Fitzpatrick Keeps His Distance From Trump as Pennsylvania Race Tightens

In Pennsylvania's 1st Congressional District, five-term Republican Rep. Brian Fitzpatrick is running one of the most closely watched reelection campaigns in the country — and his careful distance from President Donald Trump may not be enough to carry him through.

Mary Ryan, a 60-year-old medical writer from the Philadelphia suburbs, is a registered Republican who has never voted for Trump. She has consistently backed Fitzpatrick in the past. This year, she plans to vote for his Democratic opponent, Bob Harvie, a twice countywide elected commissioner and former social studies teacher.

"I don't see it happening," Ryan said of Fitzpatrick's pitch as a voice of reason in Washington. She said her frustration is aimed less at the congressman than at Republicans in Congress who are reluctant to break with the president. "Incumbents just feel they can't cross that line," she said. "They might not get reelected anyway."

Fitzpatrick has done more than most House Republicans to separate himself from Trump. He voted against the president's tariffs, his signature tax legislation and his authority to wage war against Iran without congressional approval. He also skipped Trump's recent midterm convention in Dallas.

Speaking briefly after a Sept. 11 memorial in his district, Fitzpatrick said he understands the political challenges this year and weighs what is best for his constituents with every vote. "That's the job," he said. His representatives did not respond to requests for a fuller interview.

Harvie, who describes his candidacy in existential terms, said he worries about the erosion of trust in government and in one another. "I worry about just the basic foundations of this nation," he said in an interview this summer. He pointed to his deep roots in the district as a key difference from previous Democratic challengers. "I'm not somebody who needs to be reintroduced or introduced to people of this district," he said.

Fitzpatrick has repeatedly survived in a politically mixed district. He won by 13 percentage points in 2024, even as Kamala Harris carried the district by less than a point. In 2022, he won by about 10 points while Democrats took the Senate and the governorship. In 2020, Joe Biden won the district by about 5 points while Fitzpatrick carried it by about 13.

Robert Speel, an associate professor of political science at Penn State Erie, compared the recurring Democratic hopes to Charlie Brown's failed attempts to kick a football. "Every two years Democrats in Washington label Congressman Fitzpatrick as vulnerable," he said. "Every two years he wins anyway."

Not all voters are shifting. Jim Rachau, a 45-year-old photographer from Doylestown and a registered independent, plans to back Fitzpatrick again, citing his prior service as an FBI agent. "You would think serving for the public good, he would have their best interest at heart," he said.

Jean Dolan, a 61-year-old Democratic voter from Newtown, said she finds Fitzpatrick likable but not independent enough from his party's leaders. "You have to serve everyone in your district," she said.

Fitzpatrick has spent nearly $5 million on the race, according to Federal Election Commission records, and negative ads against Harvie have proliferated. Many claim Harvie is under FBI investigation, which he denies; he has filed a federal defamation lawsuit against a super PAC running some of the ads. The suit says local media reported in 2020 that the FBI was investigating local government and that Harvie testified as a witness, and his attorneys say he has never been charged. The FBI did not respond to a request for comment.

No debate has been scheduled. The two men appeared at the same Sept. 11 memorial, standing on opposite sides of the speaker's lectern, and did not appear to speak to each other.