Delaware County Woman Looks At Moving Into First Congressional District Race

A Delaware County woman is looking at moving to Bucks County and running for Congress.

Dasha Pruett, who previously ran as a Republican and lost to Democratic Congresswoman Mary Gay Scanlon last year in the Fifth Congressional District, confirmed to LevittownNow.com that she is exploring a run to primary incumbent Republican Congressman Brian Fitzpatrick. She currently has an exploratory committee for the seat.

Pruett has positioned her political identity on her website around “God, family, country, jobs, and security.” As an immigrant from the communist USSR, she has framed herself as “pro-capitalism” and “anti-socialism,” which she believes America is creeping towards.

Pruett would likely face skepticism from many fellow Republicans, and already has faced some pushback on social media, over her residency.

The Firth Congressional District, where Pruett lives in and last ran in, covers all of Delaware County and parts of Chester, Montgomery, and Philadelphia counties. The First Congressional District covers all of Bucks County and a portion of Montgomery County.

In an interview, Pruett said she would move to the district and is working on plans with her husband. Her father has been a decades-long resident of Feasterville. With recent health challenges with her mother, Pruett said now would be an appropriate time to be closer to her family.

“I’ve lived in 30 places over my life,” she said. “And I’ve spent a decent amount of time in Bucks County.”

While Pruett said she plans to move to Bucks County, the U.S. Constitution and election laws do not require candidates for the U.S. House of Representatives to live in the district they aim to represent. The Constitution requires a representative be at least 25 years old and an American citizen for at least seven years. In 2017, the Washington Post reported at least 20 members of the U.S. House of Representatives lived outside their districts, often due to redistricting.

Pruett said she is familiar with the area and she believes a good congressperson represents constituents with an eye on larger regional and national issues.

Pruett stated she felt she had a better chance at winning in the First Congressional District than in the district where she ran last.

Pruett and her husband were part of a group supporting former President Donald Trump. The group held events in Bucks County and there were large turnouts and positive feedback from residents, she said.

The potential candidate stated she was upset with some votes where Fitzpatrick broke with more conservative members of the Republican party.

“I will represent everyone,” she said. “Brian [Fitzpatrick] is a nice guy, but I don’t like how he votes.”

Pruett, who is a mother, still tears up recalling leaving Moscow as a child to come to the U.S. as part of a program that allowed a small number of families to immigrate. Her father had been in trouble with communist authorities for making parody art of Vladimir Lenin. For his disobedience to the communist system, he was sent to serve time in Siberia twice.

Pruett and her family, she said, were thankful to come to America and enjoy its freedoms.

“I know what communism looks like,” she said. “We are already close to that.”

As a candidate for office, Pruett believes in low taxes, fair trade, cutting regulations to allow for job growth, ending government funding to Planned Parenthood, a fetal heartbeat bill, fighting drug addiction, and protecting the Second Amendment.

Fitzpatrick has framed himself as a moderate Republican who is not afraid to compromise.

Fitzpatrick did not vote for Trump in 2016, but he stated he cast his ballot for him last year and received an endorsement from Trump in the final days of the election. Fitzpatrick said Trump should be censured but not impeached after the January 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol.

Fitzpatrick has had little trouble winning primary races.

His campaign is backed by $1.5 million in the bank as of the end of the September.

If Pruett joins the race, she will be running against Fitzpatrick in the primary and Bristol Township resident Caroline Avery and Upper Bucks County resident Bradley Lanning.

On the Democratic side, Bensalem Township U.S. Army veteran Ashley Ehasz and Lower Makefield Township U.S. Navy veteran Paul Fermo are running in the 2022 primary.

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