| It’s a tough time to be Brian Fitzpatrick, Ryan Mackenzie, Rob Bresnahan, and Scott Perry. Each of them are in the fight for their political career and are struggling to defend their cost-spiking records.
Not only that, but PennLive reports that Pennsylvania’s four vulnerable congressmen all have their own self-inflicted wounds and electoral liabilities: “Perry is seen as an ultra-conservative in a changing district and Fitzpatrick has been chided for his cringe-inducing balancing act on major votes in the House, while Bresnahan has been battered by questions about his stock trading and Mackenzie for backing the Trump agenda.”
That’s a pretty tough rap sheet.
Read for yourself why Republicans are on their back foot and Democrats are on offense in Pennsylvania:
- With control of the U.S. House up for grabs in this year’s midterm elections, Pennsylvania once again finds itself on the national radar with four congressional district races that could tip the balance of power.
- The districts, including Rep. Scott Perry’s 10th Congressional District seat, are held by Republicans who are considered vulnerable by Democrats: Bucks County Rep. Brian Fitzpatrick in the 1st District; Lehigh Valley Rep. Ryan Mackenzie, a former state representative, in the 7th District, and Rep. Rob Bresnahan in northeast Pennsylvania’s 8th District.
- Democrats are optimistic about flipping the seats based on recent favorable election results across the country and President Donald Trump’s sagging poll numbers amid a sputtering economy, healthcare crisis and a deadly, and increasingly unpopular, immigration crackdown.
- “They’re all going to be razor-thin margins,” said Vince Galko, a Republican strategist with Mercury Public Affairs. “They’re all going to be dogfights.”
- Eli Cousin, a Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee spokesperson, said that “all four of Pennsylvania’s swing-seat Republican congressmen are uniquely vulnerable due to their own failures and self-inflicted wounds.”
- Perry is seen as an ultra-conservative in a changing district and Fitzpatrick has been chided for his cringe-inducing balancing act on major votes in the House, while Bresnahan has been battered by questions about his stock trading and Mackenzie for backing the Trump agenda.
- “What Bresnahan, Mackenzie, Fitzpatrick and Perry all have in common is the fact that they have overseen skyrocketing costs on everything from healthcare to groceries to electricity — and they will be held accountable for their records at the ballot box in November,” said Cousin.
- [Democrats] will have popular Gov. Josh Shapiro leading their ticket and Shapiro, now polling with around 60% approval, has vowed to do everything he can to help flip the four seats.
- As one Democratic operative put it, “It’s not possible to overstate how important it is to have Josh Shapiro on the top of the ticket for us.”
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