House - PA 1st - Christina Finello

Democrat challenging incumbent Republican Brian Fitzpatrick in Bucks County and part of Montgomery County

A 5th-generation Pennsylvanian, Christina grew up in a large Irish-Italian Catholic family in Bucks County. Her father worked two jobs until he got into a union, eventually serving as a local union representative. Her mother worked for a title company. Through it all, they found time to volunteer in their community, coaching soccer and being active in their church.

Christina worked her way through college, earning a joint law degree and Ph.D in clinical psychology from Villanova Law and Drexel University. She worked at a federal correctional facility in Missouri, interviewing and performing psychological evaluations on some of the most violent and hardened prisoners in the federal system. Instead of pursuing a career at a big corporate law firm or healthcare company after graduate school, she returned home to Pennsylvania, where she has spent the past 10 years improving government systems for care delivery as Deputy Director of the Bucks County Division of Housing and Human Services. She’s also worked with the Philadelphia Veterans Court, connecting the region’s veterans with high-quality services, including connecting veterans with combat-related injuries with trained service dogs. In addition, she served as the only Democrat on a 7-member elected borough council in Bucks County.

Her opponent is two-term Republican incumbent Brian Fitzpatrick, who has voted with Trump 85% of the time. He has a Planned Parenthood rating of 0%. He supported Trump’s tax cut that benefited corporations and the wealthiest Americans. Fitzpatrick co-chairs the Congressional Ukraine Caucus, and he refused to defend President Trump’s conduct toward Ukraine--the Philadelphia Inquirer wrote that Fitzpatrick needed “to step up on the impeachment vote” but he did not. He voted against a resolution authorizing public hearings in the impeachment inquiry, and voted against impeaching Trump. Fitzpatrick has been criticized as being a “fake moderate”. His campaign is heavily funded by Wall Street.

Christina is running for Congress because she’s determined to fight for solutions to the problems facing ordinary people in her district. When Joe Biden endorsed Christina, he said: “Christina Finello is a fighter. She’ll fight for her district because she knows the struggles families there are going through--she’s gone through many of them herself. We need more folks like her in Congress, and I’m proud to stand by her side.”

The race for the House in PA 1st is close, but Joe Biden is leading Trump there by 6%. It’s an excellent opportunity for Democrats to pick up a seat.