Allentown, Pennsylvania, is the kind of place the national media brings up every now and then to talk about the troubles of the working class. That’s for good reason: the city is a great stand-in for America’s blue-collar blues. Billy Joel even wrote a song about it. The same goes for neighboring Bethlehem, which once was home to the largest steelmaking operation in the world. That operation shuttered in 2003 and was replaced by a casino.

No doubt the Lehigh valley has seen better days. But it’s not all in the rear view. In fact, this week this blue-collar bastion could decide the future of the Democratic party.

Pennsylvania’s seventh congressional district is among the most competitive in the country. In the last election only one percentage point separated Democrat Susan Wild (49.5%) and Republican Ryan Mackenzie (50.5%). Just over 4,000 votes made the difference. As a result, the Democratic party primary here has drawn national attention and the outcome has national implications: will Democrats embrace a blue-collar populism, or stick with the political insiders and liberal institutionalists that have failed the party in the past?

The candidates are instructive. First, there’s Lamont McClure Jr. McClure served two terms as the elected Northampton county executive. He’s a lawyer. His father was the executive director of the Carbon County Housing Authority. He’s quick to say that he’s the most qualified because “I’m the only one that’s ever been an elected official.” McClure has won a number of endorsements from local elected officials and Carbon county Democratic party insiders.

Then there’s Carol Obando-Derstine. Obando-Derstine worked as a top renewable-energy engineer; today she’s a non-profit executive. She served as US Senator Bob Casey’s senior Latino affairs adviser. She argues that her high-level experience in government........

© The Guardian