After ousting foes in primaries, Trump threatens Philly-area Republican Brian Fitzpatrick

Fresh off ousting a string of lawmakers who have defied him, President Donald Trump threatened U.S. Rep. Brian Fitzpatrick (R., Bucks) without saying his name when asked a question by Fitzpatrick’s fiancée, Fox News correspondent Jacqui Heinrich.

“Her husband votes against me all the time. Can you imagine? I don’t know what’s with him. You better ask what’s with him,” Trump said to reporters ahead of a trip to Connecticut to deliver the commencement address at the U.S. Coast Guard Academy.

“She’s married to a certain congressman. He likes voting against Trump,” Trump added. “You know what happens with that? It doesn’t work out well.”

While Trump claimed they were married, a spokesperson for Fox News confirmed that the pair are still engaged.

Fitzpatrick, a moderate Republican serving his fifth term in Congress, has voted against Trump several times. Last week, he was just one of three Republicans in the House to support a failed effort to end the war in Iran by requiring Trump to seek Congressional approval.

“Brian has said repeatedly that he does not report to any person or any party in Washington, DC,” said campaign spokesperson Heather Roberts in a statement to The Inquirer. “He reports to his bosses in Bucks and Montgomery Counties. Brian is a true independent, and he will continue to vote independent, no matter what the political cost.”

Trump also went after Fitzpatrick last year after voting against the president’s signature domestic policy package, the so-called “big, beautiful bill.” Fitzpatrick was just one of two House Republicans to oppose the sweeping domestic spending and tax policy package on final passage — along with U.S. Rep. Thomas Massie, the Kentucky Republican who lost his primary Tuesday to a Trump-backed challenger.

(Fitzpatrick, however, did cast a key vote to advance an earlier version of the bill forward).

“I did him a big personal favor. As big as you can get having to do with death and life,” Trump said during a 2025 speech in Pittsburgh, not specifying what the favor was. “Sure as hell he voted against us… So much for favors.”

The president was referring to his first administration granting a waiver to enable the lawmaker’s brother, the late U.S. Rep. Mike Fitzpatrick, to receive a burial in a new veterans’ cemetery in Bucks County despite not meeting the years of service required.

Fitzpatrick wasn’t endorsed by Trump, but for the first time he didn’t face a Republican challenger in Tuesday’s primary. He’ll face Bucks County Commissioner Bob Harvie in November’s general election. It’s one of four seats in Pennsylvania that national Democrats are targeting.

Harvie has made a point of tying Fitzpatrick to Trump despite the president’s broadsides.

The Bucks County lawmaker has routinely garnered the support of both Democratic and GOP voters. However, some Republicans in Bucks County have been put-off by Fitzpatrick’s willingness to cross party lines, including his willingness to reform U.S. Customs and Immigration Enforcement.

Thomas Schmidt, a 60-year-old retired Verizon worker and registered Republican, said at a polling location in Levittown Tuesday that he never votes for Fitzpatrick. He always leaves that race blank on his ballot. In his eyes, Fitzpatrick is a complete RINO, referring to the phrase “Republican In Name Only.”

“He votes with the Democrats way too much. He doesn’t support ICE,” Schmidt said.

In addition to ousting Massie in Kentucky, Trump played a key role in defeating U.S. Sen. Bill Cassidy, a Louisiana Republican who voted for his conviction at his second impeachment trial last week, and in costing Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger the nomination for governor after he withstood pressure to reverse the 2020 presidential election results.

Staff Writer Dana Munro contributed to this article.