Bucks and blue: Bob Harvie beats Brian Fitzpatrick to flip PA-1 blue

In the most closely watched congressional race in the most closely watched state in this midterm cycle, the tilt between Republican incumbent U.S. Rep. Brian Fitzpatrick and Democratic challenger Bob Harvie came down to the wire. 

With 91% of the vote in, Harvie held an insurmountable 49.1% to 44.3% lead over Fitzpatrick. Harvie tallied 180,036 votes to Fitzpatrick’s 162,454 – a difference of 17,582 votes.

The campaign between Fitzpatrick, seeking a sixth term representing the district, which includes all of Bucks County and a section of Montgomery County, and Harvie, a Bucks County commissioner and former social studies teacher, was a dead heat according to most polls, and was moved from “Lean R” to “Toss Up” in the last Cook Political Report rating before the Nov. 3 election. (The online prediction market wasn’t quite as circumspect: Kalshi had Harvie as the odds-on favorite in the lead-up to polls closing.)

Like campaigns across the country, the key themes in PA-1 revolved around affordability, healthcare, the economy and President Donald Trump – who, despite not being on the ballot, has turned the midterms into a referendum on his second presidency. That focus on a president weighed down by record-low popularity; an ongoing, immensely unpopular war; and record-high gas and diesel prices has made the race perhaps the most difficult yet for Fitzpatrick, who is one a vanishingly small number of Republicans who won their races in districts that went for Kamala Harris in the 2024 presidential election.

With all of those factors in play, the mood at the Harvie campaign’s watch party, held at Rafter’s, an event space in Newtown, was cautiously optimistic at first, turning more boisterous with each Democratic win announced by Bucks County Democratic Committee Chair and state Sen. Steve Santarsiero, who got the crowd’s attention each time by ringing a bell.

Among the roughly 200 people in attendance was Diane Hudson Harris, a Yardley resident fresh from working the polls. For her, choosing Harvie came down to one word: honesty.

“He’s honest, and he’s a really good person,” she said, adding that Harvie’s two-plus decades as a teacher was also a plus for her and a good contrast with Fitzpatrick, whom she claimed “does nothing. He flip-flops. He’s a Trumper.” 

Harvie’s education background and Trump were top of mind for Nadav Kaufman as well. 

“I really like the fact that he’s got a history as a history teacher. I think politicians today are making many mistakes that could have been better informed by understanding our history,” the Solebury-based marketing executive said. 

Kaufman, who said he thought highly of Fitzpatrick when he met him during the congressman’s first campaign, explained he has been “really disappointed by the direction he’s taken and how closely he’s supported Donald Trump’s policies.” He added that among his concerns with reelecting Fitzpatrick were the economy, the Iran War and, he summarized, “frankly, stopping Donald Trump and the insanity in Washington that’s happening right now. We need a backstop. We need a balance in Washington. Congress right now has essentially been kowtowing to Trump’s wishes.”

The race, which was too close to call for much of the evening, was the last of the state’s four battleground congressional races to be called. As of publication, Fitzpatrick had not yet issued a concession.

Harvie, who took the stage just before midnight to ear-splitting cheers, acknowledged not just the long road to victory but the hard work to come beginning in January.

“This is a major, major victory for all of us,” he said. “Those of you from this county know that 250 years ago, America turned not far from where we stand right now (at Washington’s Crossing); we are turning it again. We are turning it away from the negative, from the ugly, from the heartless, from the ignorant, from those who would take us backward and who would divide us and make us fight each other. And instead, we are turning toward the America that we have always wanted to be and have been at brief times in our past … We have taken a major step to doing that tonight here in this district. We know there’s a lot of work to do to help each other out, help our neighbors, help our friends, and help rebuild this country. And so let’s get to work to do that now.”