New reporting from the Financial Times reveals that even Republican strategists are shocked by vulnerable Congressman Ryan Mackenzie’s unwavering allegiance to Donald Trump, even as Lehigh Valley voters sour on his cost-spiking record.
One GOP strategist said he was “surprised” that Mackenzie has been “running towards” Trump – voting with his boss nearly 100% of the time since arriving in Congress, and even embarrassing himself at multiple Trump rallies.
Lehigh Valley voters see Mackenzie as nothing more than a Trump lackey, saying the Congressman and his party boss “are just like two buddies.”
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The Financial Times: The Trump factor: will he help or hurt his party in the midterms?
- For first-term Congress member Ryan Mackenzie, attendance is a political gamble in the high-stakes game of holding on to one of the country’s most embattled congressional seats.
- “I listened to him yesterday, and they are just like two buddies,” said Robert Haughtaling, a 68-year-old retired veteran from Bethlehem about his US representative and the president.
- Trump knows that Mackenzie is in trouble. “We got to get Ryan Mackenzie elected,” he shouted to a packed hall at a rally in Macungie, part of the representative’s district, before begrudgingly inviting him onstage. “Run up here, run fast, nobody wants to hear you.”
- Lisa Maldonado, a 58-year-old who voted for Trump in 2024, said she was unsure what she would do in November. “It’s hard to choose who to vote for — it’s words, words, words and no action.”
- The economy and cost of living had “been getting worse”, she added. “Before your dream was to work and live in a home and have a family. But now you just have to settle for an apartment.”
- Both in his district and in Washington, Mackenzie is best known for his loyalty to Trump — although he faces a serious electoral challenge from a populist Democratic candidate, retired firefighter Bob Brooks.
- Aside from being briefly called up to the stage towards the end of the roughly 90-minute performance, Mackenzie watched meekly from the sidelines.
- “I’m surprised by it myself,” Doug Heye, a Republican strategist, said of Mackenzie’s efforts to align himself with the president and the Maga base.
- “Typically candidates in swing districts, especially in what look to be difficult cycles . . . when the president is unpopular . . . they don’t necessarily have to run away from the incumbent president, but aren’t running towards him either.”
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