Listen to article \u2022\u00a00:00 min<\/p>\n
A nonpartisan election tracker shifted its ratings for three competitive U.S. House races in Pennsylvania toward Democrats<\/a> Friday morning, a sign of growing momentum for the party ahead of next month\u2019s make-or-break midterm elections. <\/p>\n The Cook Political Report changed its rating<\/a> in Bucks County<\/a>\u2019s 1st Congressional District race \u2014where Democratic County Commissioner Bob Harvie<\/a> is challenging<\/a> longtime GOP incumbent U.S. Rep. Brian Fitzpatrick<\/a> \u2014 to \u201clean\u201d Republican after it had been sitting at \u201clikely\u201d Republican for most of the cycle.<\/p>\n That means Fitzpatrick still remains favored to win reelection, but his chances are less sure than previously thought. Meanwhile, Democrats look poised to flip other seats in the state. <\/p>\n In its analysis, the Cook Political Report said while Fitzpatrick still has the \u201cchops\u201d to win \u2014 and outperform his party like he has consistently done before \u2014 the 1st District race \u201ccould be quite close.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cDemocrats, who have more offensive targets on the map than they can afford to spend in, have another reason to believe this race is worth their investment,\u201d according to the report. \u201cIf Harvie can pull off an upset this cycle, Democrats have a better shot at holding on to this seat in the long term than they do in other reach seats.\u201d<\/p>\n Fitzpatrick\u2019s campaign didn\u2019t immediately comment on the analysis. <\/p>\n The last time<\/a> a Democrat represented the Bucks County area was 2011. <\/p>\n The new ratings in the Pennsylvania contests were announced along with 15 other U.S. House races nationwide that Cook has shifted in Democrats\u2019 favor. <\/p>\n The Lehigh Valley\u2019s 7th District and the Harrisburg-area\u2019s 10th District have also moved from toss-up to \u201clean\u201d Democrat in Cook\u2019s rating. The 8th District in the Scranton area remains rated as a toss-up. <\/p>\n Democrats and Republicans<\/a> are battling for control of Congress throughout the country, but that competition has taken particular focus in Pennsylvania\u2019s four crucial swing districts as House Speaker Mike Johnson and House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries descend on the commonwealth<\/a>. <\/p>\n The biggest shift so far in these four races is the growing attention on Harvie\u2019s challenge against Fitzpatrick, the well-fundraised last remaining House Republican representing the swingiest district in the Philadelphia region<\/a>. <\/p>\n Jeffries will visit<\/a> Lower Bucks County this weekend to support Harvie along with Gov. Josh Shapiro<\/a>, marking the governor\u2019s second weekend in a row in the pivotal swing county<\/a>. Jeffries and Shapiro\u2019s visit comes days after Johnson also visited Bucks for a private meeting with Fitzpatrick. <\/p>\n Harvie is also seeing increased financial support from the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee. <\/p>\n In a statement, Harvie said that \u201cthe momentum behind our campaign is real and growing by the day,\u201d noting his intent to vote to end the Iran war and \u201cfight the corruption that is costing Pennsylvanians\u201d if he were to be elected. <\/p>\n National attention from both parties still remains on the 7th District race between Democrat Bob Brooks and GOP U.S. Rep. Ryan Mackenzie, who is considered one of the most vulnerable Republicans in the country this cycle.<\/p>\n Asked about the rating, Benny Stanislawski, a spokesperson for Brooks, said \u201cBob Brooks spent 20 years putting out fires in Bethlehem, so he knows the job isn\u2019t finished until the flames are fully put out.\u201d <\/p>\n Andres Weller, Mackenzie\u2019s campaign manager, said in a statement that \u201cThis race will be determined by voters, not political prognosticators\u201d and that voters in the Lehigh Valley and Poconos will not elect Brooks. <\/p>\n Johnson, the Louisiana Republican who has held the speakership since 2023, campaigned for Mackenzie in the 7th District this week and for U.S. Rep. Rob Bresnahan in the 8th as he fends off a challenge from Scranton Mayor Paige Cognetti. Johnson also campaigned in support of U.S. Rep. Scott Perry<\/a> in the 10th District in his rematch with Democratic challenger Janelle Stelson. <\/p>\n \u201cThis race is far from over \u2013 we will fight through November 3rd to send Scott Perry packing,\u201d said Alma Baker, Stelson\u2019s campaign manager, in a statement.<\/p>\n A spokesperson for Perry did not respond to a request for comment. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Listen to article \u2022\u00a00:00 min A nonpartisan election tracker shifted its ratings for three competitive U.S. House races…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":304001,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[14],"tags":[153,155,154,124971],"class_list":["post-304000","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-bethlehem","tag-bethlehem","tag-bethlehem-headlines","tag-bethlehem-news","tag-house-races-pennsylvania-democrats-cook-political-report"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/304000","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=304000"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/304000\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/304001"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=304000"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=304000"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=304000"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}