Republican candidate Ryan Mackenzie won the GOP primary for Pennsylvania’s 7th Congressional District, eking out a victory in a crowded field of candidates looking to flip the crucial House seat red in November.
Mackenzie defeated two Republicans, veteran Kevin Dellicker and attorney Maria Montero, after garnering 42.6% of the vote when the Associated Press called the race at 9:41 p.m.
The Pennsylvania state representative will go on to challenge Rep. Susan Wild (D-PA), who was first elected in 2018. Since then, Wild narrowly secured victories in both 2020 and 2022, making Pennsylvania’s 7th District one of the most competitive races of the 2024 cycle.
Although Wild won by a strong 10-point margin in 2018, the Pennsylvania Democrat won by only 3.8 points against Lisa Scheller in 2020, a much closer race than expected. That margin fell even smaller in 2022 when Wild defeated Scheller by just 2 points.
Now Republicans see the seat as ripe for a pickup opportunity as they try to paint her as a “career politician” out of touch with Pennsylvania voters.
“When you’re an incumbent and your numbers are heading south like that, that is a bad sign,” Mackenzie said.
To be sure, Mackenzie added, Wild will be a “formidable challenge.” But the state lawmaker expressed confidence in his voting record as he faces the incumbent in November.
“I’m a proven conservative who has a track record of cracking down on illegal immigration, reining in wasteful spending, and doing that as a state representative,” he said. “And so it’s a really very clear contrast between myself and Susan Wild. It’s gonna make it easy for voters to determine which way they want to go on this country.”
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All 435 seats are up for grabs in 2024 as Republicans seek to hold their slim majority in the lower chamber. Of these, 42 are considered competitive, with most of those held by Democrats, giving the GOP a slight advantage as it prepares for the next election cycle.
However, of the 42 competitive seats, 17 are held by Republicans in districts that voted for President Joe Biden in 2020, compared to just five Democrats who must defend their seats in districts carried by former President Donald Trump. That means there are just enough vulnerable GOP-held seats to keep things competitive heading into the next election cycle.
