| A new profile of Bob Brooks in the Morning Call spotlights how his background as a firefighter and working class Pennsylvanian is shaping his run for Congress and his push to shake up a broken Washington.
The Morning Call reports “it’s that working-class background that prompted Brooks to center his campaign around affordability,” and adds that his “persona and approach could help win over voters who are disillusioned” and struggling with rising costs.
The vice president of the Lehigh Valley Labor Council sums up why the Lehigh Valley needs Bob in Washington: “What Congress needs are people who have actually punched a clock. People who understand what overtime means, what a pension means, what a union contract means. Understand when healthcare doesn’t pay the entire bill — that’s who we need to work for us in Washington. Bob Brooks understands that because Bob Brooks lived it.”
Read additional highlights from the Morning Call’s profile of Bob for yourself:
- Bob Brooks has worked many jobs throughout his life: newspaper deliverer, truck driver, factory worker, bartender, landscaper, firefighter and union leader.
- His next job is in the hands of voters, but if he gets his way, it will be U.S. congressman, representing the Lehigh Valley and Poconos area.
- Brooks’ first job was delivering newspapers in hometown of North Adams, Massachusetts, at 10 years old: “I had a 2-mile route that I had to handle, wind, rain or snow,” he recalled.
- In high school, he delivered pizzas, worked at a factory and did whatever he could do to help him and his single mom get by; they relied on food stamps and lived in public housing during periods in order to stay afloat, he has said.
- During his senior year of high school, he and his mother lost their home in a fire. They relocated to Nazareth, where his grandparents were located, and started their lives over.
- That experience is part of what motivated him to choose a career in firefighting after graduating high school. He began as a volunteer firefighter for Hecktown Volunteer Fire Company while continuing to work as a bartender and truck driver before being recruited to the Bethlehem Fire Department.
- “I got an opportunity to become a city Bethlehem firefighter, and that’s the best thing that’s happened in my life at this point, outside of my children and my grandchildren,” Brooks said.
- He was quickly thrust into union leadership at the Bethlehem department simply because the union needed a shift vice president, and he was willing to step up and serve. Having been represented by a union while working as a truck driver, he felt the benefits of having a collective bargaining agreement that provided benefits and protections for workers.
- Throughout his 20 years on the force, he said he served “nearly every” position in International Association of Fire Fighters Local 735 before joining the Pennsylvania Professional Fire Fighters Association in 2021, where he is now president.
- It was there that Brooks wet his feet in the world of politics and legislation. He lobbied both in Harrisburg and Washington on behalf of pro-firefighter and union workers, and counts among his wins expanding the definition of post-traumatic stress injury in Pennsylvania, entitling more firefighters to workers’ compensation; extending a national program that helps the families of first responders who die of occupational cancer; and pushing for a bill in Congress that would provide mortgage assistance to first responders, helping them to afford to buy a home.
- Brooks and his supporters frequently like to remind voters that he does not look like your typical politician. He doesn’t have a college degree, speaks openly about relying on social services, and criticizes Washington politicians for being “out of touch” with working class people.
- “I’ve lived in public housing, I’ve relied on food stamps when times were hard, I had to choose between paying the medical bills and paying the mortgage,” Brooks said in a recent campaign speech. “Regular people are getting tired of getting kicked in the teeth. What’s happening in Washington right now is not working for us. It’s time to send them a message.”
- It’s that working-class background that prompted Brooks to center his campaign around affordability — not to mention the fact that high prices are polling as the No. 1 voter concern before the November midterms.
- Brooks’ persona and approach could help win over voters who are disillusioned with the Democratic Party and largely backed Trump and other Republicans during past election cycles, Brooks supporters believe. Less than 2% of Congress comes from a working-class background, so Brooks, if elected, would join just a small fraction of legislators who understand what it means to struggle financially.
- “Congress has enough millionaires,” said Dennis Hower, vice president of the Lehigh Valley Labor Council, at a Brooks event this month. “They have enough corporate lawyers, they have enough professional politicians. What Congress needs are people who have actually punched a clock. People who understand what overtime means, what a pension means, what a union contract means. Understand when healthcare doesn’t pay the entire bill — that’s who we need to work for us in Washington. Bob Brooks understands that because Bob Brooks lived it.”
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