A mother's impossible choice

Jenny Escolastico, an Air Force veteran outside Allentown, Pennsylvania, stays home with two children under five because childcare costs exceed what she would earn working full time.

“Childcare is another rent, another car note.”

A swing district, a swing voter

Escolastico lives in Pennsylvania's seventh congressional district, one of a handful deciding which party controls Congress. She voted for Trump in twenty twenty-four but is weighing a Democratic vote.

The price keeps climbing

Childcare costs rose faster than inflation from twenty twenty to twenty twenty-four. The U.S. average for full-time childcare topped thirteen thousand dollars in twenty twenty-five, according to Child Care Aware of America.

Voters want government help

About three-quarters of U.S. adults saw childcare expense as a major problem. Sixty-four percent supported federal government providing free or low-cost childcare for young children, an AP-NORC poll from June twenty twenty-five found.

Democrats pitch big investment

Democratic nominee Bob Brooks, a retired firefighter, campaigns on universal prekindergarten, expanded full-day kindergarten, increased Head Start funding and more federal childcare assistance for working families.

“The cost of caring for the people you love keeps climbing, and nobody in Washington seems to notice.”

Republicans favour tax breaks

Incumbent Republican Rep. Ryan Mackenzie, a father of two children under three, cosponsored a bill expanding the federal tax credit for childcare expenses and increasing incentives for employers providing childcare.

“I will continue to work together with both sides to ensure that working families get the resources, representation, and support that they deserve.”

Trump's plan stalled

Trump campaigned on cutting childcare costs using tariff revenue, a plan that has not materialised. He later expressed skepticism of federal money for childcare at an Easter luncheon.

“We're fighting wars. We can't take care of daycare.”

Pandemic aid expired, crisis deepened

The federal government spent more than fifty billion dollars on childcare during the pandemic.When that aid expired three years later, waitlists for childcare assistance exploded, forcing low-income households to sideline a parent or forgo necessities.

Democrats invest in the issue

The Campaign for a Family Friendly Economy spent sixty million dollars this year backing Democrats in statehouse, congressional and governor races across a dozen states, targeting voters from both parties struggling with care costs.

“This is something that every family is touched by.”

Teachers and parents exhausted

Becky Fisher, a preschool teacher in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania earning less than twenty dollars an hour, spends much of her paycheck on before and after-school care.

“Every parent is exhausted.”

Undecided voters hold the balance

About sixteen percent of voters in Pennsylvania's seventh district remain undecided as of September, according to a Franklin and Marshall College poll. Childcare policy could determine how they vote.