Democrat Ashley Ehasz just saw her best fundraising quarter ever, surpassing incumbent Republican U.S. Brian Fitzpatrick (R-1st District) for the first time, according to the latest campaign finance report.
Ehasz’s campaign raised $1.25 million from the beginning of July to the end of September, however Fitzpatrick’s campaign has raised just over $910,000 during the same period.
This is the second cycle in a row in which Ehasz tries to dethrone Fitzpatrick. During her previous campaign, she had never raised more than Fitzpatrick in a single quarter, often losing significantly in each report.
And over the last three months, Ehasz has significantly outperformed Fitzpatrick. Campaign finance records show that from the beginning of July to the end of September, her campaign spent $1.67 million and his campaign spent $265,000.
However, Fitzpatrick continued to raise more during the election cycle and entered the decisive phase of the campaign with a significant cash advantage.
Since the beginning of 2023, Fitzpatrick’s campaign has raised $6.04 million and Ehasz’s campaign has raised $3.4 million announcing its current offer for office in April 2023. The combined $9.44 million raised in the race from both candidates in the suburban Philadelphia district ranks him second among Pennsylvania’s House votes this election cycle, behind only race for Pennsylvania’s 8th Congressional District.
Fitzpatrick’s campaign had $4.51 million available to his campaign in October, the most of any congressional candidate in Pennsylvania. Ehasz’s campaign started with just over $910,000.
At this point in the past two cycles, Fitzpatrick’s cash advantage is greater than that of his Democratic rivals. In October 2022 Fitzpatrick’s campaign started the month with $1.21 millionone sec Ehasz had just over $175,000 in his account. At the beginning of October 2020 Fitzpatrick had $1.38 million on handwhile Democratic challenger Christina Finello had $555,000 on hand.
The last time Fitzpatrick had less cash on hand than his competitor was the last full month before the 2018 general election, when Democrat Scott Wallace, who largely self-funded his campaign, had $1.41 million on handone sec Fitzpatrick had $1.2 million on hand.
Unlike previous cycles, there is no debate scheduled between candidates for the congressional district, although Ehasz’s campaign is looking for alternatives – according to Levittown now. Ehasz is scheduled to participate in a forum on Tuesday evening, which he is hosting New Pennsylvania Projecta group that describes itself as “consistently engaging these communities, educating neighbors, colleagues and friends about civil rights, equitable education funding, marijuana legalization, economic justice, and environmental justice and stewardship.”
Fitzpatrick, who was first elected to Congress in 2016, is the only Republican member of the state’s House delegation to they represent a district that Joe Biden won in 2020. Fitzpatrick hasn’t said who he’s supporting in the 2024 presidential election, but voted for Trump in 2020 AND wrote Mike Pence in 2016.
Bucks County, which makes up the enormous majority of the 1st Congressional District, is seen as one of the state’s key battlegrounds in 2024 and has been visited by Trump, the Republican Party’s presidential nominee, and Vice President Kamala Harris, the party’s Democratic nominee.
October 16 Harris gave a speech in Bucks County supporters whose goal was to win over disaffected Republicans while Trump showed up at McDonald’s in Bucks County, October 20.
The The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee included Fitzpatrick on its initial list of seats to be flipped in this cycle, as in previous years.
However, many national rating agencies, incl Cook Political Reportdescribe the race for this seat as “probably Republican.”
