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A Bucks County Republican was one of six GOP lawmakers to sign pledge to certify 2024 election results

Rep. Brian Fitzpatrick signed the pledge along with Rep. Chrissy Houlahan, a Chester County Democrat. Both have cast themselves as moderate.

Brian Fitzpatrick meets with the Philadelphia Inquirer Editorial Board Monday October 8, 2018.
Brian Fitzpatrick meets with the Philadelphia Inquirer Editorial Board Monday October 8, 2018.Read moreDAVID SWANSON / Staff Photographer

U.S. Representatives Brian Fitzpatrick (R., Bucks) and Chrissy Houlahan (D., Chester), both suburban Philadelphia lawmakers who cast themselves as moderate, signed a pledge Thursday to certify the 2024 presidential election and attend the future president’s inauguration in January, Politico reported.

Fitzpatrick and Houlahan were among 32 lawmakers who promised to “safeguard the fairness and integrity of America’s democratic process” after the 2024 election concludes and all legal challenges to the results had been exhausted.

Safeguarding the election, the pledge said, would include acknowledging the winner when Congress meets to certify the results, attending the future president’s inauguration, and “serving as a voice for calm and reconciliation” while speaking out against those who engage in or endorse violence.

“Chrissy signed the pledge because she firmly believes in the integrity of the election process and therefore will certify the election,” Errin Cecil-Smith, a spokesperson for Houlahan, said in a statement.

Fitzpatrick, the only Republican representing the Philadelphia metro area, was one of just six Republicans to sign the pledge which was organized by the Problem Solvers Caucus, which he chairs. Houlahan is also a member and cofounder of the caucus.

In 2020, Fitzpatrick voted to certify President Joe Biden’s election even as members of his own party voted against it because of former President Donald Trump’s lies about voter fraud.

The Bucks County congressman has persistently sought to distance himself from the former president and has not yet said whether he supports Trump’s 2024 campaign. His decision to sign the pledge continues his efforts to present himself as a moderate, responsible statesman as he seeks reelection in purple Bucks County.

Fitzpatrick’s office did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the pledge.

Fitzpatrick’s Democratic opponent, Ashley Ehasz, said Fitzpatrick was doing the bare minimum by signing the pledge, and criticized his past decisions to support U.S. Rep. Jim Jordan (R., Ohio) and U.S. Rep. Mike Johnson (R., La.) in their separate bids for Speaker of the House.

“It’s not clear that his constituents can trust this commitment,” Ehasz said in a statement.