As voters head to the polls will they vote based on party loyalty or the reality found inside their wallets?
Soaring gas and grocery prices, a seemingly endless war with Iran, years of war in Ukraine and capitulation to Putin, massive health care and SNAP cuts just might be enough to unseat four Pennsylvania incumbent Republicans in Congress.
“We’ve said all cycle long that Democrats’ path back to the House majority runs straight through flipping four seats in Pennsylvania: Republican Congressmen Brian Fitzpatrick, Ryan Mackenzie, Rob Bresnahan and Scott Perry,” said Eli Cousin, spokesperson for the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee. “They have sent costs soaring and become part of the corruption in Washington that is costing Pennsylvania families.”
According to an article in The New York Times, if elections were held Sunday when the report was published, Democrat Paige Cognetti is ahead of Bresnahan (PA-08; Wayne, Pike, Lackawanna; portions of Luzerne and Monroe) at 51% – 48%; Democrat Bob Brooks leads Mackenzie (PA-07; Carbon, Lehigh, Northampton and part of Monroe) at 49% – 44%; Harvie leads Fitzpatrick (PA-01; Bucks; western portion of Montgomery) at 48% to 46%. Democrat Janelle Stelson and Perry (PA-10; Dauphin, parts of Cumberland and York) are currently tied at 48%.
As a federal “wild west” approach to data center regulation aimed at fast-tracking development and operations nationwide, ever-increasing costs of daily staples, prohibitive health care costs and access are among voters’ top concerns.
Fitzpatrick has recently made attempts to align himself with popular Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro – while stopping short of endorsing him for a second term.
“Apparently even Republican candidates would rather run on Governor Shapiro’s record than Stacy Garrity’s. But even as they abandon Garrity, they can’t have it both ways — you don’t get to block the Governor’s agenda and stand in the way of real progress for Pennsylvania families and then campaign on the results he’s delivered,” said Manuel Bonder, Shapiro campaign spokesperson.
As of August Garrity, Pennsylvania’s elected treasurer and a Republican running against Shapiro, refused to acknowledge Joe Biden’s election win in 2020 against Trump.
Democrat and current Bucks County Commissioner Bob Harvie is running against five-term incumbent Fitzpatrick to represent Pennsylvania’s first congressional district in Washington D.C.
The Washington Time’s reported Fitzpatrick is backing Shapiro’s efforts to allow registered Independents to vote in state primaries. And LevittownNow reported Fitzpatrick has called Shapiro a “good man,” said Shapiro should run for president, and noted he had invited the sitting governor to his wedding. Shapiro did not attend.
An effort to reach Fitzpatrick for comment was unsuccessful.
On Monday, The Philadelphia Inquirer, The New York Times and Sienna University released a poll showing Harvie leading Fitzpatrick’s 48% – 46%; while The New York Times said of the four races Democrats “are ahead in two, hold a narrow edge in a third and are tied in the fourth.”
This is the latest sign momentum is growing behind Harvie’s campaign and that Fitzpatrick’s “ugly lies are falling flat,” a Harvie campaign press release said.
Previous polling found that the race for PA-01 was a toss up, with undecided voters eager to vote for Democratic-control in the legislature.
During his remarks at an October 3 Yardley campaign rally, Shapiro “called PA-01 the most competitive race in the entire commonwealth.”
At the rally, Shapiro said in part:
“We have the power here in Pennsylvania to literally determine which party is going to be in the majority in the Congress of the United States….Here in Pennsylvania, we’ve got five competitive congressional seats…including the most competitive in the entire commonwealth right here in Bucks County with Bob Harvie.”
In addition to Harvie, Shapiro has also endorsed Democrats Eileen Hartnett Albillar (SD-6), Chris Thomas (SD-24), Brian Wrightson (SD-40), Mark Pinsley (SD-16) in their respective races next week.
In a recent ad, Republican Pennsylvania Sen. Frank Farry, who is running against Hartnett Albillar, the Bucks County Clerk of Courts, appeared to “cozy up” to Shapiro in an effort to align himself with the Democratic governor and mislead voters.
Shapiro does not support Farry’s bid for re-election.
“I want to state very, very, very clearly. Despite their cynical efforts to try and hug me, I ain’t hugging him back,” Shapiro said in a press statement.
Farry has been linked through news outlets and campaign finance reports to Pennsylvania billionaire Jeffrey Yass and his conservative PACS; while Fitzpatrick’s campaign funding has been linked to donations from data center developers and interests as well as Trump’s super PAC MAGA Inc.
Shapiro has stated “despite Republican incumbents’ ongoing attempts to tie themselves to the governor they have opposed at every step,” that he does not endorse nor does he support their re-election bids.
“The governor has had a front row seat to Senate Republican failures over the last four years,” said Pennsylvania state Sen. Vincent Hughes, chair of the Senate Democratic Campaign Committee.
Hughes said Shapiro had proposed a budget that funds communities while Republicans “slash it and pass it late. He advocates for a minimum wage increase; the House passes it; the Senate lets it die in committee. [Shapiro] enacts the toughest data center regulations possible from the executive branch and the Senate Republicans won’t support them. He uncovers horrific child sex abuse and the Republicans block a window to justice.”
Hughes continued, “Republican control of the Senate has gone on long enough – 30 years too long – in fact, the contenders that the governor is supporting with this ad campaign actually want to do the work of legislating.”
