Brian Fitzpatrick has more cash on hand than any other swing district Republican incumbent in the country

U.S. Rep. Brian Fitzpatrick has more cash on hand than any other GOP incumbent in a swing district nationwide as the party prepares for a tough election.

The Bucks County lawmaker raised about $4.3 million in the most recent cycle, more than any other House candidate in the state and the 21st most of all the candidates running for the 435-member House in 2026. He ended 2024 with nearly $4.4 million when removing debt and had more than $7.3 million cash on hand as of Dec. 31. That haul makes him the best-funded of the 16 candidates on the National Republican Congressional Committee’s Patriots program, a group of vulnerable incumbents in key swing districts, according to Federal Election Commission data.

“Brian Fitzpatrick has years of electoral success under his belt and will continue to be unbeatable in Bucks County because Pennsylvanians know he’ll always put them first in Washington … this race was over before it began,” NRCC spokesperson Reilly Richardson said in a statement.

But Fitzpatrick’s district is one of four in Pennsylvania that could determine the control of the U.S. House and has long been coveted by Democrats because of its purple electorate. It is one of nine GOP-held districts in the country that former Vice President Kamala Harris won in 2024.

Bob Harvie, a Democrat who chairs the Bucks County commissioners, has emerged as the front-runner to face Fitzpatrick in the 2026 election.

Harvie, who would need to win the May primary to face Fitzpatrick, raised nearly $930,000 last year and has more than $400,000 cash on hand. He surpassed $1 million after getting $100,000 in the first few weeks of the year, according to his campaign.

“Based on the outpouring of support we are receiving, it’s clear voters agree and are fired up to be a part of this campaign,” Harvie said Wednesday in a news release about his fundraising.

Harvie made history flipping the Bucks County board six years ago, has strong name recognition in the district, and has the backing of national Democrats. But Fitzpatrick ended the year with nearly 20 times more cash on hand.

Fitzpatrick received more money from each of New York and Florida than from in-state donors in 2025, according to FEC data. Harvie received the vast majority of his money from Pennsylvania.

Fitzpatrick’s campaign did not respond to a request for comment.

Fitzpatrick has set himself apart as willing to vote against President Donald Trump without blocking the president’s flagship bills. He was the only Pennsylvania Republican to vote against Trump’s One Big Beautiful Bill Act on final passage, and Trump called him disloyal in response. But Fitzpatrick had cast a key vote that propelled an earlier version of the legislation forward.

He recently joined Democrats and two other swing-district Republicans in the state to vote to extend Affordable Care Act subsidies, which Republicans quashed. Fitzpatrick criticized House Speaker Mike Johnson (R., La.) and called some of his Republican colleagues “intellectually dishonest.” But Democrats have argued that Fitzpatrick has not been critical enough of the president, whom he often avoids naming when challenging his policies.

Fitzpatrick has consistently outperformed Trump in the suburban district. He won his most recent election by nearly 13 percentage points.

Jim Worthington, a GOP mega-donor in Pennsylvania and owner of the Newtown Athletic Club, said that Fitzpatrick’s approach makes him “the perfect representative for a purple county.”

“Everybody that’s moderate and people that are independents, they love him because he votes to what best represents his constituents, and by the way, sometimes he takes some votes that make me cringe a little bit, but I understand why he does it,” Worthington said.

But Democrats are still trying to tie Fitzpatrick to the president, whose popularity is falling, according to Pew Research Center and other pollsters.

Fitzpatrick “is no maverick and no John McCain — he is a doormat for Trump’s worst instincts and a greenlight for D.C. Republicans’ dangerous agenda that is hurting our community,” Harvie said Wednesday in a statement to The Inquirer.

“Pennsylvanians deserve a Congressman who will stand up to Trump and actually do something to lower prices — but Fitzpatrick is weak and caves to his own party when it matters most,” said Eli Cousin, a spokesperson for the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, in a statement.

Democrats, including Harvie, will also be trying to build on their successes from the November 2025 elections, when Democrats flipped two key row offices in Bucks — district attorney and sheriff — and saw wins on local school boards.

But the nonpartisan Cook Political Report expects Fitzpatrick to be in a safer position than his swing-district colleagues, rating his district as “likely” Republican, while U.S. Rep. Rob Bresnahan’s Northeastern Pennsylvania seat is rated “lean” Republican. Republican U.S. Reps Scott Perry of York County and Ryan Mackenzie of Lehigh County are each in districts rated as a “toss up.”

Harvie has less cash on hand than the other Democratic front-runners in the state’s swing districts.

Janelle Stelson, a second-time challenger to Perry, ended 2025 with about $1.5 million cash on hand. Scranton Mayor Paige Cognetti, who is challenging Bresnahan, ended the year with a little more than $800,000 cash on hand. Former federal prosecutor Ryan Croswell, Mackenzie’s Democratic challenger with the most cash, has $612,000 for the Lehigh Valley race.

Harvie’s campaign is confident that he can cash in on name recognition, having won two countywide commissioner races in the last seven years that could help raise his profile among voters in the 1st Congressional District, which includes all of Bucks County and a sliver of Montgomery County.

Provided he wins the primary, Harvie would be the first Democratic challenger to Fitzpatrick’s seat who has held countywide elected office.

But will that help Harvie’s chances?

“The starting point that Bob Harvie has with his name ID as a commissioner is just a much better starting point,” said Brittany Crampsie, a Democratic consultant in Pennsylvania, noting that he would not need to spend as much money introducing himself to voters in an expensive Philadelphia-area media market.

“He has a lot of advantages going into this race, not the least of which is his name ID, but he would be probably the most formidable matchup we’ve seen against Fitzpatrick in his tenure,” she added.

“Maybe,” GOP consultant Christopher Nicholas said as to whether Harvie has valuable name recognition, adding that “among hardcore Democrats his name ID is decent because they’re hardcore Democrats.”

“But if you stood out on the streets of Tullytown or Riegelsville or Dublin and said, ‘Who are your county commissioners?’,” residents may be unfamiliar, Nicholas said.

As of October 2025, 43% of respondents to an internal Harvie campaign survey conducted by Public Policy Polling could identify Harvie, with 26% giving him a favorable rating and 17% an unfavorable. That poll had the commissioner and Fitzpatrick tied at 41%.