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National GOP efforts to save four vulnerable Pennsylvania Republicans<\/a> ramped up to a new level this week \u2014 with a key group redirecting $3.6 million to boost U.S. Rep. Brian Fitzpatrick<\/a> in Bucks County<\/a> and Elon Musk\u2019s super PAC<\/a> spending more than $1.4 million across three other GOP districts. <\/p>\n The influx of spending in four high-stakes races<\/a> in the state comes as Republicans face a worsening outlook in their goal to keep control of Congress after the midterm elections.<\/p>\n Multiple nonpartisan groups have moved their ratings of the GOP-held Pennsylvania districts<\/a> toward Democrats in recent days, including Fox News, which now considers Fitzpatrick\u2019s reelection contest a toss-up and other races leaning toward Democrats. <\/a><\/p>\n The launch of millions of dollars\u2019 worth of television ads to support Fitzpatrick on Tuesday was particularly striking. <\/p>\n The Congressional Leadership Fund, which is associated with House Speaker Mike Johnson (R., La.), did not previously have any scheduled ads in the race between the Bucks County Republican and Democratic challenger Bob Harvie<\/a>. <\/p>\n But with the party facing a tough national map, the organization abandoned efforts to defend Republican U.S. Rep. Tom Kean in New Jersey\u2019s 7th Congressional District and at least one other struggling incumbent, the New York Times reported Tuesday. <\/a>Those resources were disbursed to a series of other districts, including nearly $3.6 million to Fitzpatrick\u2019s, according to The Inquirer\u2019s review of the tracking site AdImpact.<\/p>\n The new GOP spending comes after national Democratic leaders, including would-be Speaker Hakeem Jeffries (D., N.Y.) and affiliated groups, stepped up their financial investments and attention<\/a> on the race.<\/p>\n \u201cFor two years, we\u2019ve built the resources and infrastructure that allow us to maneuver in a difficult environment,\u201d CLF president Chris Winkelman said in a statement. \u201cThese moves keep the pressure on the most vulnerable Democrats<\/a> and preserve a path to 218 seats.\u201d <\/p>\n Fitzpatrick, a moderate who has distanced himself from President Donald Trump<\/a>, is the last remaining Republican in Congress from the Philadelphia area and has withstood previous Democratic waves. <\/p>\n Musk\u2019s latest move<\/p>\n Musk\u2019s political organization has so far not come to Fitzpatrick\u2019s aid while making three other Pennsylvania Republicans among its top priorities in the House, according to filings with the Federal Election Commission as of Tuesday.<\/p>\n America PAC<\/a> has spent at least $460,000 in recent weeks in each of the state\u2019s other three swing districts, which are held by Republican U.S. Reps. Rob Bresnahan of Luzerne County; Ryan Mackenzie of Lehigh County; and Scott Perry<\/a> of York County. <\/p>\n That amount was slightly more than the PAC\u2019s spending in most other House races across the country that it has gotten involved in so far, according to the latest public filings.<\/p>\n The financial support \u2014 which has fueled ads and mailers that independently support the Republican lawmakers \u2014 also marks a different strategy for Musk in Pennsylvania compared with two years ago, when the world\u2019s richest person tried to incentivize Republican voter turnout with randomized $1 million gifts<\/a>. <\/p>\n In the 2024 election, he spent just $7,000 to directly benefit now-U.S. Sen. Dave McCormick<\/a>\u2019s campaign while at the same time spending about $290 million to help other Republicans, including President Donald Trump. In the current election cycle, he has increased his total political giving to $366 million, quietly becoming the largest known donor in the midterms, according to the New York Times<\/a>.<\/p>\n His group\u2019s ads this month have had mostly the same template for Democrats across the country \u2014 plugging Pennsylvania candidates like Bob Brooks, in the Lehigh Valley race, or Janelle Stelson, in the Harrisburg-based district, into generic messages that label them as far left.<\/p>\n \u201cThe Democrats say they\u2019re different. But no matter the face, they\u2019re the same socialist underneath. Don\u2019t get fooled,\u201d a voice-over reads in one 15-second digital ad in which nesting dolls are pulled apart to show U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders (Ind., Vt.), U.S. Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D., N.Y.), New York Mayor Zohran Mamdani, and then the Democratic candidate targeted.<\/p>\n Ad surge in Bucks County<\/p>\n National Republicans have broadly followed a similar strategy for months, even as the Democrats running in the competitive Pennsylvania districts and elsewhere do not describe themselves as socialist.<\/p>\n