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Finello Withdraws From Debate in PA1

There will be one less debate than previously expected between Rep. Brian Fitzpatrick (R-Bucks) and Democratic challenger Christina Finello, an Ivyland Borough Councilwoman, for the 1st Congressional District. 

According to local talk radio station WBCB, Finello cited scheduling issues in withdrawing from a WBCB 1490 debate with Fitzpatrick, although the specific date was agreed upon by the local radio station and the Fitzpatrick campaign from a date that the Finello campaign previously offered.

WBCB reports that both campaigns began coordinating with the staff in the second week of July to have an in-person debate at the local station’s studio. Finello’s campaign pushed for a debate in the last two weeks of October, while Fitzpatrick’s campaign wanted the debate to be held before Labor Day. Finello’s campaign balked at the Fitzpatrick proposal of having the debate in early September, arguing that voters would not be engaged Labor Day weekend. The Fitzpatrick campaign ultimately agreed upon September 21, which it and the station said was included on a list of dates proposed by the Finello campaign. 

However, WBCB reports that by the time Fitzpatrick’s campaign agreed upon this compromise date, Finello’s campaign had already scheduled other events, resulting in the withdrawal.

Fitzpatrick pounced on the news by shooting out a tweet criticizing Finello’s decision to withdrawal from this specific debate and also sending out a fundraising email claiming that Finello was “afraid to debate,” and “afraid to explain her extremist policies.”

“Well, this says it all,” a release from the Fitzpatrick campaign reads. “Christina Finello now claims that she does not have a single hour free anytime in the next two months to discuss the issues in front of the voters before they begin mail-in voting.  Even on the dates that she told us that she was available, they’ve magically disappeared. We will let the voters decide on whether they think she’s telling the truth.”

Finello’s campaign fired back in a statement pinning the blame on Fitzpatrick for scheduling conflicts. 

“We had just begun discussing scheduling for the WBCB debate and had not confirmed our participation,” said Ali Anderson, Finello campaign spokesperson. “We offered over 20 dates when Congress was not in session for this debate, including weekends. Unfortunately, the Fitzpatrick campaign indicated scheduling conflicts for all of those dates and showed no interest in finding a compromise.”

Finello’s campaign also decided to take a shot at Fitzpatrick by saying they are still looking forward to the two other debates the campaign has confirmed and the chance to hold the incumbent Republican “accountable for voting to give tax breaks to the rich and siding with Donald Trump.”

Two other debates, one at Lower Bucks County Community College, and the other sponsored by the League of Women Voters hosted by the Bucks County Chamber of Commerce, are slated to take place in October. 

Several ratings outlets currently have the race as Leans Republican

25 Responses

  1. Christina Finello is obviously following the lead of the Biden/Harris Campaign! She doesn’t want to debate because she knows Brian will clean her clock! Electing ANY Democrat to any office in this country is a vote for Socialism! The only “message” the Democrats have is “we want to Destroy America and the Middle Class”!
    Come on out and “Play” Christina! #MAGA2020!

  2. Debates should be on neutral ground and events can pop up if dates aren’t locked in – I get that and don’t fault her there. I do feel she needs to debate mid-September. That said, I don’t believe she can beat Fitzpatrick in November. Bucks County will go Biden/Fitzpatrick.

  3. John Cole, you need to follow the money when doing your reporting. Pat Deon is the owner of the WBCB station, and has given many many many 1000s of dollars in cash and in-kind donations to the Fitzpatrick brothers, starting in 2004 when he first started hosting these PA01 debates. The international standard for setting up a debate clearly states that the venue must not have a connection to the candidate, and so the Fitzpatricks have been in violation of that norm for many years.

    1. This is a hilarious double-standard. Here, let me fix it for you. Fitzpatrick does a debate every year with the Democratic League of Women voters who donate their money and time to elect Democrats. I don’t hear him crying. So go cry a river.

        1. Just kidding. My boy Fitzy will tie himself to Trump and ride that wave to victory

  4. Woman shouldn’t even have the right to vote, let alone run for office. Now go make me a sandwich and a cocktail!

  5. I remember when I ran against his brother Mike. I don’t believe a woman has been beaten like that since George Jones and Tammy Wynette called it quits.

    1. Can’t wait to see how much Georgy Soros and the rest of the Democrat Thugs bring into this race. Won’t matter though!Brian will beat Finello with no problem! #MAGA2020
      #DEFEATALLDEMOCRATS

  6. My buddy Doug “big pecker” Mastrianazio told me that PA schools and beer distributors are being shutdown by the Governor this week.

  7. When you are winning and riding the political wave of your life and are at the top of the wave you kind of don’t care if the person who fell off their surf board wants to argue with you about surfing. It’s obvious to anyone even remotely objective and not bitterly partisan that Trump is absolutely tanking in Bucks. This has been reported for years and has gotten entrenched with the national mishandling of covid. Here, at Utlimate Gulag Pittsburgh Real Gulag we are going Finello by 10 points starting off and it could increase. Fitzpatrick is politically sinking rapidly. When the political ball is rolling downhill there is not much you can do to push it back uphill.

    1. Lol. Only someone from Pittsburgh would write this. Trump is doing phenomenal in Lower Bucks and offsetting any losses he has in Central Bucks. As long as Krasner, Kenney, and rioters in the city remain, the D’s are in for one big hurtin.

      1. Right on because racism and fear mongering will always win the day in Lower Bucks

      2. This asshole is from wherever PoliticsPA publishes, which is why he can get away with name impersonations, while they block the original.

  8. Maybe she realized some low rent AM radio station with a listening audience of 3 wasn’t the best use of her time

    1. Not to mention doing a debate at a conservative talk radio out let owned by a FITZPATRICK DONOR isn’t exactly neutral ground.

      1. Do you work or is running Indivisible Bucks County a full time job? I think you’re secretly obsessed with the guy.

  9. So the voters who have requested mail-in ballots won’t be able to see them debate before receiving their ballot? This doesn’t seem right….

    1. Doesn’t matter because my boy Fitzy is gonna win it due to the Trump wave

  10. That seems like a fair conclusion, but it would not have let GOP-biased PoliticsPA blare a negative headline against the Dem.

  11. This kind of seems like a nothing-burger. Finello’s campaign offered dates, and by the time Fitzpatrick accepted, she’d given the date away. Now, they probably should have kept a hold on the schedule for the time they offered, but it sounds like an exaggeration to say she withdrew.

    1. Yes its what WBCBNews said, the station that is owned by PA GOP bigwig Pat Deon. Deon has given 10s of 1000s of dollars in campaign donations to both Mike and Brian Fitzpatrick since 2004– which is *coincidentally* the same year that Deon first hatched holding his phoney debates at his radio station.

    2. She didn’t give the date away…she isn’t doing anything in the first place. She’s utilizing Biden’s strategy.

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