DCCC targets Fitzpatrick's 'no' vote of impeachment in campaign ad
With his vote against impeachment, Congressman Brian Fitzpatrick has set off the campaign for his seat in this very purple pocket of Pennsylvania with the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee wasting no time using his vote against him.
The DCCC said Thursday Fitzpatrick, who won reelection in November, will be the subject of its first targeted ad of the 2022 election. The ad highlights Fitzpatrick’s no vote to the second impeachment of President Donald Trump on Wednesday.
The Middletown Republican, who represents the 1st Congressional District, favored censure over impeachment and did not break with his party on the vote despite strong words placing the Capitol riots squarely at the feet of Trump.
“President Trump incited a QAnon mob that attacked the U.S. Capitol and left 5 Americans dead, including a police officer who was murdered. And now, after promoting the very same conspiracy theories that incited this mob, Congressman Brian Fitzpatrick caved to President Trump, handing him yet another chance to incite violence against Americans he sees as the enemy, instead of supporting bipartisan articles of impeachment,” said DCCC spokeswoman Christine Bennett in a statement announcing the ad. “This is not only wrong and un-American, but it will cost Rep. Fitzpatrick his job in 2022.”
Fitzpatrick, however, was the only GOP member of the Pennsylvania Congressional delegation who said he would not challenge the certification of the election of Biden.
Bennett said the video ad is part of a national campaign that will run in a total of seven districts won by President-Elect Joe Biden that are currently represented by Republicans.
The DCCC has long look to flip what is now the 1st District.
More:Fitzpatrick votes against impeachment, favors censure of Trump
The day before the impeachment vote, Fitzpatrick submitted a resolution that would censure and condemn Trump for “trying to unlawfully overturn the 2020 presidential election and violating his oath of office on January 6, 2021.”
He described its purpose as two-fold: “Hold the president fully and unequivocally accountable for his actions and simultaneously calm and heal the fever-pitch tensions in our country.”
Fitzpatrick said he had bipartisan House and Senate support for his legislation, something he said the impeachment did not.
Ten Republicans joined Democrats in the House in voting for impeachment.
The censure described Trump as acting in a manner “grossly incompatible with self-governance and the rule of law,” and condemns and censures him for “unlawfully trying to overturn the 2020 presidential election.”
“The only overwhelmingly bipartisan and bicameral solution that both holds the President accountable for his outrageous conduct and also unifies our nation is censure language that mirrors and is identical to the Democrat’s impeachment resolution,” Fitzpatrick said in a statement Wednesday. “I introduced this very censure resolution the same day the article of impeachment was introduced. If we want to both hold the President accountable and unify our nation with a bipartisan voice, this censure resolution is the only path forward. Today’s action by the House is highly likely to result in a second acquittal of the President, which will just perpetuate and exacerbate the divide in our country.”
Fitzpatrick's office and Bennett were not immediately available for comment Thursday night.
Check back for more on this developing story.
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