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I’ve been busy un-sandwiching signs, keeping ABB news current, and various other political odds and ends the last few weeks. I didn’t think I would have the time or energy to write an editorial before the election, but after reading this story: GOP Rep. Brian Fitzpatrick tries to hold onto his Pennsylvania seat I felt the spirit (of an angry, angry man) take hold of me.

Here’s the quote that set me off. Every time I read it, I get a little more angry. I suggest you read it twice so you can read the rest of this with appropriate levels of anger yourself.

“If they’re angry at Pete Hegseth, take it out on Pete Hegseth. If they’re angry at Donald Trump or Joe Biden or Kamala Harris, take it out on them at the ballot box, but don’t take it out on people that are not them that have never espoused their views,” Fitzpatrick told CNN in a wide-ranging interview.

Brian Fitzpatrick wants Bucks County to vote for him and against everything his party is doing. Fine as a sentiment, but the trouble is that line “people that have never espoused their views” is hard to square with a record that keeps landing on both sides of the line. He was one of two Republicans to vote against the tax and spending package in July. He also voted for the earlier version in May, which was the vote that actually moved it forward. He got to the Iran war powers fight after the 60-day clock had already run out. He didn’t back the first push to force a vote on the Epstein files, only the second one. It’s a guy keeping one foot outside the tent so he can point at it later and scream at anyone who’s listening “I’m independent, dammit.” What a coward, what a spit in the face to voters. He thinks you’re a sucker.

Meanwhile the party he’s running away from is paying for his seat. MAGA Inc. put in $100,000. The Republican outside campaign arm dropped $4.9 million on ads this month, and Fitzpatrick spent $5 million of his own war chest between July and September. Harvie’s question in the story never really got an answer. If Brian Fitzpatrick is that independent, why does he keep taking the money? As for his claim of being the most reasonable Republican in the House, I can only say that title carries about as much weight as “sanest man in the asylum.”

The voters in the CNN piece seem to have already done that math. A Republican woodworker whose shop got hit by tariffs calls Washington a clown show. A retired Air Force member is furious about Hegseth and about the Joint Chiefs firing. A nurse registered as a Libertarian has voted for Fitzpatrick before and now wants Republicans out of office, full stop.

Nine days out, the story is money, math and that sickly sweet smell of desperation, with Democrats having spent more than $10 million on ads here since September, according to AdImpact. It’s hard to blame him if he’s sweating a little more this time.

Fitzpatrick is asking those voters to do something nobody has pulled off cleanly: punish the party at the top of the ticket and reward it one line down.

I have one answer to that very specific ask.

No.

Read the CNN report: https://www.cnn.com/2026/10/24/politics/pennsylvania-swing-seat-midterms