Dellicker making second bid for Congress
Republicans lining up in an effort to unseat Wild in 7th district
Kevin Dellicker, who ran unsuccessfully for the Republican nomination in the Lehigh Valley’s competitive 2022 congressional race, announced Monday he will make another bid for the seat in 2024.
He is seeking to unseat Susan Wild, the Lehigh Valley’s threeterm Democratic congresswoman who was narrowly reelected in the 7th district last year and will run for a fourth term.
He is one of two Republicans who have filed so far to challenge Wild.
Republican Maria Montero, an attorney and member of the DeSales University board of trustees, filed paperwork last week. She could not immediately be reached for comment Monday.
State Rep. Ryan Mackenzie, R-Lehigh, also is expected to officially announce his run for the seat later this month.
Dellicker, a veteran and owner of cybersecurity company Dellicker Strategies, said in a news release that he is running to “protect and expand the Republican majority, get the job done, and then return home.”
Dellicker lost the Republican primary to Lisa Scheller, CEO of Silberline Manufacturing, in 2022 by around 2.5 percentage points.
In 2022, Dellicker positioned himself as a “grassroots” challenger to Scheller, who earned more fundraising dollars and support from the mainstream Republican party. Scheller announced earlier this year she will not mount a third campaign for Congress.
Dellicker lagged far behind Scheller in fundraising in the last election. A campaign finance report revealed Scheller raised about 10 times what he did, with around $350,000 in the first quarter of 2022 compared to Dellicker’s $32,450.
He said in an interview Monday he hopes to build a better “fundraising apparatus” for his 2024 bid, and will lean on his volunteer network he built during his last run to drum up support for his candidacy.
Dellicker told The Morning Call he is running on the same
issues in next year’s election as he did last year: bolstering national security, reducing government spending and promoting “American family values.”
Dellicker also has taken hard-line stances on controversial issues like opposing critical race theory, transgender identity and abortion, even in cases of rape and incest.
Asked if he still stands by his position on abortion — several political experts believe Republicans’ staunch pro-life stance hurt their performance in the 2022 midterms — Dellicker said, “I don’t change my position based on political expediency.”
“I can only achieve my goals to protect all innocent human life if I change people’s minds,” Dellicker said. “I want to have that dialogue with whomever is willing to engage.”
Dellicker’s campaign manager, Samuel Chen, said he filed candidate paperwork Monday morning; his finance report was not immediately available on the Federal Election Commission’s website.
According to documents filed with the FEC, Montero has so far reported $0 in fundraising and has not launched a visible campaign.
Wild, who launched her campaign for a fourth term this year, has already raised $466,000 and spent nearly $100,000 toward her reelection efforts.