Democratic congressional candidate Ashley Ehasz said on Thursday that she is ready for her second turn taking on four-term incumbent GOP U.S. Rep Brian Fitzpatrick (R-1st District) this November.

At the Neshaminy Federation of Teachers’ (NFT) union office in Middletown Township on Thursday, Ehasz received the endorsement of the American Federation of Teachers Pennsylvania (AFT-PA), which represents more than 36,000 members in the Keystone State. It was her campaign’s first labor union endorsement of the election cycle.

The Ehasz campaign added the education union’s endorsement to a number of others, including from EMILYs List, NewDems Action Fund, and VoteVets.

Ehasz, a U.S. Army veteran and public school graduate, thanked the teachers’ union for their support and said she believes in “greater oversight of the charter school system to real solutions for affordable higher education.”

Ehasz said she supports “high-quality education” in public schools.

While Fitzpatrick, a former FBI special agent, has held back past primary and general election challengers since his first race in 2016, Ehasz’s campaign thinks they have a better shot this year.

Ehasz didn’t talk about whether national Democratic groups were planning to throw their support and funding behind her campaign, but she said she already has a roster of groups behind her and helping support her message.

“For us,” she said, “it’s about talking to voters and making sure we have a plan to do that.”

The campaign and candidate have cited Ehasz’ familiarity with voters due to her second run for the First District Congressional seat, recent election wins for Democrats, and a message they believe will connect with voters. The campaign is putting a focus on protecting access to abortion services and fighting to protect democracy.

Ehasz will have to make that case to voters as she goes against Fitzpatrick, who has strong name recognition.

The Democrat launched her campaign last April in a bid to have more time to fundraise, gain endorsements, and get in front of voters. She remained active in Democratic events since her 2022 loss.

Fitzpatrick has proven to be a skilled fundraiser and entered April with $3.6 million in the bank, while Ehasz campaign had approximately $820,000 on hand. Her campaign has pointed out that it has raised $1.4 million this election cycle and have had strong fundraising cycles.

NFT President Tara Huber, a longtime Neshaminy High School teacher, said Ehasz will support public schools and educators if elected.

“Unfortunately, the incumbent has failed to recognize the invaluable contributions of our teachers. Instead, he has allowed our schools to come under siege from extremist forces, threatening our fundamental freedoms and the very fabric of our education system,” she said.

AFT-PA President Arthur Steinberg noted Ehasz’s support of Democratic school board candidates in the First Congressional District in the past. He said those candidates weren’t focused on culture wars, adding that Fitzpatrick has supported “MAGA extremists” for school board races.

“We had voters stand up and reject the extremists,” Ehasz said.

After speaking with teachers, Ehasz told this news organization that Fitzpatrick, who was endorsed by then-President Donald Trump in 2020 but has worked to brand himself an “independent voice,” wants to “go after our schools and turn them into battlegrounds” for the culture wars. The message, she believes, will work with voters.

Ehasz lost the 2022 general election to Fitzpatrick by 10 percentage points, a gap of close to 36,000 votes.

Fitzpatrick’s recent primary win over Mark Houck was by 23 percentage points. While an overwhelming victory for the congressman, it marks his smallest victory against a primary challenge by percentage of the vote in his political career.

Fitzpatrick and his campaign did not return a request for comment.

• A Pennsylvania man has been arrested for shooting his wife and daughter 
• Roger Hanks, 76, was cleaning his gun while arguing with his wife Judith, 75
• After shooting her in rage – he then shot their daughter Emily, 37 

By Martha Williams For Dailymail.Com

Published: 03:16 BST, 27 April 2024 | Updated: 05:29 BST, 27 April 2024

A Pennsylvania man shot and killed his wife after she nagged him about gun safety at their mansion – then murdered his daughter too, police say.  

Roger Hanks, 76, of Chester County was arrested at his home on Thursday evening and charged with first-degree murder.

The charges came after police were called to the 200 block of Wiltshire Drive, where Hanks lived with his 75-year-old wife Judith, at around 6:15pm. Their home was a $746,000, four bed and three bathroom single-family house.

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After being found in his garage and taken into custody, Hanks admitted that he had shot his wife Judith and daughter, Emily, 37, ABC reported. 

Hanks, who says he’d been drinking whiskey and beer earlier in the day, confessed that he had gotten into an argument with Judith while cleaning his gun and told her ‘if you keep up this thing is going to go off on you.’ 

After being found in his garage and taken into custody, Hanks (pictured right) admitted that he had shot his wife Judith (left) and daughter, Emily, 37

When Judith (left) fell to the ground after the gunshot, Emily (right) ‘went into a rage.’ This caused Hanks to then point the gun at his daughter and it went off again, this time knocking her down

Hanks had allegedly pointed the gun at his wife and told her ‘if she did not shut and leave him alone that he was going to ‘plug’ her,’ documents showed

The Hanks’ home was a $746,000, four bed and three bathroom single-family house

Hanks confessed that he had gotten into an argument with Judith (pictured) while cleaning his gun and told her ‘if you keep up this thing is going to go off on you.’

He then allegedly pointed the gun at his wife and told her ‘if she did not shut and leave him alone that he was going to “plug” her,’ documents showed. 

The 76-year-old pointed the gun at his wife and it went off, Hanks told police. 

When Judith fell to the ground after the gunshot, Emily ‘went into a rage.’

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This caused Hanks to then point the gun at his daughter and it went off again, this time knocking her down. 

He aimed the weapon at the chest area of both women, an affidavit revealed.

Hanks went onto to brag to police that he is ‘the best of the best’ when it comes to shooting firearms and showed off about his frequent participation in competitions for shooting, according to the affidavit. 

The Pennsylvania man also told police that he drank two German beers and Irish whiskey earlier during the day of the tragic incident. 

Police reported that the gun as well as two spent shell casings were found at the scene. 

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Emily’s Linkedin account reveals that she graduated from the University of Miami and worked as a consulting director for a risk management and governance company in Chicago.

From Judith’s social media accounts, it appears that the Hanks were a tight-knit family and that Emily and her mother were particularly close

Judith’s most recent Instagram post was a picture of the mother-daughter duo, captioned ‘To my “favorite” daughter. Celebrating you on National Daughters Day’

In other posts, Judith gushed about being a ‘lucky mother’ and shared sweet pictures of her and Emily on trips to New York City and spending time together with their dogs 

From Judith’s social media accounts, it appears that the Hanks were a tight-knit family and that Emily and her mother were particularly close. 

Judith’s most recent Instagram post was a picture of the mother-daughter duo, captioned ‘To my “favorite” daughter. Celebrating you on National Daughters Day.’ 

In other posts, Judith gushed about being a ‘lucky mother’ and shared sweet pictures of her and Emily on trips to New York City and spending time together with their dogs. 

CNN
 — 

The Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation on Friday said that Republic First Bank has been closed by Pennsylvania state regulators, in what the FDIC said was the first US bank failure this year.

“Philadelphia-based Republic First Bank (doing business as Republic Bank) was closed today by the Pennsylvania Department of Banking and Securities, which appointed the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) as receiver. To protect depositors, the FDIC entered into an agreement with Fulton Bank, National Association of Lancaster, Pennsylvania to assume substantially all of the deposits and purchase substantially all of the assets of Republic Bank,” the FDIC said in a statement.

The bank had about $6 billion in total assets and $4 billion in total deposits at the end of January, the FDIC said in its release.

That makes Republic Bank (FRBK) far smaller than the regional bank failures that rocked the financial world last year. Silicon Valley Bank, for example, had about $209 billion at the end of 2022; it collapsed in March 2023.

The FDIC said the former bank’s “32 branches in New Jersey, Pennsylvania and New York will reopen as branches of Fulton Bank on Saturday (for branches with normal Saturday hours) or on Monday during normal business hours.”

Those who have deposits at Republic Bank will become depositors at Fulton Bank, the FDIC said. The agency’s deposit insurance covers up to $250,000 per depositor.

Bloomberg News reported earlier in the week that the FDIC had approached buyers for the regional lender.

The FDIC said that Republic Bank was the first bank to fail in the United States since Citizens Bank in Sac City, Iowa, in November 2023.

Republic First Bank is a separate entity from First Republic Bank, a San Francisco-based commercial bank that was closed in May 2023. The majority of the bank’s assets were sold to JPMorgan Chase.

The Philadelphia-based bank’s failure comes at a tumultuous time for regional banks, as elevated interest rates have hurt the credit-dependent industry.

Silicon Valley Bank’s collapse sparked a broader crisis last year. Signature Bank’s failure followed days later, and First Republic Bank failed a few weeks after that. In total, there were five bank failures in 2023, according to the FDIC.

Recently, New York Community Bank saw wild swings in its stock price as customers began pulling their cash from the regional lender after it said it had identified “material weakness” in the company’s controls. The bank got a $1 billion equity investment lifeline from investors, including former Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin’s firm, Liberty Strategic Capital, in March.

This story has been updated.