Strouse campaign responds to report labeling Rep. Fitzpatrick’s seat ‘safe’

     The Rothenberg Political Report last week labeled U.S. Rep Mike Fitzpatrick's seat 'safe' from challenger Kevin Strouse (right). (NewsWorks, file art)

    The Rothenberg Political Report last week labeled U.S. Rep Mike Fitzpatrick's seat 'safe' from challenger Kevin Strouse (right). (NewsWorks, file art)

    On Friday, the Rothenberg Political Report reported its assessment that incumbent U.S. Rep. Mike Fitzpatrick (R-Bucks County) held such an advantage over Democratic challenger Kevin Strause that Pennsylvania’s 8th Congressional district was more than “Republican Favored” in November.

    Its new designation: “Currently Safe.”

    Per PoliticsPA, Rothenberg’s Nathan L. Gonzalez maintained that “this race just hasn’t materialized for Democrats in this competitive, suburban Philadelphia district.”

    That was news to Will Block, communications director for the Strouse campaign, though.

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    Block said nothing of note shifted within the race during the summer months. He said he didn’t know how Rothenberg’s change came about.

    “When Kevin is out knocking on doors, he hears again and again from Republicans and Democrats alike that they are tired of Mike Fitzpatrick and this dysfunctional Congress,” he told NewsWorks on Monday, noting that the Strouse campaign has “launched the most robust field/get out the vote operation that this district has ever seen.”

    He chalked it all up to people who are “stuck with an inside-the-beltway perspective.”

    Attempts to reach the campaign of Fitzpatrick, who held the seat from 2005-07 and since 2011, for comment were unsuccessful on Monday.

    The 8th Congressional District spans mostly Bucks County from Bristol to west of Quakertown.

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