Ten years ago, an FBI supervisory special agent ran for Congress in the seat previously held by his brother and won.
Over the last decade Representative Brian Fitzpatrickyounger brother Microphonewas targeted by Democrats in a mostly purple Bucks County district. And four times since he won re-election by defeat Scott Wallace (2018), Christina Finello (2020) i Ashley Ehasz (2022, 2024).
Now a Bucks County commissioner Bob Harvie attacks a former lawyer and special forces veteran. Democrats, as always, are hopeful about the 54-year-old’s chances.
Some internal research by PoliticsPA claims Fitzpatrick is struggling against Harvie, and his numbers have dropped significantly since the 2018 race, in which the incumbent won by less than 8,000 votes.
According to a poll of 400 likely general election voters in PA-01, while Fitzpatrick has a 48-42% lead over Harvie, Commissioner leads among non-conservative independents and Republicans by three points (44-41%).
This is partly due to signs of withering popularity of Fitzpatrick. His favorability ratings are at minus-3 (45-48%), while his job performance rating is -5, with 43% approving and 48% disapproving.
While only 1 in 4 respondents said they knew Harvie, pollsters say: Global Strategy Group he shared more about the challenger and gained a one-point lead (46-45%) over Fitzpatrick.
Harvie’s campaign poll also provided more information about the incumbent, especially his track record in Congress as a moderate who straddles the line between independent leader and a reliable GOP vote. With this information, respondents supported Harvie by more than 10 points (51-41%), and non-conservative independents and Republicans supported his campaign by 61-32%.
Harvie is making “kitchen table” a cornerstone of his campaign as the issue of “affordability” takes center stage in many state and federal races in 2026.
Affordability and growing unpopularity President Donald Trump and his policies also give Democrats a chance to win a seat in the region for the first time since 2011 as part of Pennsylvania’s strategy to flip its majority in the U.S. House of Representatives.
To quote a deceased football coach Lee Corsonot so rapid, my friend.
“Especially in Bucks County, it will break your heart if you let it,” said Ehasz, who twice unsuccessfully competed against Fitzpatrick. She has noticed her party’s momentum in the county ebb and flow, such as when Democrats took over rank-and-file offices in 2025.
“And then you get to the House of Congress and you feel like all the brakes are on,” Ehasz said.
Bucks is one of the purplest counties in the commonwealth and will be a closely watched battleground state in the 2026 election.
Trump was the first Republican presidential candidate to win the county since the 1980s. Even with the expected coattails, former V.P. Kamala Harris still won PA-01 by 0.3 percentage points.
Fitzpatrick stood out throughout the match, winning by 13 points.
But a year later, Democrats won countywide offices by about 10 percentage points, their largest winning margin in a decade.
So what to think about all this?
Harvie’s campaign, which still needs to win the Democratic primary against a grassroots candidate Lucia Simonelliknows it can’t just be an “I’m not Brian Fitzpatrick” candidate. He must stand for more and offer real alternatives to those Fitzpatrick championed during his decade in Washington.
He says he’s running for Congress to fight for working families, strengthen the middle class, protect freedoms and restore justice. Kitchen table issues include repealing Trump’s tariffs, raising the federal minimum wage, reforming the tax code, investing in America’s middle class, ensuring affordable high-quality education for all, and expanding affordable health care.
In its memo, GSG said that “Harvie is in a good position to win if he has the resources to convey his positive message and tell Fitzpatrick’s true story.”
Resources. Harvie was unable to compete with Fitzpatrick on the fundraising front. That’s okay. Not many could do it.
Fitzpatrick raised nearly $865,000 last quarter and had $7.3 million available in 2026. That matters a lot in Philadelphia’s high-priced media market.
But Harvie, who raised just over $370,000 last quarter, knows conventional broadcast media isn’t the only way to get his message out to voters, pointing to alternatives through cable and digital ads.
In recent weeks, Fitzpatrick has focused on the center, as evidenced by his vote against the president’s “One Big Beautiful Act.” But he also voted for the SAVE Act, the controversial national voter ID bill.
He is also the only House Republican in the commonwealth who did not win Trump’s endorsement.
“People know him and that’s why he survived.” Pat PoprikBucks County GOP chairman, he said Questioner from Philadelphia. “Both parties are voting for him because he’s there and they don’t think of him in political terms, they think of him as a government.”
But voters are also seeing the rising costs of groceries and gas, with the average number of first-time home buyers rising to 41. They may also see Fitzpatrick as part of the problem, especially in a midterm cycle in which the White House resident’s party tends to suffer losses in Congress.
“These are things that Trump has pushed, but these are things that Brian Fitzpatrick is responsible for, whether they are consistent with Trump’s policies or not,” Harvie said. “So I’m looking at the Fitzpatrick records, which are of no use to the people of this district.”
