Records show Mackenzie held Pennsylvania real estate license from 2006 to 2008
The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee has accused Rep. Ryan Mackenzie of fabricating a real estate career featured in his political biographies and campaign materials, as the Pennsylvania congressman seeks re-election in a district he won by roughly one percentage point in 2024. He faces Democrat Bob Brooks, a former fire fighters union president, in the November midterm election.
“Ryan Mackenzie was already disgustingly caught lying about his age on his Tinder profile by nearly 10 years. Now it looks like Mackenzie and his allies have embellished his résumé and fabricated a career in real estate that never existed,” DCCC spokesperson Eli Cousin said in a statement. “The truth is that Mackenzie is a career politician who has seemingly never worked a day in his life outside of politics and straight up does not understand the challenges that working Pennsylvanians are facing.”
Pennsylvania licensing records show Mackenzie obtained a real estate salesperson license in 2006 but did not renew it when it expired in 2008. During that same period, he worked for the Republican Federal Committee of Pennsylvania and the U.S. Department of Labor.
The credential has featured prominently in campaign biographies and third-party listings. Mackenzie’s Pennsylvania state House biography lists “licensed real estate sales” among his professional history. His congressional website states he “earned his real estate sales license before entering public service.” A 2012 Patch.com profile quoted his state representative campaign as saying he had “private sector experience as a real estate salesperson.”
“I was an employee at the U.S. Department of Labor and also I used to hold my real estate salesperson’s license,” Mackenzie told a local Pennsylvania news outlet in 2012. His LinkedIn profile says he “was a real estate salesperson licensed in PA.”
A 2025 Harvard Business School event listing said Mackenzie would “reflect on his career path from the real estate sector to public service at both the state and federal level,” and a 2025 voter guide from Boeing’s political action committee stated: “Mackenzie worked in real estate.” Harvard Business School did not respond to multiple requests for comment.
Mackenzie’s campaign and congressional office did not respond to multiple requests for comment on the allegations, including on whether he ever used his real estate license or made any sales. His spokesperson, Arnaud Armstrong, dismissed the DCCC’s framing of the credential as “passing mentions, mostly from third parties.”
The résumé allegations follow earlier reports that Mackenzie misstated his age on his Tinder dating profile in 2020, claiming to be 29 when he was actually 37 — a documented discrepancy of eight years, though the DCCC described it as “nearly 10 years.” His office did not deny those reports when they surfaced in 2024. There have also been reports that a staffer attempted to scrub the Tinder story from Wikipedia; Mackenzie’s office did not respond to requests for comment on that claim either.
Mackenzie is running against Democrat Bob Brooks, the former president of the Pennsylvania Professional Fire Fighters Association, in the November midterm election for the 7th Congressional District. He won the seat in 2024 by roughly one percentage point. Trump carried Pennsylvania in that year’s presidential election after losing the state to Joe Biden in 2020.
Mackenzie has attacked Brooks as a “fraud,” “conman,” “lobbyist,” “dumpster fire candidate” and “union boss.” His campaign manager has claimed Brooks has “all the hallmarks of a common criminal.” The DCCC has framed Mackenzie as a career politician who has supported Trump administration policies that have increased costs for Americans, including tariffs and the war in Iran.