“I understand what you probably thought as soon as I came up here. Well, he’s much better looking on his posters and billboards than he is in real life.”
That was Bucks County Commissioner Bob Harvie addressing the crowd Saturday at Charles Boehm Middle School, where hundreds gathered for a Democratic rally focused on the upcoming Midterm election.
Harvie was referring to the billboards lining Bucks County roadways that, he said, falsely insinuate he is under FBI investigation. The Fitzpatrick campaign has faced criticism from Harvie and his supporters over what they characterize as misleading campaign messaging and attacks on his record.
Harvie was joined by prominent Democratic officials and candidates, including Pennsylvania Democratic Party Chair Eugene DePasquale, U.S. Rep. Madeleine Dean, House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries and Gov. Josh Shapiro. The speakers made their cases to voters, emphasizing affordability, health care, government accountability and the importance of the congressional and state Senate races.
“I am going to fight against the corruption that’s in Washington. We need to overturn Citizens United. We need to ban partisan gerrymandering in this country. We need to ban members of Congress – and the executive, and the judiciary – from trading stocks when they sit in those seats. We need to return this government to who it’s supposed to belong to, which is you,” said Harvie. “When I say I’m running for this seat, I think that offends Brian Fitzpatrick. It offends the Republicans because they think of it as his seat. They think it’s their seat. It is not their seat. This seat doesn’t belong to Brian Fitzpatrick. This seat doesn’t belong to the Republican Party. This seat doesn’t belong to me. This seat belongs to you.”
The event opened on a somber note. Retired veterans Sparky Morrison and Colin Unsworth asked the audience to observe a moment of silence for a Philadelphia police officer who had died from injuries sustained in the line of duty and for victims of a mass shooting in Erie.
A Republican-turned-Democrat explains her decision
The first speaker was Buckingham Township Supervisor Maggie Rash, a former Republican who previously supported Fitzpatrick.
Rash said her political affiliation changed after what she described as a shift in Fitzpatrick’s leadership and campaign tactics.
“A few months ago, I changed my party affiliation from Republican to Democrat,” Rash said. “And I want to talk about why I made that decision, why I’m supporting Bob Harvie for Congress, and why I believe we need a different kind of leadership in Washington.”
Rash said she had once viewed Fitzpatrick as an independent-minded representative who would work across party lines. Over time, however, she said, her view changed.
“The independent leadership I once believed in is no longer what I see,” she said.
Rash said she supports Harvie because of his record of public service and his commitment to mental health issues. She described how Harvie and fellow Bucks County Commissioner Diane Marseglia helped her family navigate mental health challenges.
“They saved my grandson’s life,” Rash said.
She said mental health services, access to support and compassionate treatment affect families throughout the community.
“These issues are more than campaign promises,” Rash said. “They deserve people who are willing to work, to listen to experts, and help families find real solutions.”
Rash said her decision to support Harvie came from a different political background than that of many people in the audience, but she believes voters share basic expectations for government.
“We want honest leadership. We want people who care about their communities. We want government to work,” she said.
She added that elected officials should remember their responsibility is to the people they represent, not to their political parties or personal ambitions.
DePasquale focuses on affordability and Harrisburg
Rash was followed by Eugene DePasquale, chair of the Pennsylvania Democratic Party, who opened with a series of questions about rising costs, health insurance and Republican policies.
The audience responded with frequent chants of “Fire Fitz!”
“Are you sick of high costs?” DePasquale asked. “Are you fed up with Republicans stripping more than 310,000 Pennsylvanians of their health insurance and jacking up premiums?”
He then asked the crowd whether they were ready to elect Harvie to Congress and give Democrats greater control in Harrisburg.
DePasquale accused Fitzpatrick of supporting President Donald Trump’s agenda and argued that Republicans were vulnerable because of public frustration over economic conditions and federal policy.
He also highlighted the Pennsylvania Senate race involving Democratic nominee Eileen Hartnett-Albillar, saying a Democratic majority in the state Senate would give Shapiro more opportunities to advance his agenda.
DePasquale cited priorities including raising Pennsylvania’s minimum wage, protecting reproductive rights, investing in public education and securing long-term funding for SEPTA.
During his remarks, he criticized Fitzpatrick for accepting campaign contributions from Trump allies and for bringing House Speaker Mike Johnson to Pennsylvania for a fundraiser.
DePasquale then introduced Hartnett-Albillar, who is running for the state Senate in District 6.
Hartnett-Albillar makes her case for state senate
Hartnett-Albillar told the audience that the election would determine whether Democrats could break the Republican majority in the Pennsylvania Senate.
“I love the ‘Fire Fitz’ signs. I want to fire Fitz and fire Frank Farry!” she said, referring to Fitzpatrick and Republican state Sen. Frank Farry.
Hartnett-Albillar said she has spent much of her career advocating for people who lack a voice in the political process. A career social worker, she said, she would bring that same approach to the state Senate.
“When I look at policy, when I look at a budget, the question I ask is, how is this going to impact the most vulnerable in our community?” she said.
She cited seniors on fixed incomes, working families and people who rely on public services as groups whose needs should be considered when lawmakers make policy decisions.
Her priorities include protecting reproductive health care, fully funding public schools, establishing paid family leave, raising wages and securing sustainable funding for SEPTA and mass transit.
Hartnett-Albillar said she believes a Democratic majority in the state Senate would help advance those goals.
“When we flip the state Senate, when we expand the Democratic House majority here in Pennsylvania, when we send Bob Harvie to Congress, and when we reelect Governor Shapiro, we are going to start on Day One making life more affordable and protecting our rights here in Pennsylvania for all working families,” she said.
Madeleine Dean warns of rising household costs
Hartnett-Albillar introduced U.S. Rep. Madeleine Dean, who represents Pennsylvania’s 4th Congressional District, including portions of Montgomery and Bucks counties.
Dean, who served as a House manager during Trump’s first impeachment, began by recalling her time in the Pennsylvania House of Representatives.
“I served in the Pennsylvania House for six and a half years. Always in the minority,” Dean said. “Eileen, it’s a lot more fun in the majority.”
Dean turned to the cost of heating homes, citing rising heating oil prices as an example of the financial pressure facing households.
She also said she had known Harvie for nearly a decade and recalled supporting him when he ran for Congress in 2018. Both are former teachers, she said, and share a commitment to public service.
Dean criticized the campaign attacks against Harvie, describing them as attempts to distort his character and distract voters from Fitzpatrick’s congressional record.
“I’ve spent 8 years working alongside Brian Fitzpatrick in Congress. He is no moderate. He is complicit in the grotesque chaos, corruption, and cruelty of this administration. It is time.” – U.S. Rep. Madeleine Dean
She argued that Fitzpatrick’s votes had supported policies that, in her view, benefited wealthy Americans while placing greater burdens on working families.
“I’ve spent 8 years working alongside Brian Fitzpatrick in Congress. He is no moderate,” said Dean. “He is complicit in the grotesque chaos, corruption, and cruelty of this administration. It is time.”
Dean specifically criticized his support for the Republican-backed budget legislation commonly referred to by its supporters as the “One Big Beautiful Bill,” arguing that it would increase the federal deficit while cutting health care and food assistance.
She also criticized the legislation’s tax provisions and said the consequences would be felt by families throughout Bucks and Montgomery counties.
“What do we do? People ask me this and they ask Hakeem and everybody else this. What are we going to do in the majority?” Dean asked. “We’re going to cut costs for Americans.”
She said House Democrats would work to make health care more affordable, address hunger and hold the Trump administration accountable.
Harvie emphasizes public service and economic fairness
As Harvie took the stage, the crowd responded with cheers and signs bearing the slogan “Fire Fitz.”
Harvie opened by thanking attendees for showing up on a Saturday evening, saying they shared his belief in community service and the responsibility to address problems rather than simply complain about them.
“This county is my home,” he said. “I was born and raised not too far away in Bristol Borough.”
Harvie described growing up in a blue-collar family. His mother worked as a school secretary in the Pennsbury School District, he said, and his father was an electrician at Rohm and Haas for 38 years. Harvie also recalled working summer landscaping jobs at Pennsbury schools, including the building where the rally was held.
He said his parents and grandparents taught him the value of hard work, personal responsibility and public service.
His grandparents, he said, were able to buy homes and support their families despite limited formal education. Harvie argued that the American dream had become harder to achieve for working people.
“We have an economy that does not work for most Americans and only works for the billionaires,” he said.
Harvie questioned whether voters were better off than they had been a decade earlier, pointing to the years Fitzpatrick had served in Congress and Trump’s time in national politics.
He said his campaign was about restoring economic opportunity and making government more responsive to ordinary Americans.
Campaign finance and government accountability
Harvie then outlined several proposals he said he would pursue if elected to Congress.
He called for overturning the Supreme Court’s Citizens United decision, which has shaped campaign finance law; banning partisan gerrymandering; and prohibiting members of Congress, the executive branch and the federal judiciary from trading individual stocks while serving in office.
He said government should answer to voters rather than political parties, wealthy donors or special interests.
“This seat doesn’t belong to Brian Fitzpatrick. This seat doesn’t belong to the Republican Party. This seat doesn’t belong to me,” Harvie said. “This seat belongs to you.”
He also called for rolling back tariffs, lowering health care costs and addressing the financial pressures facing families.
Harvie criticized Fitzpatrick’s record on health care and said he would support policies intended to make coverage more affordable.
He also addressed the war in Iran, promising that if elected, he would vote on his first day in office in January to end the conflict.
Harvie said the war had cost American lives and contributed to economic uncertainty, adding that the United States needed to reclaim its standing in the world.
“It is our responsibility to reclaim the promise of this country for ourselves and for young people and next generations,” he said. “This is a country built by dreamers 250 years ago. We have to keep dreaming and we have to keep fighting.”
Harvie responds to the billboards
Harvie returned to the billboards that have become a prominent feature of the congressional campaign.
“Understand what you’re looking at when you look at those billboards and posters. You’re looking at the influence of dark money,” he said.
Harvie claimed that outside spending against him had reached $1 million a month since May. He contrasted that figure with what he described as an average individual contribution of $67 to his own campaign.
He also categorically denied being the subject of an FBI investigation.
“I have never been the subject of an FBI investigation,” Harvie said.
He accused Fitzpatrick of defaming him and attempting to divert attention from his own congressional record. Among the issues Harvie raised were Fitzpatrick’s votes involving the release of the Jeffrey Epstein files, food assistance, health care tax credits, prescription drug prices, tariffs and the war in Iran.
Harvie said he would support prosecuting anyone responsible for crimes, regardless of political affiliation.
“Justice is justice,” he said.
He urged supporters to continue canvassing, writing postcards, donating, speaking with neighbors and posting campaign signs.
“They picked a fight with the wrong kid from Bristol,” Harvie said. “Because I’m a warrior. A Bristol warrior.”
He added that he could not win the race without continued support from volunteers and voters.
Jeffries puts national stakes in focus
Harvie then introduced House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries, whose appearance underscored the national party’s attention to the Pennsylvania 1st Congressional District race.
Jeffries urged the crowd to support Democratic candidates up and down the ballot, including Harvie and Shapiro.
“A vote for the current congressman is a vote for the status quo. It’s a vote for more of the same. But a vote for Bob Harvie is a vote for dramatic change,” said Jeffries. “It’s a vote to fight to make this country the best version of herself. It’s a vote to build an economy that works for everyday people here in Pennsylvania and all across the country. Bob Harvie would be a vote to fight to make health care affordable for every single American. And Bob Harvie, a vote for him is a vote to make Congress a check and balance on an out of control president.”
He described the election as a referendum on the Trump administration and the Republican-controlled Congress, arguing that voters had not seen the lower costs promised during the presidential campaign.
“Costs haven’t gone down, costs have gone up,” Jeffries said.
He criticized the administration’s involvement in the war in Iran and pointed to rising gasoline prices as evidence, in his view, that Republicans had failed to deliver on their economic promises.
Jeffries said Republicans had left voters with a series of broken promises and argued that the next election would give Americans an opportunity to hold them accountable.
“No, Mr. President, you don’t deserve an A+. Republicans don’t deserve an A+,” he said. “Fitz doesn’t deserve an A+. They all deserve a pink slip.”
Jeffries described Harvie’s candidacy as part of a broader effort to change the direction of Congress. He said Democrats would focus on lowering costs, protecting Social Security and Medicare, improving access to health care and strengthening the economy for working families.
He also called for reversing Medicaid cuts, banning stock trading by members of Congress and administration officials, addressing campaign finance rules and passing voting rights legislation.
Jeffries said Democrats would use congressional oversight powers to investigate alleged wrongdoing by administration officials and hold those responsible accountable.
“We work for all of you, the American people,” he said.
He urged supporters to spend the remaining days before the election contacting voters and turning out their neighbors.
Shapiro calls for a change in Washington
Jeffries introduced Shapiro, who focused on the role Democratic victories in Congress and the state Legislature could play in advancing his agenda in Pennsylvania.
Shapiro began by acknowledging the deaths of a Philadelphia police officer and victims of a mass shooting in Erie, saying the tragedies were a reminder of the importance of strengthening communities and looking out for neighbors.
He said the rally was about more than individual candidates.
“It’s not just to elect Bob Harvie,” Shapiro said. “It’s about doing good in our communities, our commonwealth, our country.”
Shapiro criticized the Trump administration over rising prices, tariffs and the war in Iran. He argued that tariffs ultimately increase costs for American consumers and businesses and said the war had created additional economic pressures for families and farmers.
He also criticized federal policies affecting health care, saying hundreds of thousands of Pennsylvanians faced the loss of coverage as a result of changes enacted by Congress and signed into law.
Shapiro said a Democratic majority in the U.S. House would work to reverse those cuts.
“I want a member of Congress like Bob Harvie who’s going to fight to cut costs in Pennsylvania,” said Governor Shapiro. “I want a member of Congress who’s going to stand up for our fundamental freedoms every single day. And I want a member of Congress who, after he takes the oath of office, his first vote is to make Hakeem Jeffries the next Speaker of the House of Representatives in Washington. Bob Harvie is going to do that, ladies and gentlemen. We need Bob Harvie in Congress.”
He then turned to what he described as the administration’s broader pattern of chaos, cruelty and corruption, including concerns about personal financial gain by Trump and members of his family.
When Shapiro asked the crowd what Trump might be doing behind the Oval Office desk, audience members shouted responses, including “Sleeping!”
“Yeah, he could be sleeping,” Shapiro replied.
The governor closed by encouraging attendees to remain engaged, volunteer and vote, arguing that the election would shape the direction of the state and country.
A crowd focused on the stakes
The rally brought together local officials, congressional leaders, statewide candidates and a crowd of supporters for a message centered on affordability, health care, public service and government accountability.
The speakers repeatedly connected the congressional race between Harvie and Fitzpatrick to the broader national debate over the economy and the Trump administration. They also emphasized the state Senate contest involving Hartnett-Albillar and the implications of legislative control for Shapiro’s policy agenda.
The large turnout on a fall Saturday suggested that the election had energized many voters in Bucks County.
For Harvie and his supporters, the challenge now is to turn that enthusiasm into votes.
