When the House of Representatives earlier this month approved Donald Trump’s flagship tax and spending legislation, all but two Republican members of Congress voted for the “big, beautiful bill”.
One, Thomas Massie, who had long said he would vote against the package, was savaged by Trump, who called the contrarian Kentucky congressman “weak and ineffective” and threatened to back a primary challenge against him.
But the other, Pennsylvania’s Brian Fitzpatrick, had stayed relatively quiet, avoiding the limelight and any real blowback from Trump. His “no” vote surprised many on Capitol Hill — and in his congressional district in the leafy Philadelphia suburbs.
“The fact that he did vote against his party’s line really, really, really made me happy,” Patricia, a constituent in Doylestown, Pennsylvania, recalled as she visited the local farmers’ market.
Patricia, who declined to give her surname, works in a state school with children from low-income families. She had been so concerned about the bill’s plans to slash social services that she called Fitzpatrick’s office several times to register her disapproval. After the lawmaker voted against it, she called back.
“I just wanted to say thank you,” she said. “I know you’re getting flak, but you did the morally right thing.”
Fitzpatrick fled the House chamber shortly after his vote, and has not spoken publicly about the decision since.
In a brief statement published by his office — which did not respond to a an interview request — the congressman said he opposed Senate changes that increased cuts to Medicaid, which provides healthcare for low-income and disabled Americans.
“I believe in, and will always fight for, policies that are thoughtful, compassionate, and good for our community,” Fitzpatrick said. “It is this standard that will always guide my legislative decisions.”
Fitzpatrick, a 51-year-old former FBI agent who was first elected to Congress in 2016, has emerged as a rare example of a Republican rebel who has voted against the president without stoking Trump’s rage.
Political veterans say Fitzpatrick is able to walk the political tightrope in part because the White House and party leaders understand the congressman is uniquely suited to hold on to his swing seat in a tough political environment.
Fitzpatrick pitches himself as an “independent voice” for his district, which includes all of Bucks county and a sliver of Montgomery county in the affluent Philadelphia suburbs.
For the past six years, he has been ranked the most bipartisan member of Congress in an index compiled by the Lugar Center and Georgetown University’s McCourt School of Public Policy.
It is a reputation that has served him well at the ballot box, where he has fended off primary challengers from the right, and handily won re-election in one of the most electorally competitive districts in the country.
Fitzpatrick is now just one of three House Republicans who represents an area where more voters cast ballots for Kamala Harris than Trump last November.
“People in this area, they look at the name, not the letter after the name,” Ed Sheppard, communications chair for the Doylestown Republicans, explained at a bagel shop down the street from the farmers’ market.
Sheppard, 41, praised Fitzpatrick’s latest vote — and said he expected the congressman would face no political price for bucking the trend.
“I believe he made the vote that he felt was best for the district, and at the end of the day, that is what you want from the congressman,” Sheppard said. “The only people he upset are the people who are on the left and the right who are just always upset with him because he is Brian Fitzpatrick.”
Fitzpatrick’s critics point out he has not held an in-person town hall since 2017. Others argue he is out of touch, citing a recent People magazine article announcing his engagement to a Fox News reporter, including a professional photo shoot from the couple’s recent holiday in the south of France.
In an interview with CBS News earlier this year, the congressman defended advice from Republican party leaders to avoid in-person meetings, saying town halls were “turning out to be a circus” with “protesters . . . there to make a spectacle”.
“He has got this very moderate, bipartisan credit, which he champions every chance he gets, but . . . when it is critical, when it requires real, true spine and courage, we don’t see that behaviour,” said Laura Rose, a leader of Indivisible Bucks county, a local progressive group.
“We kind of see him flying under the radar, which to us is very frustrating as constituents . . . we don’t feel like he listens to us.”
Democratic party volunteers handing out leaflets at the farmer’s market in Doylestown felt the same.
“I have met with him in the past. He tells you what you want to hear, and he votes the opposite,” said Amy McGahran, 62, who described the congressman’s vote on the “big, beautiful bill” as “too little too late”.
Others were more complimentary.
“While I politically disagree with almost everything congressman Fitzpatrick stands for, I am grateful that he voted no,” said Liza, 40, who declined to give her surname. “In this political climate it takes courage to go against the party and to stand on the right side of history.”
Trump supporters at the market were also mixed.
“Is [Fitzpatrick] a Republican or is he a Democrat? We are trying to figure that out,” said Pat Ruscio, a 68-year-old insurance broker.
“I think he votes right in the middle and for selfish reasons, just to keep himself in office,” Ruscio added. “I wish he would kind of come over to our side, which is Republican.”
But Ruscio’s friend, Ralph Sansale, who was visiting from Pittsburgh, said Fitzpatrick was right to vote against the bill, which is estimated to add more than $3tn to the US debt over the long term.
“He should not have voted for it,” Sansale said. “That bill was big, fat and bloated.”
In a sign of how reluctant Republican leaders are to go after Fitzpatrick, Speaker of the House Mike Johnson complimented him after his rebellious vote, calling the congressman a “very good and trusted friend” who “just has convictions about certain provisions of the bill”.
Political operatives in Pennsylvania said Republican leaders would likely continue to leave Fitzpatrick alone, especially in the run-up to next year’s midterms, when the president’s party could struggle to hold on to its razor-thin majority in the House.
“Every Republican, whether you agree with them 100 per cent of the time or not, is necessary to keep that majority,” said Christian Nascimiento, chair of the Republican party in Montgomery county.
“That seat could easily flip,” said Charlie Dent, a former Republican congressman from the neighbouring Lehigh valley.
“And if Brian Fitzpatrick is not the nominee in that seat in 2026, then it will become a Democratic seat.”
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