Democrat Joins Field Challenging Fitzpatrick For Congress

IVYLAND, PA — Another Democrat has joined the growing field of challengers hoping to face off against Republican U.S. Rep. Brian Fitzpatrick in 2020.

Christina Finello, an Ivyland Borough council member and deputy director of the Bucks County Department of Housing and Human Services, announced her candidacy on Thursday.

On the Democratic side, she joins Pennsbury School Board member Debbie Wachspress and Bucks County prothonotary and former Lower Makefield Township supervisor Judi Reiss.

Fitzpatrick also is being challenged from the right in the Republican primary by financial planner Andrew Meehan.

Pennsylvania's 1st Congressional District covers all of Bucks County and part of Montgomery County.

"I’m running for Congress because our district deserves a leader who will stand up to powerful interests and fight to put families first again," Finello said in a news release. "Through my work improving access to care and my personal experience caring for my own family, I’ve seen firsthand how America’s health care system is slanted in favor of big insurance and drug companies, instead of people seeking the care they deserve."

She said she wants to go to Washington to lower the cost of insurance and prescription drugs, decrease the burden of student debt and provide retirement security for seniors. Fitzpatrick, she said, "isn't getting the job done."

"Instead of standing up for our families, he stands on the sidelines and hands the keys over to powerful interests like Wall Street banks, insurance and drug companies, and even President Trump," Finello said. "It’s time for a change, and time to elect someone who will fight for our district’s families in Congress, day in and day out."

Finello was born in Bristol and raised in Warminster. She graduated from Archbishop Wood High School and the University of Pennsylvania, then earned a joint law degree and Ph.D. in clinical psychology from Villanova Law and Drexel University.

After completing an extended internship at a federal correctional facility in Missouri, she returned to Pennsylvania and, for the past 10 years, has been working in the health and human services field — first with a nonprofit that worked alongside the Philadelphia Veterans Court, then with the Bucks County Department of Housing and Human Services, where she is deputy director.

She lives in Ivyland with her husband, Todd, and two daughters, Katie and Nora.

Fitzpatrick's seat in Congress has been closely eyed by national observers as an opportunity for Democrats to pick up a GOP-controlled seat.

A moderate Republican, Fitzpatrick defeated Democratic challenger Scott Wallace in November, 168,841 to 160,098.