(The Center Square) – Republican U.S. Rep. Brian Fitzpatrick, who represents Pennsylvania’s first congressional district, said he wouldn’t stay a member of the Grand Old Party if the state’s closed primaries ever opened up.
Rather, the fifth-term congressman would register as an independent – a revelation that appears to reflect his praise for two of the commonwealth’s most high-profile Democrats: Gov. Josh Shapiro and U.S. Sen. John Fetterman.
That’s what he recently told Punchbowl News when asked about both lawmakers’ future electoral prospects.
After calling Shapiro a “good man” and “a friend,” Fitzpatrick said he thinks he will win a second term in November.
“I think he’s done a really, really good job for Pennsylvania,” he told the news outlet.
When prompted about Shapiro’s rumored presidential bid in 2028, Fitzpatrick thinks he should run, saying, “why not?”
“I think anybody that wants to run, should run,” he continued. “I think Josh is very, very smart.”
Fitzpatrick said that he has a “really good relationship” with Shapiro, adding that he thinks “every party’s got their unique politics, and I hope that that doesn’t stop him from doing what he wants to do.”
Fitzpatrick, who has represented the congressional seat in the Philadelphia suburbs since 2017, stopped short of endorsing Shapiro, who will likely face Republican State Treasurer Stacy Garrity in the general election.
She’s got the respect of Fitzpatrick, too, who praised her leadership for “strengthening the financial foundation of our communities” in 2025.
Garrity, who is the only Republican candidate to file for the governor’s race, is being backed in her bid by President Donald Trump, U.S. Sen. Dave McCormick, R-Pa., and the Pennsylvania Republican Party. Several of Fitzpatrick’s colleagues representing battleground districts in the U.S. House, including U.S. Reps. Rob Bresnahan, Ryan Mackenzie, and Scott Perry, are also supporting her campaign.
The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, known as the DCCC for short, has pressed Fitzpatrick on multiple occasions throughout the 2026 cycle to see who he supports in the race for governor.
“We don’t need to wonder where Brian Fitzpatrick’s allegiance lies because he’s repeatedly shown us that he’ll side with Trump and his MAGA donors,” DCCC Spokesperson Eli Cousin said on April 3. “But since Fitzpatrick won’t hold a public town hall, reporters might as well ask him to confirm that he opposes Pennsylvania’s uber-popular Democratic governor.”
Even so, it wouldn’t be the first time Fitzpatrick stayed neutral. In 2022, he was the only Republican member of the state’s congressional delegation to not support GOP state Sen. Doug Mastriano in his bid for governor.
Shapiro cruised to victory in 2022 after defeating Mastriano by double digits, while Fitzpatrick won his bid for reelection by nearly 10 points over Democrat Ashley Ehasz.
National ratings outlets view Shapiro and Fitzpatrick as favorites in their respective races. The Cook Political Report describes the race for governor as “solid Democrat,” and Fitzpatrick’s race in the 1st District as “likely Republican.” However, Inside Elections, a different national ratings outlet, believes Fitzpatrick’s race could be tighter and said it is “Lean Republican.”
The last time Fitzpatrick was on the ballot, in 2024, he defeated Ehasz again by double digits, while Vice President Kamala Harris narrowly carried these boundaries over President Donald Trump.
He is also the only Republican in Pennsylvania, and just one of three nationwide, to represent a district Harris won over Trump in 2024. Throughout his terms representing the moderate Bucks County district, Fitzpatrick has opposed a number of Trump’s positions, including the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, expansion of COVID-era Affordable Care Act subsidies, and criticizing the president for his public feud with Pope Leo XIV.
Fitzpatrick told Philadelphia Magazine earlier this year that he didn’t vote for Trump in 2016 and 2024. Instead, he wrote-in Mike Pence in 2016 for president and Nikki Haley in 2024.
However, Fitzpatrick told WBCB-AM that he voted for Trump in 2020, and in the hours before the general election, Levittown Now reported that “Fitzpatrick received a robocall phone endorsement from Trump through the Bucks County Republican Committee.”
In November, Trump announced a list of endorsements of Republican incumbents in Pennsylvania, but did not include Fitzpatrick. Despite carrying the Keystone State’s 19 electoral votes in 2024, recent polling has shown Trump’s approval rating is underwater in Pennsylvania and Republicans have been struggling to win in suburban regions.
Neither Trump nor Shapiro has formally delivered an endorsement for Pennsylvania’s 1st Congressional District, although that may change in the near future.
The Philadelphia Inquirer reports that Shapiro is expected to endorse Bucks County Commissioner Bob Harvie, a Democrat, in the race over Fitzpatrick. Harvie and Lucia Simonelli, a scientist, are the two Democrats vying for their party’s nomination to challenge Fitzpatrick. Harvie is viewed as the frontrunner for his party’s nomination.
Despite representing a purple district in the U.S. House, Fitzpatrick has won by nearly double digits in every election except 2018, the first Trump midterm election. He defeated Democrat Scott Wallace by just under 3 points in that race.
But Shapiro was not the only Democrat that Fitzpatrick complimented during that interview with Punchbowl News.
He also called U.S. Sen. John Fetterman, D-Pa., a “good, effective senator,” adding that he doesn’t care if he belongs to a different party.
Fetterman has faced increased criticism from Democrats during Trump’s second term for his votes backing several cabinet secretaries and positions on foreign policy and immigration.
Fitzpatrick, who co-chairs the bipartisan Problem Solvers Caucus in the U.S. House, described closed primary elections, which Pennsylvania has as “the biggest atrocity.”
“You want a direct linear correlation to the dysfunction that occurs in state capitals and the U.S. Capitol, trace it back to closed primaries,” Fitzpatrick said. “You could be a 98-year-old World War Two veteran who stormed the beaches of Normandy, saved civilization, and you register Independent in the land of independence, of which we’re celebrating 250 years of, and in half the states in this country, you’re told you cannot vote in one out of every two elections.”
“That is insane. And that’s the law,” he added. “We got to fix that.”
Fitzpatrick said that he “100%” would register as an Independent if Pennsylvania was an open-primary state.
