Child care costs are emerging as a decisive issue in Pennsylvania’s 7th District. Local providers say pandemic-related expenses, higher wages and skyrocketing insurance have driven up operating costs while enrollment remains down. Democrats push caps, subsidies and pay increases for workers; Republicans favor tax and employer-based incentives. Voters and providers say they need concrete action now.
“I’m Tired of Getting Kicked in the Teeth”: Child Care Costs Could Decide Pennsylvania’s 7th District
A child unpacks a snack she brought from home at Active Learning Centers Emmaus, a child care center in Emmaus, Pennsylvania, on Friday, January 30. - Sarah Silbiger for CNN
Dana Eldridge and Paul Miller opened their first day care in 2005 after nearly a decade running a popular martial arts school and summer camp. Over the next 15 years they expanded to five locations and added infant and toddler care. At its height, Active Learning Centers enrolled roughly 1,000 children.
Then the pandemic hit. The owners say they spent thousands on renovations to support virtual learning, raised teacher pay to try to retain staff, and watched inflation push up costs for everything from cleaning supplies to the bananas and grapes served at snack time. The center raised its rates in late 2020 for the first time in five years and remains about 30% below pre-pandemic enrollment.
“It’s this crazy, double-edged sword. Because if parents can’t find child care, or they can’t afford child care, the entire community suffers,” Eldridge said.
Why Child Care Is Central to the Race
Affordability is shaping the midterm contests, where control of Congress could hinge on which party voters trust more to rein in rising costs for essentials like health care, housing and child care. In Pennsylvania’s 7th District — a battleground with a history of ticket-splitting and the state’s highest concentration of independent voters — candidates on both sides are pitching plans to ease child care burdens.
First-term Republican Rep. Ryan Mackenzie has made affordability, including child care assistance, part of his agenda and has introduced bills to expand tax credits and pre-tax child care savings. Democrats are fielding a crowded slate of challengers who argue for bolder federal intervention: capping family payments, raising provider pay and expanding publicly funded pre-K.
Local Voices and National Numbers
Nationally, child care costs rose an average of 29% between 2020 and 2024, outpacing inflation, according to a 2025 report from Child Care Aware of America. A July 2025 AP-NORC poll found that 76% of adults view child care costs as a major problem.
Locally, Watch Us Grow Child Care Learning Center in Allentown and other providers report steep enrollment declines and staffing losses. Watch Us Grow once enrolled about 350 students; since the pandemic it has lost 150 students, 20 employees have left, and there is a 50-family waitlist as the center searches for teachers.
Active Learning Centers reports that average entry-level teacher pay rose from $10 to $15 an hour and that its liability insurance jumped from $57,000 to $445,000 annually over five years — cost pressures that have forced higher fees and aggressive recruitment and marketing efforts to restore enrollment.
Policy Battle: Incremental Changes vs. Systemic Reform
Democrats, including former Rep. Susan Wild, back legislation to cap many families’ child care costs at about 7% of household income, boost payments for child care workers and expand public pre-kindergarten. Supporters say targeted public investment is needed to repair what advocates call a broken market.
Republicans have pursued more incremental measures: last year’s domestic policy and tax law permanently increased pre-tax child care savings limits and expanded the child and dependent care tax credit. Mackenzie’s proposals — some reflected in that law — focus on tax relief and employer incentives to subsidize care.
“Just saying you have a proposal isn't going to really sway the minds of constituents. You have to do something,” said Sarah Rittling of the First Five Years Fund.
Voters and Candidates
Democratic challengers in the 7th District — firefighter union leader Bob Brooks, energy systems engineer Carol Obando-Derstine, former federal prosecutor Ryan Crosswell and others — emphasize solutions ranging from expanded subsidies and tax credits to universal pre-K. Brooks captures everyday frustration when he says, “I’m tired of getting kicked in the teeth, watching my kids get kicked in the teeth every day.”
Mackenzie has highlighted his recent experience as a new parent weighing the economics of work and child care and has visited multiple Head Start programs and day care centers in the district to learn providers’ needs firsthand.
What’s at Stake
For families and employers in the Lehigh Valley, affordable child care is more than a pocketbook issue — it affects workforce participation, early childhood outcomes and local economic stability. Voters like Dana Eldridge say they will back the candidate who shows a clear, actionable plan for making care affordable and sustainable for both families and providers.
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Dana Eldridge, left, hands her grandchild to an Active Learning Centers Emmaus staff member. - Sarah Silbiger for CNN
Ciara Manning, director of the Emmaus Active Learning Centers, organizes diapers. - Sarah Silbiger for CNN
A staff member cares for an infant at Active Learning Centers Emmaus. - Sarah Silbiger for CNN
A staff member welcomes children arriving for after school care at Active Learning Centers Emmaus. - Sarah Silbiger for CNN
Rep. Ryan Mackenzie leaves the Capitol Hill Club in March 2025. - Tom Williams/CQ-Roll Call, Inc./Getty Images/File
The surrounding farmland near Emmaus, Pennsylvania. - Sarah Silbiger for CNN
A home displays a sign in support of President Donald Trump in Emmaus, Pennsylvania. - Sarah Silbiger for CNN
A mural reading “A Community United for Progress” in Emmaus, Pennsylvania, on Friday, January 30. - Sarah Silbiger for CNN
Ciara Manning, director of Active Learning Centers Emmaus, checks on a infant. - Sarah Silbiger for CNN
A staff member distributes crackers during snack time at Active Learning Centers Emmaus. - Sarah Silbiger for CNN
Children eat crackers during snack time. - Sarah Silbiger for CNN
A staff member checks on her own infant between her responsibilites in other parts of the facilty at Active Learning Centers Emmaus in Emmaus, Pennsylvania, on Friday, January 30. - Sarah Silbiger for CNN
Parents and guardians pick children up from Active Learning Centers Emmaus. - Sarah Silbiger for CNN
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