The Republican Fitzpatrick family has held power in Pennsylvania’s first Congressional district for 16 years. Mike Fitzpatrick won the election in 2010 and then in 2016 his brother, Brian Fitzpatrick, took over. But after Fitzpatrick was the deciding vote in passing the “Big Beautiful Bill” in the House, Pennsylvanian Democrats are saying, enough is enough!
That’s why Bob Harvie, Bucks County Commissioner in Pennsylvania, is stepping into the race. He joins Jen to explain why he’s running for Congress and how Congress is too worried about their own seats to do their actual jobs. The two discuss the need to regulate data center construction plans and the connection between Harvie’s background as a teacher and his call to public service.
To learn more about Harvie’s campaign, click here.
Bob Harvie was elected to the Board of Bucks County Commissioners in November 2019, and was sworn into office on January 6, 2020. He was named chair of the board on January 5, 2022. Harvie was re-elected to a second term in November 2023 and sworn into office on January 2, 2024. During reorganization of the Board, he was named Vice Chair and named Chair again during the reorganization on January 6, 2025. Now, Harvie is running for Congress in Pennsylvania’s first district.
The following transcript has been edited for formatting purposes.
Jen Rubin
Hi, this is Jen Rubin, Editor-in-Chief of The Contrarian. As you know, Democrats only need a handful of seats to flip the House of Representatives. One of their best opportunities is in the Pennsylvania First, which is currently a seat held by Republican Brian Fitzpatrick. I am delighted to have with me Bob Harvie, who is a Democrat running to unseat Mr. Patrick Fitzpatrick. Welcome, Bob, nice to see you.
Bob Harvie
Nice seeing you, thank you for having me.
Jen Rubin
Absolutely. Bucks County is traditionally a bellwether state, really the epitome of, kind of purple America. But Brian Fitzpatrick seems to have voted with Donald Trump an awful lot of the time.
Bob Harvie
Well, yeah, that’s true. That is very true. Certainly, he talks a very different game at home than what he does when he’s down to Washington, that’s for sure. He voted in favor of Trump’s budget bill when it came out of the House. In fact, he was the deciding vote to move it to the Senate. He voted, again, multiple times against extending the ACA tax credits. He voted in favor of the SAVE Act. He voted to give Trump more power power over tariffs, Venezuela, Iran.
So, you know, when he is needed to cast a vote for Donald Trump, you know, he’s there. His supposed moderate or independent reputation is really pretty phony. You know, he’s certainly no John McCain. Basically, he votes the other way when his party needs him.
Jen Rubin
Very, very true. There’s a recent poll out that shows that, you’re really completely within the margin of error, and more importantly, that his popularity is underwater. How optimistic are you that, if you reach the general election, you’ll be able to beat him?
Bob Harvie
Well, I have a lot of confidence, and that comes really from my background, you know, this district is all of Bucks County in a small part of neighboring Montgomery County. I am a county commissioner now, I have been for the past 6 years. I’ve won 2 elections. My election in 19 flipped this county for the first time in 40 years.
My re-election in 2023 with my running mate was the first time since the Civil War that Democratic commissioners have been re-elected in this county. And so, it’s a county I was born and raised in. I taught high school here in public schools for 20 years, so I was a local elected official before being a county commissioner. So, people in this county know me. They, you know, they’ve obviously voted for me twice. And so I’m looking forward to this campaign and winning the seat in November.
Jen Rubin
I found that members of Congress who have held local office tend to be very practical and want to get things done. How frustrated are your potential constituents, over the complete dysfunction in Congress? They went on vacation, and DHS still hasn’t been funded. They can’t seem to get any kind of progress on affordability or other issues that matter to Americans.
Bob Harvie
No, that’s exactly right. That is really the core of the issue, is when it comes down to it, you know, I think about what James Carville said back in 1992, talking about the campaign with Clinton, it’s the economy, stupid. And I think Carville was off by one word. I think it’s always the economy, stupid. And so, for people here in this district who are struggling to pay rent, struggling with food bills, with their health insurance, they don’t know what’s going to happen, you know, with, with, you know, trouble finding housing, or seniors who want to downsize and can’t find a place to go.
Gas prices obviously being over $4 a gallon, you know. These are real problems that hit people every single day, day after day, and have for a long time. This is a system that’s really rigged against people, and you have a Congress that is too busy pointing fingers, and congressional leadership that does anything but lead. And Brian Fitzpatrick is certainly part of that problem. He’s been here 10 years, and I ask people, is your life better now than it was 10 years ago? Is America better now than it was 10 years ago? And the answer’s no.
Jen Rubin
In the current Congress, they seem to have the idea that they work for Donald Trump, that whatever he wants to do is fine with them. They don’t want to intervene in the war, they don’t want to intervene in tariffs. What do you think, is the proper role for Congress, as the legislative body, and how would you go about, kind of, reclaiming that power that Republicans seemingly gave away to Donald Trump?
Bob Harvie
Well, you have to start, you know, really by starting with the Constitution. I mean, the, you know, the Constitution gives Congress the power of oversight, gives power of the purse. to Congress. We see, you know, when it comes to ICE and DHS in general, you know, agencies just running amok with no oversight, no supervision, no clear mission, and no guardrails.
And we see a president who’s doing this as well when it comes to tariffs, when it comes to what’s happening in Iran, what’s happening in Venezuela, what’s happening with this, you know, back and forth with arguing with our allies in NATO and you know, picking fights with countries like Canada, giving away tens of billions of dollars to farmers in Argentina when we’ve got farmers here in this district who are hurting. You know, Congress actually just needs to do their job. And, you know, I think too many people in Congress, the leadership, obviously, especially, are too worried about losing their jobs, because they don’t want to cross Donald Trump, and they’re not doing their jobs. And the people of this country and this district are paying for it.
Jen Rubin
Absolutely. You noted that you have farmers in your district. It’s been a tough time for rural America between cuts to Medicaid that are impacting rural hospitals, or the tariffs. What are farmers telling you about their current economic situation?
Bob Harvie
It’s a real struggle. I mean, look, farming, let’s be honest, farming has always been difficult. You know, it’s one of the hardest jobs that people have, and I look at every farmer as a small business owner. Because it’s really what it is. You know, they are raising their families, they are at the whims of international forces they don’t control, national forces they don’t control, weather they obviously don’t control. And yet we all rely on them every single day.
It’s interesting, one of the complaints I hear the most about farmers is the trouble they have finding workers because of Trump’s policies, they have real difficulty finding people to work on their farms, to, you know, do all the work that needs to be done to feed America. And so that, along with the tariffs, impacting their ability to sell things overseas and, you know, gas prices being higher, which means they’re gonna have to pay more to, you know, run their tractors and all their equipment. And, you know, obviously the food’s gonna be more expensive when it goes out to the grocery store, because we transport everything by truck. So, all of those things are really hammering them.
Jen Rubin
Absolutely. You see that data centers, which were looked upon as a great hope for lots of jobs, have encountered a lot of pushback among ordinary Americans concerned about the water, concerned about the energy cost, concerned about the entire environmental impact. What’s your view of these data centers, and what do you think is the proper amount of regulation or rules that would make these a positive, not a negative, for people in your district?
Bob Harvie
Yeah, I really appreciate the leadership. Josh Shapiro, our governor, has shown on this. He’s put forward in his budget address a few months ago his view for how data centers should be operating in Pennsylvania. I know there’s a bill that just passed the State House, I think it’s going to the State Senate now, that’s talking about doing this as well. It is obviously a newer industry, newish, especially in this area. AI in general, and data centers, and as with a lot of things, going back through history, I have to put my history teacher hat on again, it’s tough to keep it off—a lot of these new industries move faster than the legislation that we need to put the guardrails up. We absolutely should be making sure that any data centers that are built are responsible for the energy and paying for the energy that they use, that those costs are not being passed on, to, you know, other consumers and residential or commercial consumers who are in the area.
We absolutely have to make sure that our water resources are protected. You know, there is a very large data center being built literally just a few miles from my house here in Bucks County. And, so, you know, I have obviously that interest, but even, you know, if it wasn’t, you know, so close to me, it would be something as an elected official, that I’d be concerned about. Talked with that, the entities building that, and make sure that you know, those ratepayers are protected, making sure that the water resources are protected, and also making sure the jobs that are created are jobs that are helping people in this district.
A lot of these data centers, they come in and they advertise they’re gonna, you know, attract a lot of jobs, but a lot of the construction jobs are given to companies from outside the area. So you start seeing a lot of foreign license plates coming in, you know, that mean that somebody’s getting work, but not the people in your district. And so, you know, those are the kinds of things we’re fighting to make sure are done to protect and serve the residents here.
Jen Rubin
Absolutely. Donald Trump, unilaterally, without a declaration from Congress, without really any debate or explanation, the American people, started a war in Iran. He now is saying that maybe we’ll leave before the Strait of Hormuz is open, maybe we don’t care if there is, enriched uranium that will remain in Iran. What’s your view of this, and what should Congress have done to intervene in this sort of debacle?
Bob Harvie
Well, look, this is a situation entirely of Donald Trump’s making. There was a plan in place, you know, President Obama got a deal in place to keep Iran on a path that would lead it away. from being a threat when it comes to nuclear weapons, and Donald Trump tore that up. And so, it shouldn’t really be a surprise that Iran wants to go and, you know, do different things, because why would they trust us anymore? And why would any country trust us, especially when you’ve got this president who’s so clearly uninterested in anything regarding diplomacy, or facts, or planning. And now he’s putting American lives at risk.
You know, there are, you know, 13 families in this country whose worst nightmares have come true, because their sons and daughters, their husbands and wives are not coming home. And that is entirely Donald Trump’s making. But yes, you’re right, that Congress clearly has a role to play here if they choose to, you know, grow a spine and take that leadership on. And Brian Fitzpatrick, of course, is just… like the rest of the Republicans in Congress just letting Donald Trump do whatever he wants, because again, they’re too scared of losing their jobs, to actually do their jobs.
Jen Rubin
Absolutely. You’ve been in government for a while now, and many people know you, but for those who don’t, what do you think is important for them to understand about how you govern, about what your attitude is towards public service?
Bob Harvie
Well, you know, I think back, I never thought about, you know. going into government so much, I wanted to be a teacher, you know, coming out of high school. That was my goal. You know, that was it. But being an educator really prepared me for this role in a lot of ways. It’s being able to communicate to people, explain, you know, things to people, and help understand, you know, what they’re thinking, and help them, you know, kind of understand what I’m thinking.
But, I also think back to every kid who came into my classroom, and I taught in a school. I taught at a couple different schools, some were wealthier, and the one I taught mostly in was very much a working class. technical high school, actually. So, I had kids who came into my classroom, some of them came from families that had some money, and some kids wore the same clothes every day, because that’s all they had. But every kid who came into my classroom, no matter who they were, their religion, their background, their orientation, they were entitled to my best as a teacher. I treat the constituents of this county the same way. I’ll treat the constituents of this district the same way.
I believe I can point to a record of being bipartisan, like an actual one, not like the phony one that Brian Fitzpatrick talks about. Over 95% of the votes that I’ve taken as a commissioner here in the past 6 years have been unanimous, which means it’s bipartisan, because we do have Republican representation on our board. And we’ve done major things, you know, historic investments in mental health care, historic investments in public safety, creating a sustainability program, you know, transparency that’s never existed in this county. And we’ve done all of this unanimously.
You know, just a couple weeks ago. we became the first county in Pennsylvania, and I think still the only, and maybe in the country, to pass a bipartisan resolution opposing the use of warehouses for ICE detention centers. I don’t know, however, how many other counties have done that in unanimous, bipartisan fashion. And that’s the record that I’m proudest of, is the fact that I’ll work with people who want to get things done and make life better for the American people and start, you know, fixing this system that’s clearly broken in so many ways. I don’t care what party they are. If they want to work and make lives better for Americans. I’ll work with them.
Jen Rubin
And let me ask, as we finish our time, about the issue you just raised, which is, immigration and these mass detention centers, even people who voted for Donald Trump, might not have expected, this, and these mass raids, huge detention centers, families being broken up, farmers not being able to get their workers. When you step back, other than stopping the bad stuff, what do you think long-term we need to have in terms of an immigration policy for this country?
Bob Harvie
We know, I know there was a bill that was introduced, or was, you know, written, was it, a year, you know, two years ago, I think it was, by Senator Lankford of Oklahoma, bipartisan. We have a system that’s broken. You know, the immigration system itself needs repair, and this is not new, we’ve known this for a very long time, we just haven’t had the people willing to make it work. But we had that a couple years ago. Bipartisan support for a bill that would have started to address the real serious issues that are affecting our system.
And yet it was Donald Trump. And the House Republicans, like Brian Fitzpatrick, who blocked that. And they blocked it not because they care about America, because they clearly don’t. They didn’t care about fixing the system. They didn’t care about keeping America safer. They cared about denying, you know, President Joe Biden some kind of feather in his cap. They didn’t… they wanted an issue to run on. They didn’t care if it made America less secure, as long as it helped them. And that’s the problem of too many people in Washington, is they’re focused on themselves and their jobs, and not focused on the people of this country, and the pain they’re going through, and their hopes and their dreams.
Jen Rubin
Absolutely. Bob, if people want to find out more about you, or more about the campaign, where do they go? Tell them what they can do to find you.
Bob Harvie
Bob Harvie for Congress. You can see my name is spelled a little differently, maybe, than, my grandfather used to say that we spelled our name right, everybody else spells it wrong. So, but yes, Bob Harvie for Congress is the website. They can learn more about me, and certainly, appreciate your time, you know, with the time you’ve given me here, and appreciate what you’re doing.
Jen Rubin
Absolutely. Well, friends, if the House is going to flip, this is one seat that absolutely must. So you’re looking at the man who at least the Philadelphia Choir said was the best position to beat. Brian Fitzpatrick, so we’ll see if, that comes to be. Thanks so much, Bob. We’ll look forward to talking to you as the campaign goes on.
Bob Harvie
Thank you, Jen. Take care.
