The Bethlehem Project has moved to the FT News Briefing

The Bethlehem Project has moved to the FT News Briefing

From Swamp Notes by Financial Times

May 17, 2026 · 1 min

About this episode

The episode features an interview with candidates in a critical Pennsylvania swing district as Democrats seek to rebrand after recent electoral losses.

Democrats are looking for a bit of a rebrand after losing the White House and both houses of Congress in 2024. They have an opportunity this November to test out some new types of candidates. In a critical swing district in Pennsylvania, the party establishment has coalesced around a progressive, blue-collar candidate named Bob Brooks. The other frontrunner in the race, Ryan Crosswell, represents a very different vision for winning over swing voters. He’s a former Republican and former federal prosecutor who’s more centrist.  Host Sonja Hutson travels to Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, to interview the candidates and ask party activists where they fall in the electability debate.  Check it out on the FT News Briefing feed.  Listen to past episodes of The Bethlehem Project here . Read a transcript of this episode on FT.com Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

People in this episode

Host: Sonja Hutson

Guests: Bob Brooks, Ryan Crosswell

Topics covered

  • politics
  • elections
  • candidates
  • swing districts
  • Democratic Party
  • interviews

Keywords

  • Bethlehem Project
  • Democrats
  • swing voters
  • Bob Brooks
  • Ryan Crosswell
  • Pennsylvania
  • elections
  • politics

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: Democrats, FT News Briefing, FT.com

Places: Pennsylvania

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