Race to watch: What voters need to know about U.S. Rep. Brian Fitzpatrick and Democratic challenger Ashley Ehasz

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Local races in Philly’s suburbs will decide control of the Pennsylvania Legislature and determine the makeup of the 119th United States Congress.

Voters in Bucks County and parts of Montgomery County will cast their ballots for the U.S. representative for Pennsylvania’s 1st Congressional District.

Every member of the House of Representatives is elected to a two-year term. The number of representatives in each state is proportional to the state’s population. Legislators in the House introduce and vote on legislation, serve on committees, represent their districts and provide oversight to the executive branch, among other duties.

Incumbent Republican Rep. Brian Fitzpatrick was elected to Pennsylvania’s eighth congressional district in 2016. After the state’s congressional districts were redrawn in 2018, Fitzpatrick was reelected to represent what is now the first congressional district.

This year’s race is a rematch of 2022, when Fitzpatrick defeated Democratic challenger Ashley Ehasz by less than 10% of the vote.

Here’s what you need to know about both candidates ahead of Election Day. Fitzpatrick didn’t respond to interview requests.

Democrat Ashley Ehasz

Ehasz, 36, said her life so far represents “kind of an unlikely pathway to running for Congress.”

A native of Southeastern Pennsylvania, Ehasz was raised by a single mother whom she watched “struggle with the decision as to whether to put food on the table or pay rent.” They were often evicted and moved around a lot.

When Ehasz was 17, she got into West Point and joined the Army. It was her “pathway forward to stability and opportunity,” she said.

She became an attack helicopter pilot in the aviation branch, serving 13 years in the military. In that time, she was promoted to captain and deployed to both Kuwait and Iraq.

Ehasz said her experience as a veteran is what ultimately led her to seek public office — and why she believes she is qualified for the job.

“It was those years as a commander where I learned how to make a decision in a crisis, and we have been finding ourselves in a moment of crisis in our country,” Ehasz said. “We have seen an attack on our nation’s capital. We have seen continued attacks on women’s reproductive rights, and the current representative in Pennsylvania’s first, Brian Fitzpatrick, has failed every test of him to show courage in those moments.”

Despite losing to Fitzpatrick in the 2022 elections, Ehasz said she expects increased funding and urgency around abortion rights to tip the scales in her favor. She is focused on offering bipartisan solutions, she said, and has Republicans supporting her campaign.

Ehasz said passing the Women’s Health Protection Act and supporting other legislation to protect reproductive rights would be one of her top three priorities if elected, alongside protecting democracy and addressing affordability issues, including housing and child care.

She said Fitzpatrick “failed to hold Donald Trump accountable through two impeachment cycles” by voting against Trump’s impeachment in December 2019 and again in January 2021.

She also referenced Fitzpatrick’s vote against establishing a select committee to investigate Jan. 6. Months before, he had voted in favor of establishing a bipartisan, independent Jan. 6 commission to investigate the U.S. Capitol attack, but told Politico he voted against the commission the second time because he thought the more partisan structure would impact people’s “confidence” in the findings.

On reproductive rights, Fitzpatrick’s voting record in Congress “has let down every single woman, not only in this district, but across the country,” Ehasz said.

She highlighted his vote for a nationwide abortion ban in 2017, by supporting the Pain-Capable Unborn Child Protection Act, which intended to make abortions past 20 weeks illegal. That’s a month shorter than the current Pennsylvania limit, and what Roe v. Wade established as the “pre-viability” timeframe.

Fitzpatrick also voted against the Women’s Health Protection Act in both 2021 and 2022, a bill that would have bolstered protection of abortion and other reproductive rights at the federal level.

Ehasz also attacked her opponent on his accessibility to constituents, saying he “has not held a town hall here in years.”

“A lot of times when I have folks come out to talk to me, they’re like, ‘Well, you’re the only one we can talk to,’” she said. “Brian Fitzpatrick has not only deeply misled the voters of the district, he’s not even around for them to ask questions of and I find that despicable, quite frankly.”

Ehasz has been endorsed by Sens. Bob Casey and John Fetterman, Sierra Club, Moms Demand Action, Planned Parenthood Action Fund, the Democratic committees in both Bucks and Montgomery counties, unions including the Transport Workers AFL CIO Local 234 and the United Auto Workers, the National Organization for Women PAC and more.

Brian Fitzpatrick

Fitzpatrick, 50, is from Levittown and currently lives in Middletown Township. He graduated from Bishop Egan High School in Fairless Hills, and received his bachelor’s degree from LaSalle University. He later received a master’s of business administration and a law degree from Penn State University.

Before his entry into politics, Fitzpatrick worked as an FBI special agent and federal prosecutor for 14 years, “fighting political corruption and supporting global counterterrorism efforts,” according to his campaign website. He was embedded with the U.S. Special Forces as part of Operation Iraqi Freedom.

As a special agent, he directed the FBI’s campaign finance and election crimes enforcement program, and also served as national supervisor for the FBI’s public corruption unit.

In 2016, he ran to replace his brother, Michael Fitzpatrick, as the representative for what was then Pennsylvania’s eighth congressional district. He won by less than 34,000 votes over state Rep. Steve Santarsiero.

After the state’s congressional districts were redrawn, giving Democrats a slight edge, Fitzpatrick was reelected to represent the first congressional district in 2018, defeating Democratic challenger Scott Wallace by less than 3% of the vote.

In this year’s GOP primary, Fitzpatrick resoundingly defeated anti-abortion activist Mark Houck, aided by his self-described moderate policies as a Republican.

In an interview with City & State PA in 2023, Fitzpatrick explained his commitment to bipartisanship.

“Leadership is not driving single-party solutions. It’s not saying that one party has a monopoly on good ideas or good people,” he said in the interview. “It’s understanding that the overwhelming majority of people in our district and across America want government to function the same way their personal relationships do: You build bridges, you don’t drive wedges, and you find consensus in the center.”

On a number of occasions, Fitzpatrick has broken with party lines. In 2022, Fitzpatrick was the only Republican congressperson from Pennsylvania who did not endorse Republican gubernatorial candidate Doug Mastriano, an advocate for strict abortion bans. He has repeatedly distanced himself from former President Trump.

Fitzpatrick has supported gun control legislation, introduced a bipartisan bill that prohibits financial investments by members of Congress and introduced a climate preparedness bill to protect ocean health. In 2022, Fitzpatrick was one of 39 House Republicans who voted for legislation mandating federal recognition of same-sex marriages.

On abortion and reproductive rights, he has voted to protect contraception access. On July 15, 2022, Fitzpatrick voted against the Women’s Health Protection Act, which would codify Roe v. Wade into law, but on the same day, he was one of just three Republicans who voted in favor of the Ensuring Women’s Right to Reproductive Freedom Act, which affirmed the right for someone seeking an abortion to travel across state lines.

Fitzpatrick has said he supports Pennsylvania’s current law permitting abortion up to 24 weeks and in cases after that when the mother’s life and health are in danger.

Fitzpatrick did not respond to WHYY News’ interview requests, but in response to the closure of the Warminster Planned Parenthood location this June, his spokesperson told WHYY News in a statement that Fitpzatrick “has always and will continue to stand in support of Pennsylvania’s current law, which allows abortion to be legal through the first 24 weeks of pregnancy,” and “remains steadfast in his commitment to supporting women’s health, including access to contraception and IVF.”

According to Fitpatrick’s website, in his current term, he secured more than $18 million for the district, opened more than 8,000 constituent cases and introduced 65 bills.

In the 118th Congress, Fitzpatrick is on the Ways and Means Committee and the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence. He is the co-chair for the Problem Solvers Caucus, the Congressional Ukraine Caucus and the Bipartisan Mental Health and Substance Abuse Task Force.

In addition to being a licensed attorney, Fitzpatrick is also a certified public accountant and an emergency medical technician.

Fitzpatrick has been endorsed by the Pennsylvania AFL CIO, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, the Environmental Defense Fund, Everytown for Gun Safety, the Bucks County Fraternal Order of Police Lodge #53, the American Ukraine PAC and more.