Brian Fitzpatrick holds massive fundraising lead in 1st District race for Congress

The challengers in the upcoming general election for Pennsylvania's First Congressional District seat — Democrat Ashley Ehasz and Green Party candidate Henry Conoly — are being lapped in fundraising by Republican incumbent Brian Fitzpatrick.

According to the Federal Election Commission, as of June 30, Fitzpatrick raised nearly $3.6 million, spent just over $2.6 million and had about $1.03 million on hand. Conversely, Ehasz raised $432,259.29, spent $285,287.25 and had $146,972.04 on hand.

ELEC had not received any reported data on the campaign finances of Conoly.

Of that sum, Fitzpatrick spent $2,527,458.17 on operating expenditures, which include day-to-day spending for items such as rent, overhead, administration, personnel, equipment, travel, advertising and fundraising.

Open Secrets.org, which tracks candidate ad spending, notes that Brian Fitzpatrick for Congress spent  $576,427 on online advertising through Facebook and Google. Open Secrets has no records of online ad buys from Ehasz' campaign.

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Fitzpatrick was first elected to represent the then-8th Congressional District, which has since been realigned as the First District, in 2016. In 2018, Fitzpatrick defeated Democrat Scott Wallace in the general election.

He is a consistent fundraiser and his lead in finances is not unexpected as he has name recognition, record and incumbency on his side, and the Cook Political Report says the district is leaning Republican this election cycle.

In 2018, the commission reports that Fitzpatrick raised nearly $3.5 million, and in the 2020 fundraising cycle which ended on Dec. 31 2020, Fitzpatrick raised $4.2 million.

Ehasz, a political newcomer and former Army pilot and graduate of the U.S. Military Academy at West Point, said donations to her campaign surged after the Supreme Court's decision in May to overturn Roe V. Wade, noting that 60% of July contributions come from first-time donors and 71% from Pennsylvanians, raising over $100,000 as of Friday July 29th.

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"In this critical moment, we can no longer afford to have anti-choice politicians like Brian Fitzpatrick stay in Congress, where he can wreak havoc on our constitutional rights.” Ezhasz said in a statement released from her campaign. "Fitzpatrick’s radical views against safe and legal abortions are a threat to all Americans’ right to family planning."

Ari Nepon, Ehasz' campaign finance director, hailed the fundraising, noting that Ehasz isn't depending on a "wealthy network and corporate Political Action Committees," and is instead relying on grassroots support from the district, and "those who are deeply affected" by seeing Roe v. Wade overturned.

"There is a clear outpouring of people that want to act now and make sure that anti-choice Republicans like Brian Fitzpatrick are voted out in November," Nepon said. "From a fundraising perspective, the odds started out against Ashley as a younger, first time candidate, and frankly as a woman. Now the campaign has already raised 50% of what we raised in the entire previous fundraising quarter.

"The outpouring of financial support and engagement has absolutely changed the narrative in PA-01, and we don’t see that support slowing down.”

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Fitzpatrick, in a meeting with this news organization's editorial board on Monday, acknowledged the majority of his fundraising comes from all across the country, and is helped by his heightened profile as co-chair of the bipartisan Problem Solvers Caucus.

"A lot of my financial support comes from people around the country who are kind of fed up with the two-party system and the hypocrisy of both parties," Fitzpatrick said. "There's a huge audience out there that's untapped, and a lot of (those individuals)have been very generous financially and they have donated to us.

"So if you see a lot of money from around the country, that's typically who it's coming from," Fitzpatrick added. "They are tired of single-party solutions, they're tired of the extremes on the left and the right just eviscerating each other and they appreciate people who are respectful in their tone, that view diversity of thought as a strength to be harnessed and not a weakness to be criticized; they appreciate it."

This article originally appeared on Bucks County Courier Times: Brian Fitzpatrick holds massive fundraising in 1st District race