue to collect his salary as he spends his days on the campaign trail. There's also Carol Obando-Derstine, recruited to run by Sue Wild.  Ms. Wild was beaten by Mackenzie in last year's race. She apparently thinks that she, and not voters, decides the next Democratic nominee. Finally, there's Republican-recently turned-Democrat Ryan Croswell, a carpetbagger who just moved into the Lehigh Valley a month or so ago. Some goofy DC elitists, who think they know everything, put him up to it because they know what's best for us. Of these four announced candidates, only McClure has stood up for everyday Americans. Only McClure has consistently been a voice for organized labor. So it should come as no surprise that McClure leads in an early poll of the four candidates who've announced, and one who is still mulling it over. 

Public Policy Polling conducted a survey of 518 likely Dem voters on July 29-30 and included Bob Brooks. He's a retired Bethlehem firefighter who tells everyone he's running even though he has actually endorsed McClure. You can see it below. 

McClure leads all candidates with 23%, compared to 7% for Obando-Derstine and Pinsley, and just 3% for Croswell and Brooks. It's an early poll, with 58% undecided, but McClure has a strong lead among those who have made up their minds. 

Nearly a third (31%) of likely voters view McClure favorably, compared to just 16% for Pinsley, 11% for Obando-Derstine and a scant 6% for carpetbagger Croswell and Brooks. 

His lead is strongest in Northampton County, where he polls at 40%. 

Public Policy Polling Gives McClure Lead in Pa. 7 Race by BernieOHare on Scribd

34 comments:

Anonymous said...

The only thing shocking in this is how well Pinsley is doing but I’ll give him some time to screw a good thing up as he always does

Anonymous said...

Hmm - so you show a photo of a document created 2 days from now??

Anonymous said...

Hope Barron cooked you a great meal when he pushed this worthless poll in front of you. Seriously, most observers would be shocked if McClure was not in front at this early stage. He has been running for eight years. Using county staff to run promotional phots of him. He has handed out God knows how many checks and gave out proclamations like toilet tissue. He hunts down every opportunity to get his face on camera and himself making a speech.
But he also has a record, despite your fawning endorsement. It is one thing to support organized labor it is another to be in league with their leaders in attacking people and pushing restrictive policies on others. Talk to th no nonunion staff' His record will be well known after this November election. Your condescending remarks about the other candidates' rings hollow in the wake of one Gracedale disaster after another. His inability to work with county council has been injurious to the residents of the county. Then there are th ongoing election problems. Soo yeah, i agree with just name recognition he wins, whoopie. It is august.

Anonymous said...

You must be a moron to vote for any Democrat Taxes will go up just to start their policy are as bad as possible on all issues they are always against the American citizen.

Anonymous said...

Way too early to be polling, especially on the Dem side. Give it a few weeks and do more than 500 likely voters from both sides…then
Release the findings.

Anonymous said...

The loser wild is good at one thing, picking other losers

Anonymous said...

This is a nice attempt by Lamont to make himself look like he’s not completely floundering in this race but there are a few big tells:

1. He hired PPP to run this poll instead of his own pollster, GQR - which tells us a) he doesn’t have the money (something anyone whose seen his FEC reports knows) and b) it’s not an actual campaign tool, they’re trying to show he’s still relevant.

2) This poll only tells us how he does in the initial vote - not the informed vote. Basically - he gets 23% when you give everyone a list of names - but what’s conveniently missing from this memo is how he does after respondents are given some information about the candidates - like a basic bio. And in a field where you have the least amount of money to communicate and 58% are undecided - it doesn’t really matter what the initial vote looks like.

Anonymous said...

I loved watching Lori Vargo Heffner parading Crosswell around and introducing him to all her faux democratic friends. Figures she supports a carpet bagger!

Anonymous said...

God help us! There are enough people in politics wreaking this world. Not him too.

Anonymous said...

Pinsley will ascend. Slow and steady wins the race. By early 2026, polling will show a much different picture. Pin for the win!

Anonymous said...

So early, but it shows what a deep disappointment Mackinzie is.

Anonymous said...

So is Bernie, his track record is terrible.

Anonymous said...

What organized labor? Surly not northampton Countys..... It is the lowest paid County of its size. He refuses to pay a livable wage to his employees. Dont say he's pro labor. He is the furthers from it. He's pro labor if someone else is paying them.
And for all you great people out there gonna say stop crying and just quit. Just remember what just happened at gracedale. That's what you get with Lamont. Staff levels ridiculous lower. Moral , I don't even think there is any. It's just getting started with what he has done with this county. No more covid to hide behind. It is all gonna come out.

Anonymous said...

Please stop with your countless Pro McCluless posts- its getting sickening.

Anonymous said...

I agree, he's terrible.

Anonymous said...

He has the worst personality of any Pol I know, with the exception of John Brown pants.

Bernie O'Hare said...

Excuse me, but I have written about the congressional race when I heard about each candidate. I also wrote about this poll. Three of the four Democrats never bothered to send an announcement despite having raised so much $ because they do not really have local campaigns. The only candidates who do send me announcements are McClure and Mackenzie.

Anonymous said...

Meanwhile, we are still waiting for the McClure-Zrinski-Barron administration to post the 2024 General Purpose Financial Statements and CAFR on the Northampton County website.

Anonymous said...

FYI: punctuation is non-partisan

Anonymous said...

Do you have one of the candidates at 3% or 7% ? Or, are you the dopey kid responsible for making a mess out of this race ? Because here’s the thing to move from 3% or 7% past McClure will take at least a million, and none of these candidates are getting there.

Bernie O'Hare said...

The CAFR is posted once the external auditor present to county council. If it was posted before then, council would complain.

Anonymous said...

From the original post: “He even dropped plans to seek a third term as Exec, which means NorCo taxpayers will be spared from paying his salary as he runs for another office.”

Did I miss McClure’s resignation? Isn’t that exactly what he’s doing now - having NorCo taxpayers pay his salary as he runs for another office? Of course it is!

The only reason he’s not running for Executive again is because voters tend not to vote for people running for two offices at once.

If McClure had any ethics or even the most fleeting thought about anything other than what’s best for him, he would have resigned as Executive the moment he declared he was running for Congress. He didn’t.

That tells voters everything they need to know about him.

Anonymous said...

The poll is meaningless. It doesn’t disclose the response rate or (more importantly) who paid for it. It also doesn’t disclose how many were surveyed in each county, or how those surveyed were selected. They couldn’t even get the date correct.

My guess is that this is a poll paid for by the McClure campaign (or someone supporting him) that was slanted to give him the results he paid for.

Bernie O'Hare said...

He's not really running in earnest until his term ends. Next year, he will be running FT. Now he is doing the job he is paid to do.

Anonymous said...

The bottom line is Politicians are bad people breed by are terrible system of government meaning no term limits, congress where you can write 5000 page laws, letting way too much money in government and other things too numerous to mention here

Anonymous said...

All good news for republicans!

Anonymous said...

Nat Hyman for Congress!

Anonymous said...

Most of the democratic leaders should be locked and maybe Trump will get the scum.

Anonymous said...

McClure is the best candidate for this job for us here in NORCO and Lehigh County. the others just want a paycheck, at least McClure wants to represent us

Anonymous said...

Polls are meaningless this far out. Heck, they’re useless anyway given recent history. The best Iowa pollster had Trump losing Iowa by double digits, he won big there. Polls have become tools paid for by politicians to influence thinking. Ignore them.

Anonymous said...

How? This is a democratic primary poll. Lol.

Anonymous said...

McClure is a blow hard who rubs people the wrong way. Can’t win, won’t win. He will probably win the primary but won’t win general even with all the Trump baggage on McKenzie. Schewyer or Schlossberg should have run

Anonymous said...

Who is funding the dark money for these races?

Anonymous said...

Thank goodness there’s someone other than McClueless.