Ashley Ehasz and Brian Fitzpatrick are running for Pennsylvania’s 1st Congressional District seat (campaign/official photos)
Democrat Ashley Ehasz just posted her strongest fundraising quarter to date, outraising incumbent U.S. Rep. 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, while Fitzpatrick’s campaign raised just over $910,000 during the same time period.
This is the second cycle in a row that Ehasz is attempting to unseat Fitzpatrick. During her previous campaign, she never raised more than Fitzpatrick during a single quarter, often trailing significantly in each report.
And over the last three months, Ehasz has significantly outspent Fitzpatrick. Campaign finance records show that from the beginning of July to the end of September, her campaign spent $1.67 million, while his campaign spent $265,000.
However, Fitzpatrick has still raised more in the election cycle to date and entered the homestretch of the campaign with a substantial cash-on-hand advantage.
Fitzpatrick’s campaign has raised $6.04 million since the beginning of 2023, while Ehasz’s campaign has raised $3.4 million since announcing her current bid for office in April 2023. The combined $9.44 million raised in the race from both candidates for the district in the Philadelphia suburbs makes it the second highest among U.S. House races in Pennsylvania this election cycle, second only to the race for Pennsylvania’s 8th Congressional District.
Fitzpatrick’s campaign had $4.51 million on hand entering October, which is the most of any congressional candidate in Pennsylvania. Ehasz’s campaign started the month with just over $910,000 on hand.
Fitzpatrick’s cash on hand advantage is larger than his Democratic challengers at this point in the two previous cycles. In Oct. 2022, Fitzpatrick’s campaign started the month with $1.21 million on hand, while Ehasz had just over $175,000 on hand. At the beginning of October in 2020, Fitzpatrick had $1.38 million on hand, while Democratic challenger Christina Finello had $555,000 on hand.
The last time Fitzpatrick had less cash on hand than his challenger entering the final full month before the general election was 2018, when Democrat Scott Wallace, who largely self-funded his campaign, had $1.41 million on hand, while Fitzpatrick had $1.2 million on hand.
Unlike previous cycles, there is no scheduled debate between the candidates for the congressional district, although Ehasz’s campaign is looking for alternatives, according to Levittown Now. Ehasz is slated to participate in a forum on Tuesday evening hosted by the New Pennsylvania Project, a group that describes itself as “consistently engaging these communities, educating neighbors, colleagues, and friends about civil rights, fair 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 U.S. House delegation to represent a district that Joe Biden won in 2020. Fitzpatrick has not said who he is supporting for president in 2024, but voted for Trump in 2020 and wrote-in Mike Pence in 2016.
Bucks County, which makes up a vast majority of the 1st Congressional District, is viewed as one of the key battlegrounds in the state in 2024 and has seen visits from Trump, the Republican Party’s candidate for president, and Vice President Kamala Harris, the Democratic Party’s nominee.
On Oct. 16, Harris delivered a speech in Bucks County to supporters aimed at winning over disaffected Republicans, while Trump made an appearance at a McDonalds in Bucks County on Oct. 20.
The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee listed Fitzpatrick on its initial list of seats to flip this cycle, as it has in previous years.
However, multiple national ratings outlets, including the Cook Political Report, describe the race for the seat as “likely Republican.”