Ryan Crosswell has said residents of his new district ‘have welcomed me with open arms’
Democratic House hopeful Ryan Crosswell boasted of an “impressive” campaign fundraising haul last month, which he attributed to “early barnstorming” in Pennsylvania’s seventh district. Just one donation came from within the district, records show.
Crosswell, who is running to unseat freshman Republican Rep. Ryan Mackenzie, raised nearly $321,000 from 291 individual donations since launching his campaign in June, according to campaign finance records. Crosswell’s campaign said the hefty haul in just a few short weeks showed “the enthusiastic response to his campaign for Congress.” And Crosswell has said residents of the district, which lies in the Lehigh Valley, “have welcomed me with open arms.”
But according to analysis by the Washington Free Beacon, 0.3 percent of Crosswell’s donors and 0.16 percent of his donations came from within the district. The lone in-district donor, a school district employee from Allentown, gave $500 to Crosswell on June 11, campaign records show. Campaigns are required to disclose contributions of more than $200, whether the donors give that amount in a single donation or through multiple donations.
The sparse in-district and in-state fundraising is likely to reinforce allegations that Crosswell is a political outsider with no actual ties to the community he aims to serve.
Crosswell, a former Republican, moved to the seventh district this year after he quit the Department of Justice in protest over the Trump administration’s handling of the bribery case against New York City mayor Eric Adams. Crosswell, who is campaigning heavily on the resignation, is a native of Pottsville, which lies to the west of the district.
Crosswell’s opponents in both parties have taken aim at him for switching parties and residing outside the district.
“Ryan Crosswell is a lifelong Republican who has never lived in the Lehigh Valley,” Northampton County executive Lamont McClure, a Democratic candidate for the seat, said after Crosswell’s campaign launch.
“Ryan Crosswell is so unprincipled that he switched parties and became a carpetbagger just so he could run for Congress in a community where he has never lived,” a Mackenzie campaign spokesman said.
In a statement, the Crosswell campaign reiterated the candidate’s Pennsylvania roots, and said Crosswell received donations from within the district that did not meet the $200 disclosure threshold. The campaign did not respond to requests for additional information about the small-dollar donors.
“We are proud to have strong support from many grassroots donors from the Lehigh Valley who gave under the $200 reporting threshold required by the FEC,” a Crosswell campaign spokesperson said. “And in the past four weeks alone, he’s received thousands of dollars in contributions from Pennsylvania donors.”
Crosswell raised nearly $321,000 in all, roughly $60,000 of which came from donors who contributed less than $200.
Crosswell has faced other stumbling blocks early in the campaign. He touted a false news story last month that the Trump administration deported an elderly Chilean man from his residence in Allentown. Crosswell offered to provide legal services to the man’s family pro bono, saying such a case “should never happen in our country.” The Morning Call, which reported the initial story, later retracted it after learning that the man alleged to have been deported died in Chile in 2021.
Crosswell has outraised both of his Democratic challengers, though both candidates have drawn far more donations from inside the seventh district.
McClure raised $87,000 in the most recent quarter, but has received numerous donations from residents of the district. Carol Obando-Derstine, a former aide to former Sen. Bob Casey (D., Pa.), received $196,000 in donations and has dozens of donations from residents of Allentown, Bethlehem, and other seventh district cities.
Mackenzie, who defeated three-term Democrat Susan Wild to flip the seat last year, raised $460,000.
Crosswell has landed early support from national political groups. VoteVets, a progressive veterans group that has endorsed Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz and former Democratic presidential candidate Pete Buttigieg, endorsed Crosswell last month.
The Crosswell campaign did not respond to a request for comment.
