Listen to Affordable PA’s Third Radio Spot Here

February 19, 2026

Allentown, PENNSYLVANIA - Today, Affordable Pennsylvania launched its third Spanish-language radio ad addressing rising costs in the Lehigh Valley. The ad, “Marilyn,” features an Allentown community member discussing how Congressman Ryan Mackenzie’s vote for health care and SNAP cuts and his support of tariffs are harming the Lehigh Valley community.

“I hear in my community people struggling with affordability. They’re choosing between paying their rent, picking up a prescription, or trying to figure out how they’ll manage childcare and keep their job,” said Marilyn of Allentown. “Ryan Mackenzie is telling us what he thinks we want to hear. But the reality is he cut SNAP and Medicaid. He likes to act like he works for us, but it's an act. If he really represented us, he would fight for lower costs for our community instead of raising them to pay for billionaire tax breaks. Congressman Mackenzie needs to put Pennsylvanians over billionaires and work to lower costs for the Lehigh Valley.”

The affordability crisis has hit the Lehigh Valley hard, where the Latino and Hispanic community makes up nearly 25% of the population. Higher housing, grocery, and health care costs are forcing working families to make impossible decisions.

In Bethlehem, where 70% of Latino residents are renters, rent for a one-bedroom apartment in Bethlehem averages $1,900 a month. That’s just shy of a 6% increase from last year. Pennsylvania groceries are up 8.2% over the last year, well above the national average of 5%, and one of the highest rates of inflation for food costs among the 50 states. Food banks in the Lehigh Valley community have struggled to keep up with the increased demand.

Last summer, Congressman Mackenzie voted for the Republican Tax, which included the largest cuts to Medicaid and SNAP in history to pay for bigger tax breaks for billionaires and big corporations, threatening food assistance and health care access for hundreds of thousands of his constituents who rely on these programs. These cuts will rip care away from over 300,000 Pennsylvanians across the Commonwealth and nearly 19,000 in Mackenzie’s district. The massive cuts to Medicaid and ACA marketplace coverage will also drive up the number of uninsured Americans in every state and congressional district in the country, including 26,000 Pennsylvanians in PA-07.

The Latino community is one of the most uninsured populations in the US and are among the biggest beneficiaries of the ACA. Rep. Mackenzie failed to extend critical health care tax credits before they expired, raising Pennie costs by an average of 102% across Pennsylvania and 178% for his own constituents - the second highest price hike across the Commonwealth.

On top of all of that, Congressman Mackenzie has voted five times over the last year to continue Trump’s tariffs that are raising costs on Pennsylvanians from housing to health care to groceries. Research from the nonpartisan Tax Foundation found that tariffs cost American households about $1,000 on average last year and that number is expected to rise in 2026.

Read a Transcript of “Marilyn” Below:

Marilyn: My name is Marilyn and I live in Allentown.

Our community is struggling to get by.

And Congressman Ryan Mackenzie is making it even harder.

Mackenzie supported the tariffs – another tax that has raised the prices on nearly

everything.

As he voted to make our food/grocery costs higher…

…and he cut access to healthy food.

In addition, Mackenzie voted to cut essential/critical health care coverage for millions of Americans.

And why? So he could give tax breaks to multi-millionaires and big corporations…

…forcing many families to choose between health care or food.

Mackenzie looks out for multi-millionaires. He should look out for us.

Call Congressman Mackenzie at 202-225-6411.

Tell him to stop raising our costs and to stop cutting our health care.

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