Fitzpatrick’s primary: A victory for moderate Republicans
Don’t overlook Congressman Brian Fitzpatrick’s easy win in last week’s primary election. This wasn’t just another incumbent coasting to victory. This wasn’t just a race between him and challenger Andy
Meehan.
It was a referendum on whether a moderate candidate still was viable in today’s hyperpolitical world.
Fitzpatrick is a
Republican who thinks for himself. He refuses to stand with President Donald Trump a lot of the time.
Meehan campaigned on being a Trump man. That wasn’t enough to win. It shouldn’t have been.
Fitzpatrick collected 63% of the vote, moving on to the November general election in Pennsylvania’s 1st congressional district representing all of Bucks County and part of Montgomery County. He will face Democrat Christina Finello.
We need to elect more free-thinkers like Fitzpatrick, who weighs issues on their merits and refuses to rely on his party’s playbook and a blind commitment to the president.
The same goes for Democrats when a Democrat is in the White House. And for politicians on both sides of the aisle in the Pennsylvania statehouse, too.
It’s tough being a moderate these days. A lot of them have bailed on Washington, including the Lehigh Valley’s former Republican Congressman, Charlie Dent. The moderates got fed up and packed up. But their reasonable voices are needed more than ever.
Fitzpatrick was voted the most bipartisan member of the House last year by the Lugar Center at Georgetown University.
He’s supported Trump’s wishes less often than all but two other Republican representatives, according to the website FiveThirtyEight, which tracks how frequently members of Congress vote with and against the president’s position on issues.
Fitzpatrick’s votes have aligned with Trump 64.7% of the time.
Dozens of Republicans have rates in the high 90s, with a handful having never voted against the president.
Fitzpatrick broke ranks with the Republicans and voted to end the partial government shutdown in 2019 over funding to build a border wall. He supports expanded background checks on gun purchases. He co-sponsored legislation to tax carbon emissions in an attempt to protect the environment from global warming.
He did not vote for Trump in 2016, instead casting a write-in vote for Mike Pence, the vice president. And he hasn’t committed to voting for him this time, either. He told The Philadelphia Inquirer last month he was undecided and wanted to hear the campaigning, like any other voter.
He voted for Trump’s tax cuts, and against impeaching the president.
And Fitzpatrick was among the lawmakers waiting to greet Trump when he landed at Lehigh Valley International Airport last month en route to visit medical supply distributor Owens & Minor Inc. in Upper Macungie.
Fitzpatrick is a former FBI agent. He was elected in 2016, succeeding his brother, Mike, to represent the 8th congressional district, which later was redrawn to become the 1st district.
He also cruised to victory in his first primary reelection bid in 2018, before skimming by Democratic challenger Scott Wallace in that year’s midterm election.
“Bipartisan” isn’t such an endearing label in Washington these days, but even Fitzpatrick’s party recognizes that’s one of his big selling points, particularly in a district that leans slightly Democratic and therefore contested.
In a statement last week about the primary results, the National Republican Congressional Committee said Fitzpatrick “has proven himself to be the bipartisan leader he promised Pennsylvania voters he would be.”
If the district tilted Republican and the party thought it could get someone blindly loyal to Trump elected, I suspect the committee wouldn’t be so interested in bipartisanship. But with the district nearly split, it has no choice.
That shows the value of drawing fair district boundaries. It encourages moderate candidates from both parties. If only there were more of them.
Discarded stimulus debit cards
I’m still hearing from people who cut up or discarded the prepaid Visa debit cards the government sent their stimulus payments on. Many are struggling to get new cards.
The only advice I can offer is to contact the card issuer, Money Network/Metabank, at 800-240-8100 (TTY: 800-241-9100) and report the card lost. The bank’s website also lists an email address, mpsquality@metabank.com.
Of the roughly three dozen people I’ve talked to, several have told me they haven’t been able to get through to anyone at that phone number. They said they repeatedly were prompted to enter their card number, which they don’t have since they threw it away.
But I’ve also heard from others who have reached the bank and resolved the problem. So keep trying. This column was updated to reflect that Fitzpatrick tallied 63% of the vote after mail-in ballots were counted.