Candidates are trading dueling debate challenges in a contentious congressional race in a key swing district in the Philadelphia suburbs.
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Democrat Bob Harvie is challenging Republican U.S. Rep. Brian Fitzpatrick to four debates, his campaign told The Inquirer.Fitzpatrick, after learning of Harvie’s challenge from The Inquirer, countered with 10 debates — but only if Harvie releases files related to an FBI investigation that Fitzpatrick and allies have routinely alleged focuses on the Democrat.
Harvie does not have files to release, said Dan McCormick, the candidate’s campaign manager. Harvie also has never been under investigation, lawyers for his campaign said. And he’s already filed a defamation lawsuit against a pro-Fitzpatrick super PAC for making the same claim.
“Bob would be happy to participate in 10 debates,” McCormick said. “Bob has no files to release and Brian Fitzpatrick knows it. If Fitzpatrick has proof as he says he does, he should put up or shut up.”
The back-and-forth emerged Monday when the Harvie campaign told The Inquirer that the two-term Bucks County commissioner would be challengingthefive-term GOP lawmaker to three debates in Bucks — one each in the lower, central, and upper parts of the county — and a fourth in the Montgomery County portion of the 1st Congressional District.
Harvie said that Fitzpatrick“refuses to answer questions here at home” and “has nothing to show for his nearly 10 years in Washington.”
The increasingly heated race is one of four marquee congressional contests in Pennsylvaniathat could decide which party controls the U.S. House in November.
“It’s time for Fitzpatrick to show up in Bucks and Montgomery County – not Manhattan or the Lavender Fields in France,” Harvie said, referring to the venues for Fitzpatrick’s wedding and engagement to Fox News senior White House correspondent Jacqui Heinrich. “I’ll be there whether or not he shows, because I will never forget who I am fighting for.”
Heather Roberts, a spokesperson for Fitzpatrick, said as soon as Harvie releases “his full FBI files,” the campaign will move forward with date and venue selections for 10 debates.
“If the Subject of an FBI Corruption investigation is asking to be provided a platform by the only FBI Agent in Congress, he sure as hell will be required to come clean with the public and release these documents in their entirety,” Roberts said. “If he has nothing to hide, this should be an easy decision for him.”
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Roberts also proposed a joint sit-down interview with Harvie and Fitzpatrick, conducted by The Inquirer, to discuss the allegations.
The Harvie campaign questioned how Fitzpatrick would know the content of the files.
Roberts said that Fitzpatrick, who served 15 years as an FBI agent and federal prosecutor, “is extremely familiar with this specific grand jury protocol and the documents that are generated.”
The debate drama is the most recent development in what has become an increasingly combative race, filled with personal jabs and legal filings related to controversial ads making allegations that Harvie is the subject of an FBI investigation.
Harvie, a former Falls Township supervisor, and other officials testified as witnesses to a grand jury in an FBI probe in 2022 into political donations and union contracts related to the Pennsbury School District. In 2020, the FBI interviewed several people connected to Falls Township and Pennsbury.
It’s been fouryears since voters have been able to see a general election debate in the 1st Congressional District. In 2024, Fitzpatrick did not debate Democratic challenger Ashley Ehasz, after doing so in 2022.
The Harvie campaign said it would be willing to work with the Fitzpatrick campaign on logistics and other event details, but the commissioner’s preference is a town hall-style debate so voters can hear from him directly.
The last time Fitzpatrick announced an in-person town hall was August 2017, according to Fitzpatrick’s government website.
Fitzpatrick has held tele-town halls, including one in June, for constituents, and frequently posts on social mediarecapping the meetings and events he attends in the community.
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