Best in Bucks
With a congressional district encompassing their entire county, Bucks residents are fortunate to speak with one voice in Washington. For a good part of the last decade, that voice has belonged to U.S. Rep. Mike Fitzpatrick (R., Pa.).
With a congressional district encompassing their entire county, Bucks residents are fortunate to speak with one voice in Washington. For a good part of the last decade, that voice has belonged to U.S. Rep. Mike Fitzpatrick (R., Pa.).
Throw in the fact that Fitzpatrick, 51, put in a decade on the County Commission in Doylestown, and it's not surprising that he's almost viewed as a fourth commissioner.
Beyond career and family roots, Fitzpatrick brings a deep understanding of county affairs to bear in representing his district, whose middle-of-the-road voters have dispatched him to Congress for one term and, after a hiatus, two more. A federal flood-relief project that Fitzpatrick championed addressed fears of hurricane damage that stretched back 15 years, to when he was a county official.
That experience, along with a willingness to buck his party's more extreme elements - as when fighting for stronger background checks for gun purchases or protesting last year's government shutdown - makes Fitzpatrick a tough competitor for any relative newcomer to the district.
That sums up the daunting challenge for Democratic candidate Kevin Strouse, 35, a former Army Ranger and CIA analyst who moved back to the region - and to Bucks County for the first time - last year. With more time in the area, Strouse should be able to dispel the notion that he arrived mostly to grab a political brass ring. No doubt he'll be even better versed in district issues, too.
This time around, Bucks voters should stick with MIKE FITZPATRICK.
