More than 40 labor unions have lined up behind Republican U.S. Rep. Brian Fitzpatrick's reelection bid in Pennsylvania's 1st Congressional District through a mix of endorsements, recommendations and formal support statements. The rare cross-party backing cuts against Democrat Bob Harvie's pitch to union voters across Bucks County.

The Bucks County Central Labor Council and the Montgomery County Central Labor Council both announced their recommendation for Fitzpatrick, according to a press release reported by the Bucks County Courier Times on Sunday. The unions represent workers in construction, firefighting, health care and education.

The AFL-CIO gives Fitzpatrick a lifetime labor support score of 58%. That's still 15 percentage points below the lowest-scoring Democrat in the House, but it dwarfs the 9% average among House Republicans. The federation ranked Fitzpatrick as the most labor-supportive House Republican in 2025, according to the Courier Times.

"We have always in Pennsylvania had a mixed bag of endorsements," Angela Ferritto, president of the Pennsylvania AFL-CIO, told the Courier Times. "We really look at people's records and how they vote on the issues that we care about and that matter to us."

The Pennsylvania AFL-CIO endorsed only one Republican for U.S. House in 2024 across the state's 17 districts: Fitzpatrick. The chapter is scheduled to announce its 2026 endorsements on Wednesday.

The endorsements arrived days after the Pennsylvania State Education Association, the state's largest union and the representative of most teachers and school support staff in Bucks County, backed Fitzpatrick's campaign.

Harvie, a Bucks County commissioner and former teacher who describes himself as a card-carrying union member, pushed back in a statement to the Courier Times. He said Fitzpatrick has taken millions from corporate PACs and "votes the way they tell him to," adding that he plans to go to Washington to "fight for working families and the union membership who Brian has left behind."

Stephen Aldrich of the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers said in the press release that Fitzpatrick has "continually proven to be a friend of the labor movement and working families."

The labor support lands alongside a significant fundraising advantage for the incumbent. FEC filings show Fitzpatrick raised $1.03 million between April 30 and June 30, compared with $552,297 for Harvie over the same stretch, according to the New Hope Free Press. Fitzpatrick entered July with $6.35 million in cash on hand; Harvie had $794,921.

CNN described PA-01 in June as "the toughest of three eastern PA House districts Democrats hope to flip from red to blue." Harvie's campaign manager, Dan McCormick, called it "a winnable race" and urged national Democrats to invest.

The Pennsylvania AFL-CIO's announcement Wednesday will signal whether Fitzpatrick again earns the statewide chapter's backing or whether the organization shifts to Harvie.