Congressional Race Enters Final Days

Volunteers are making phone calls and knocking doors as the candidates get out to meet voters in the final days before locals cast their vote in the Eighth District Congressional race.

On Thursday evening, both candidates – Democratic State Rep. Steve Santarsiero of Lower Makefield and Republican Brian Fitzpatrick of Middletown – were hard at work rallying supporters and trying to get voters to the polls to cast their ballots for them.

In the final days of the race, the two candidates said they will be working hard to earn voters support. 

Fitzpatrick, a Levittown native, threw his hat in the race early this year and displaced then Republican congressional candidate Scott Petri, who eventually dropped out. Fitzpatrick joined the race with experience as an FBI special agent, accountant, special prosecutor and attorney. The candidate has touted his experience throughout the election, especially his experience dealing with national security issues.

If Fitzpatrick is elected to serve the Eighth Congressional District in Washington D.C., he has stated he plans to work to put congressional term limits in place, abolish congressional pensions, produce balanced federal budgets, steady the rising cost of healthcare by allowing more competition, keep pressure on countries like Iran and North Korea and strengthen the war against terrorism.

Santarsiero, a northern New Jersey native who has lived in Bucks County for more than 20 years, had a year head start on Fitzpatrick in the local congressional race but faced a tough primary race. He came into the election with experience as a an attorney, a history teacher in Bensalem, Lower Makefield supervisor and state representative since 2009.

During the campaign, Santarsiero has come out as a advocate for gun control measures that close loopholes and stop those on the national terrorism watch list from possessing firearms. If elected, he wants to help support legislation to fight rising college costs for young people, expand public healthcare and overturn the Citizens United decision that involves campaign spending by outside groups.

While the two candidates have varying viewpoints on many different issues, they both are opposed to the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) and support investment to improve the nation’s infrastructure, which Fitzpatrick plans to pay for the work by growing the economy and Santarsiero plans to fund through bonds.

Both candidates told NewtownPANow.com late this week that they are working to earn every vote they can in advance of election day.

“I’ve never seen an effort like this,” Santarsiero said of the get out the vote program underway at the Democrat’s Bristol Borough office on Mill Street. “We’ve got a huge ground game.”

While Santarsiero admitted his campaign has been outspent by Fitzpatrick and Republican advocacy groups, he believes his message is getting out to the voters.

Fitzpatrick said his supporters are “energized” and working to get the message out through door knocking and phone calls.

The two campaigns have worked this election cycle to get their campaign messages out and one of the main ways were pricey TV ads. The ads produced by the Fitzpatrick and Santarsiero campaign were tame but outside groups placed ads that hit the candidates hard. Democratic groups worked hard to link Fitzpatrick to his retiring congressman brother and Republicans hit Santarsiero on his votes on township and state budgets during his public career.

While Santarsiero has publicly linked his opponent to Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump (who Fitzpatrick once planned to vote for and now has denounced), Fitzpatrick’s campaign has taken time to hit Santarsiero on recent votes he has missed while serving as a state representative and questioned him about his support for Democratic presidential Hillary Clinton in the wake of her email scandal reigniting.

“It’s pretty much a nonissue,” Santarsiero said when asked about Clinton’s trouble with using her personal email for government business. He said Clinton “made a mistake” that has already been probed.

Fitzpatrick denounced Trump last month following a tape featuring the New York businessman making sexually charged comments about women to a TV host, but previously said he would vote for him without endorsing him. The campaign has stated that while Santarsiero has worked to focus on Trump, Fitzpatrick has focused on local issues.

Santarsiero also responded to Republican’s pointing out that he has missed several key votes, including 50 percent of all roll call votes in the past two months in Harrisburg, by stating he has an excellent voting record. He also pointed to his efforts to help residents in his district with many issues.

Both candidates did say one of the top issues that they hear on the stump is about growing the economy and adding jobs.

“We need to be really proactive in the Eighth District and increase jobs and wages,” Santarsiero said.

The campaigns, according to documents and statements from local political office, has put spending on the congressional race at more than $12 million with millions being spent in the final days.

The two candidates will be working all the way through the time polls close on Tuesday to win votes in the highly competitive Eighth Congressional District.