Publius Pax: Fitzpatrick is a (frustrating) firewall
I’m not going to sugarcoat it: Congressman Brian Fitzpatrick’s vote against the “Big Beautiful Bill” was a gut punch to conservatives in Pennsylvania’s 1st District. For months, we watched as the Trump Administration and the House and Senate leadership crafted a landmark piece of legislation designed to finally get America back on track. While far from perfect (as any supersized bill is bound to be), it’s clear it did make good on several Trump campaign promises and party tent poles: permanent tax cuts, billions in border security and deportation funding, and at least an acknowledgement of the need to rein in the out-of-control welfare state by instituting work requirements for able-bodied adults.
This was the chance to slash taxes, get tough on the border, and restore fiscal sanity. Yet, when the time came for a final, decisive vote, two Republican congressmen (the other being the ever-confusing Thomas Massie of Kentucky) voted no. While the measure passed and was signed into law, Fitzpatrick’s “nay” is still a bitter pill to swallow, especially to the activist Right and MAGA voters, but not all that surprising. To tweak a phrase from Cardinals head coach Dennis Green, “He is who we thought he was.”
Fitzpatrick cited concerns over the national debt and cuts to Medicaid. While fiscal prudence is a noble conservative principle, one has to question the timing and the target; and the Medicaid point reeks of buying the liberal misinformation on a hot topic. The fact is, the bill represented the most significant effort in a generation to reduce the burden on working families and secure the homeland. To walk away from that victory is, to put it mildly, deeply frustrating – especially after voting for the original House version – and had the bill not passed because of this vote, it would be a different story.
But before we let frustration boil over into a primary challenge that would all but guarantee a Democrat’s victory, we must look at the cold, hard reality of our district and consider the alternative: a man named Bob Harvie.
Harvie, the current chair of the Bucks County Commissioners and the likely Democratic challenger might be painting himself as a Blue Dog Democrat of a bygone era but is – in word and deed – on the far left wing of the Democratic Party. As commissioner, he has governed like a member of an activist class that views our suburban communities not as places to be protected, but as petri dishes for radical social and environmental experiments like we see in Philadelphia or New York City. He can’t even bring himself to agree that illegal immigrants who have committed crimes in Bucks County and already engaged with law enforcement should be deported.
The choice, therefore, is not between a perfect conservative and Brian Fitzpatrick. The choice is between a Republican who can win through disappointing us on occasion and a rubber stamp for the most radical, left-wing elements in Washington. The choice is between a congressman who we can push to the right and a Democrat who would gleefully push our community off a progressive cliff to the left as Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Chuck Schumer, and Hakeem Jeffries cheer on.
Fitzpatrick isn’t rebellious for rebellion’s sake. The reality is he holds a seat that, by the numbers, should belong to a Democrat. He is a frustrating – but needed – firewall. His centrism and eye toward the political realities on the ground is the very thing that keeps the progressives from capturing this critical seat and in turn flipping the balance of power in D.C. It’s a daily tightrope few can comprehend and even fewer could walk.
The proof is in the pudding. Despite vitriol online and grumbling at Independence Day barbecues, there is no unified opposition candidate or galvanizing conservative figure waiting in the wings. And, ultimately, that’s a good thing because a vote for a hardline conservative in a primary might feel good for a moment, but it would hand the general election to Harvie and his radical agenda. That would be a catastrophic, self-inflicted wound for Bucks and Montgomery County Republicans.
Should we continue to hold Fitzpatrick’s feet to the fire? Yes. Should we be sure he knows that commonsense conservative policies are winners in Bucks County (and beyond)? Without a doubt. But we should also recognize the political reality: Brian Fitzpatrick and self-styled moderates like him are the cornerstone of a House majority and the only thing standing between us and an end to the Trump agenda in Congress. The alternative is not an option.
Publius Pax is a tenth-generation Bucks Countian, political consultant and author.
