DCCC names Ashley Ehasz 'top-tier candidate' in congressional race against Brian Fitzpatrick
Pennsylvania’s 1st Congressional District is shaping up to be a nationally watched race as the official campaign arm of the Democratic Party announced Wednesday it was adding Ashley Ehasz a “top-tier candidate” against incumbent Republican Brian Fitzpatrick.
The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee (DCCC) added Ehasz to its list of “Red to Blue” candidates, a program that provides organizational and fundraising support to candidates in district's targetted for flipping a seat.
That support can come in the form of offering guidance and training to candidates, helping fill out staff and splitting the costs of polls. The backing of the DCCC could also draw in more direct contributions for Ehasz’s campaign.
“Being on the DCCC's Red to Blue program shows that the path to flipping the House, defending democracy, and protecting our reproductive freedom runs through Pennsylvania's First,” Ehasz said Wednesday. “In Congress, I'll fight for our freedom and our right to choose, just as I did in the Army.”
DCCC chair Rep. Suzan DelBene, of Washington's 1st Congressional District, said a victory in the Pennsylvania district would be pivotal in the ongoing fight to protect abortion access nationwide.
"At a time when anti-abortion extremists like Brian Fitpatrick are bending the knee to Donald Trump in pursuit of a national abortion ban, Pennsylvanians deserve a leader like Ashley who will codify Roe v. Wade and protect a women’s right to choose,” said DCCC Chair Rep. Suzan DelBene.”
Mike Marinella, a spokesman for the Republican National Congressional Committee, pushed back on DelBene's comments about Fitzpatrick.
“After years of brutal losses and a failed attempt to meddle in the Republican primary, national Democrats had no choice but to put up the same retread candidate who has no chance of beating Congressman Brian Fitzpatrick. Ehasz is a far left extremist whose values are wildly out of touch with Pennsylvanians, and that’s why she’s going to lose miserably again this November,” Marinella said.
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There are currently 20 Democratic House candidates listed on the DCCC’s Red to Blue website, which includes several candidates like Ehasz who are seeking a rematch after running and losing in 2022.
Ehasz, an Army veteran helicopter pilot from Bensalem, ran against Fitzpatrick, a former FBI agent currently in his fourth term in Congress, in 2022. Fitzpatrick won by about 35,762 votes that year.
Although the DCCC voiced some support for Ehasz early in her 2022 campaign, the focus of the party turned mostly to maintaining a House majority over flipping Red seats Blue as the year went on.
Ehasz saw a fundraising boost between January and April this year of about $672,647, outraising many Democrats in federal races across the country that quarter and a record-setting quarter for her own campaign.
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That fundraising boost and this being a presidential election year in a district that voted for President Joe Biden in 2020 seemed to help put Ehasz under the DCCC’s radar, according to the news release.
“Pennsylvania’s 1st Congressional District is one of the 16 seats held by a Republican that President Biden won in 2020,” the release states. “While Fitzpatrick had to spend over 100% of what he raised last quarter to get out of a messy Republican primary, Ashley is raising and preserving the resources needed to compete, bringing in nearly $700,000 during that same period.”
A source from the DCCC told this news organization that “this decision came down to the fact that (Ehasz) is running a professional campaign with robust grassroots engagement, strong fundraising, and a clear path to win."
Doylestown Democratic Committee Chair Connor O’Hanlon previously said the lack of national support was sorely missed in Ehasz’s 2022 campaign against an incumbent that many see as unbeatable.
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“By putting the Ehasz campaign into their list of priority races, the DCCC is clearly signaling that Ashley Ehasz is a serious contender in 2024,” O’Hanlon said.
“If you’re a supporter of Ashley Ehasz this is huge news but if you are someone who has been unsure if she can flip this seat, the priority of her campaign by DCCC means that the national Democratic Party believes this is a winnable seat.”
Chris Ullery is the Philadelphia Hub Data Reporter for the USA Today Network. Reach him at [email protected] or find him on Twitter at @ulleryatinell.
This article originally appeared on Bucks County Courier Times: DCCC focuses in on congressional race between Ehasz and Fitzpatrick