Brian Fitzpatrick is in a tight race. An Inquirer/New York Times/Siena poll has Democrat Bob Harvie ahead by two points. So on Thursday, October 29 — five days before Election Day — Fitzpatrick went to court to change who gets to run his election.

The Philadelphia Inquirer reports that Fitzpatrick sued in Bucks County Court to remove Democratic County Commissioner Diane Ellis-Marseglia from the county election board and replace her for the November 3 vote.

That board has three members. It runs Bucks County's elections, and it certifies the results — including the result of Fitzpatrick's own race.

What Fitzpatrick is claiming

Fitzpatrick's lawyer, Geoffrey R. Johnson, wrote that Ellis-Marseglia "has a clear conflict of interest." The complaint says she is close friends with Harvie, publicly supports him, and has "animus" toward Fitzpatrick — enough, it argues, to violate his due process rights.

As evidence, the complaint points to an alleged "Fire Fitz" sign and claims she removed copies of a local newspaper carrying a Fitzpatrick ad. Johnson called it "ultra-level political activism which evinces an extreme partisan bias."

Fitzpatrick's campaign did not immediately respond to the Inquirer's request for comment. His lawyer declined to say more.

She has certified every one of his wins

Here is what the lawsuit leaves out.

Ellis-Marseglia has been a county commissioner since 2008 and has served on the election board for 15 general elections. The county's lawyer, Dan Grieser, wrote that in that time she has certified Republican wins — including all of Fitzpatrick's, Republican sweeps of county offices, and Trump's narrow 2024 win in Bucks County.

Grieser wrote that "Commissioner Marseglia has vocally supported Democratic candidates, as is her First Amendment right," and that Pennsylvania's election code only requires a board member to step aside when they are on the ballot. She is not. Harvie, who used to chair the board, did step aside when he launched his campaign.

And the "partisan" problem Fitzpatrick now says is a due process violation didn't seem to bother anyone when it helped him. In 2018, a Republican commissioner, Rob Loughery, publicly supported Fitzpatrick. Fitzpatrick's lawyer argues that isn't the same.

Where this comes from

To be fair to the complaint, Ellis-Marseglia has said something she had to take back. During the 2024 U.S. Senate recount, Bucks County's board counted undated mail ballots despite a Pennsylvania Supreme Court ruling, and she said "precedent by a court doesn't matter anymore in this country." She later apologized and called it an "inartfully worded statement."

But Fitzpatrick didn't sue in 2024. He sued now, days out from an election he might lose, to change the people who would count and certify it.

Harvie put it this way to the Inquirer: Fitzpatrick "is now following in the footsteps of Donald Trump" by trying to sow doubt about how elections are run. "After a decade in Washington, Fitzpatrick has changed and this is just another example."

Not the first stretch

Fitzpatrick's campaign has also leaned on attack ads that quote "news" headlines — headlines that, as we found, were all written by a longtime ally his campaign has paid. Now, with the race close, he's in court trying to reshape the board that will certify it.

What the record shows

Brian Fitzpatrick sued five days before Election Day to remove a Democratic commissioner from the three-person board that will certify his own race. She has served on that board for 15 general elections and certified every one of his wins, and the county says the law only requires a member to step aside when she is on the ballot. His opponent, who leads by two points in the Inquirer/Times/Siena poll, says Fitzpatrick is following Donald Trump's lead in casting doubt on how elections are run.

Source

Brian Fitzpatrick sues Democratic Bucks County commissioner to disqualify her from election board, The Philadelphia Inquirer, October 29, 2026.