A longtime associate of an embattled swing state Republican – whose online posts form the backbone of the congressman’s attack ads – has a history of racist, sexist and anti-Muslim activity on social media, according to a new report.
Rep. Brian Fitzpatrick (R-PA) is facing his toughest re-election challenge in years, and he's relying on self-published, non-fact-checked posts on the hyperlocal Patch website to disparage his Democratic opponent, Bucks County Commissioner Bob Harvie, that were written by former journalist and convicted felon Dave Sommers, and The Bulwark tracked down his other past online activity.
The 72-year-old Sommers, of Levittown, Pennsylvania, pleaded guilty in 2019 to trafficking thousands of protected turtles and served six months in prison, and The Bulwark reported that he wrote Patch posts that Fitzpatrick’s campaign and an allied super PAC have cited in at least eight ads claiming that Harvie, is under FBI investigation, but Politico reported there’s no evidence of that probe.
Sommers has long-standing ties to the Fitzpatricks. Between 2010 and 2022, he received thousands of dollars in payments and reimbursements from Fitzpatrick’s campaigns and those of his late brother, Rep. Mike Fitzpatrick, and this summer he attended the congressman’s wedding.
The Bulwark tied the X account @sommers35 to Sommers through his email addresses and posts that included his name and phone number. In February 2021, responding to a question about the women who accused Donald Trump of sexual assault, the account wrote: “Every liberal Democrat female is a sexual assault survivor, especially the morning after, when the guy hasn’t fallen in love with her.”
In April 2025, after Justice Amy Coney Barrett joined the court’s three liberal justices against Trump’s use of the Alien Enemies Act, the account wrote: “All four women…. Hmmmm… the very ones who MS-13 would rape.”
Sommers’ Facebook posts this year include: “Black teens go wilding…again…all over America.”
Days after Fitzpatrick’s wedding, he shared a graphic calling Islam “the religion of rape, incest, and pedophilia.” In August, he endorsed a Sidney Powell post calling for Muslims to be deported, captioning it “Tru-dat.” And on Tuesday, he shared a post claiming “Obama is a pure Muslim.”
After Fitzpatrick won re-election in 2020, the account posted: “Looks like us turtle breeding criminals pushed Brian over the top.”
Fitzpatrick co-chairs the bipartisan Problem Solvers Caucus and has cultivated a moderate brand, though he votes with his party nearly 80 percent of the time. On Friday, the Cook Political Report moved his race from “Likely Republican” to “Lean Republican.”
Neither Fitzpatrick nor his campaign responded to multiple requests for comment from The Bulwark. Sommers also did not respond.