In a Pennsylvania congressional swing district, a Republican incumbent faces allegations over embellishing résumé

Ryan Mackenzie, running for re-election, is accused of ‘fabricating’ a career in the real estate industry

The Republican congressman Ryan Mackenzie has been accused of embellishing his résumé with private sector experience in real estate sales amid an acrimonious showdown over his Pennsylvania seat.

Mackenzie, who has previously been accused of lying about his age on Tinder, “was a real estate salesperson licensed in PA”, according to his LinkedIn profile, and biographies have consistently listed it has his former profession.

In a statement to the Guardian, however, the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee (DCCC) accused the congressman of having “fabricated a career … that never existed”.

His campaign would not comment on whether he ever used his real estate license, or made any sales. His office also did not respond to multiple requests for comment on the Tinder allegations, or reports of a staffer scrubbing the story from Wikipedia.

Mackenzie is attempting to keep his seat in a Pennsylvania’s seventh congressional district, where he won his first term in 2024 by 1% of the vote. Trump won Pennsylvania in the US presidential election two years ago, after losing the state to Joe Biden in 2020.

Mackenzie is running for his seat against Democrat Bob Brooks , former president of the Pennsylvania Professional Fire Fighters Association – and has called his opponent a “fraud”, a “conman”, a “lobbyist”, a “dumpster fire candidate” and a “union boss”. Mackenzie’s campaign manager claimed Brooks has “all the hallmarks of a common criminal”.

Ahead of the US midterm election in the battleground district, the DCCC has characterized Mackenzie as a career politician who has supported both Trump and policies pursued by the Trump administration that have resulted in increased costs for Americans – including tariffs and the war in Iran.

As Mackenzie attacks Brooks, the DCCC has alleged Mackenzie has embellished his résumé, and pointed to misleading citations of “licensed real estate sales”.

Mackenzie’s state representative campaign told Patch.com in 2012 he had “private sector experience as a real estate salesperson”.

Mackenzie has cited holding a real estate license, which he received in 2006 in Pennsylvania, but did not renew when it expired in 2008. During this same period, he worked for the Republican Federal Committee of Pennsylvania and the US Department of Labor.

“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,” said Eli Cousin, a DCCC spokesperson, 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.”

In 2024, it emerged that Mackenzie had claimed on his Tinder dating profile in 2020 that he was 29 years old when he was actually 37. His office did not deny the allegations at the time.

For a 2025 Harvard Business School talk featuring Mackenzie, Mackenzie would “reflect on his career path from the real estate sector to public service at both the state and federal level”, according to the event’s web listing .

A LinkedIn post for the event stated “discussions ranged from how Rep Mackenzie transitioned to and built a career in politics”. Harvard Business School did not respond to multiple requests for comment.

A 2025 voter guide by Boeing’s political action committee stated: “Mackenzie worked in real estate.”

In Mackenzie’s Pennsylvania state house biography, as part of his professional career history, he cites “licensed real estate sales”.

“I was an employee at the US Department of Labor and also I used to hold my real estate salesperson’s license,” Mackenzie told a local Pennsylvania news outlet in 2012 while recounting his job experience.

His congressional representative webpage bio cites the license, stating: “He worked on a number of political campaigns and earned his real estate sales license before entering public service.”

A spokesperson for Mackenzie, Arnaud Armstrong, would not comment on whether Mackenzie ever used his real estate license or made any sales, and dismissed the touting of the credential as a career profession as “passing mentions, mostly from third parties”.