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I had the pleasure of talking with Bob Harvie about his competitive election in Pennsylvania’s 1st Congressional District. I hope you'll take a moment to watch or read our conversation below. Thank you!
PA-01 includes all of Bucks County, right outside of Philadelphia. Kamala Harris WON this district narrowly, by less than a point. Cook Political Report has this race rated a D+1.
Bob was born and raised right in his home district, and his family has lived in the area for decades.
Bob grew up in a family that really emphasized public service – his parents, siblings, grandparents, aunts, and uncles made it a priority to identify an issue in their community and fix it, rather than waiting on others for action.
He also grew up with a “really nerdy love of history”. His words, not mine!!
“And so combining those two things, you know, my love of history, and my desire for community service, I decided in high school that I wanted to be a teacher.”
For 26 years, Bob served his community, educating high school students on the history of “where we are as a country, where we are as a planet, the good and the bad.”
For Bob, being an educator wasn't where he drew the line on service. He noticed some issues in the local government that he wasn’t happy with, so he decided to run for County Commissioner in 2019 – and won.
Reminds me of my own story: not really making a long plan to run for office, but knowing something isn’t right and that I could do something about it by running.
When he won the County Commissioner seat in 2019, it was the first time in 40 years Democrats had a majority in Bucks County, and when he was reelected in 2023, it was the first time since the Civil War that Democrats had been reelected!!
“We’re focusing on things like mental health care. We’re expanding training for law enforcement and public safety, starting a sustainability program, and doing a lot of things to modernize the way this county government works.”
Bob jumped into this race for Congress on April 3rd, 2025. He remarks that it was a difficult decision – this is a purple district, and will be one of the most competitive elections, and the most expensive, this November.
“I just got to the point where I felt that even though I was an elected official and I was doing a lot of stuff I was proud of, I wasn’t doing enough.
My love of history, my knowledge of history shows me that … this country’s in a very, very bad place, one of the lowest places we’ve been historically.”
He knows what is at stake. This district hasn’t elected a Democrat to Congress in 20 years. And Rep. Brian Fitzpatrick has supported an extreme policy agenda – his values are no longer representative of PA-01.
For those of you who are skeptical of that long drought of democratic congressional representation, let me remind you: I was the first woman, person of color, and millennial to be elected in IL-14 AND the first Democrat to EVER be re-elected.
Crazier things have happened, friends, and Bob is an incredible candidate who is building a strong coalition in these challenging times. He has what it takes to flip this seat!
Bob says, “I think it’s incredibly serious, and it’s a time where we have to win. We have to start getting our country back to the values it was founded on. And I felt like I had no choice. I had to run.”
He has been traveling all over the district since announcing his campaign, and one issue is top of mind for voters in Eastern PA:
Affordability.
Whether it’s rising gas and food costs or housing and health care. PA-01 is steadily losing population because folks simply cannot afford to live there.
Young folks are coming out of college or the military, and are unable to find affordable housing in suburban Philadelphia – forcing them to move out of the area.
“You know, my two grandfathers didn’t go to high school, but they worked hard, and they were able to raise their families.
They owned their own homes, could buy cars and go on vacations when they wanted to, and had toys under the trees at Christmas time.
Today, people just feel like the deck is stacked against them and they’re working as hard as they ever have, if not harder in terms of generation by generation, and they can’t get ahead.”
People are tired of not being able to move ahead, and the system being so unfair to regular working-class folks. It doesn’t have to be this way, especially when we see them taking from working people and giving tax breaks to billionaires and wealthy corporations.
So what is Bob planning to do to address this?
First, he wants to rebuild the trust folks have in government, and the trust people have in their communities and neighbors.
He wants to overturn Citizens United, which would reinstate restrictions on political spending by corporations and outside groups that are currently unlimited. It would get Big Money out of our politics and return it to the people.
Bob believes in banning stock trading, not only by Members of Congress, but also by members of the judiciary and the Executive Branch – the cabinet, and the President included.
He also wants to address partisan gerrymandering.
“You know, we’re seeing it in a hyper-focused way in places like Texas and other places where Republicans are so worried about people like me winning that they figure we’ve got to add some seats somewhere so that we can try to hold on to Congress.”
Bob understands all of the concerns of his community – and has made a plan to address them in Congress. He has held five town halls in his district since announcing his candidacy. That’s five more town halls than his Representative, Brian Fitzpatrick, has done in the TEN YEARS he’s been in Congress.
I can tell just from this conversation that Bob is very in tune with his district and the people he aims to represent. He has a clear priority list, obviously! And we need to power him to victory in November.
Here’s how you can help Bob before November 3rd:
Visit bobharvieforcongress.com [ [link removed] ] and sign up to knock doors, make phone calls, write postcards, etc.
Make a contribution to power his campaign>>> [ [link removed] ]
And stay tuned – we have a lot coming down the pipeline for everyone who cares about taking back the House majority in November.
Best,
Congresswoman Lauren Underwood
DCCC Red-to-Blue, Co-Chair
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