At least four Republicans are courting the support of the Bucks County Republican Committee for their campaigns for county commissioner.
Joining incumbent minority commissioner Gene DiGirolamo, who is seeking another term on the board, are county controller Pamela A. Van Blunk, Upper Southampton supervisor Keith E. Froggatt Sr. and former county commissioner and PennDOT executive Andy L. Warren.
Van Blunk, an attorney from Lower Makefield, is in her first term as Bucks County Controller, the government’s fiscal watchdog.
“This was a very hard decision to make,” Van Blunk said Monday. “Being in the controller’s office, I have learned so much and seen so much.”
Her decision to run stems, she said, from a desire to bring back fiscal responsibility to the government.
“I like being controller. With my background, it’s a good fit,” she said. “But being a controller is reactive. I think I can do so much more on the front end.”
Van Blunk and Warren have tangled before. She bested him in the 2021 Republican primary when both were running for controller.
Warren, of Middletown Township, is a frequent critic of the board’s Democrats — chairman Robert Harvie and vice-chair Diane M. Ellis-Marseglia.
“The ‘go along to get along’ attitude exhibited by Bucks County’s present Democrat Board of Commissioners has left much for a 2024 Republican-led Board of Commissioners to correct,” Warren said in an open letter of interest he sent to Bucks County Republican Committee Chairwoman Pat Poprik and members of her executive committee last week.
Warren sat on the board from 1980 to 1995, during which time he served on two board majorities — first alongside Elaine Zettick and, later, with Mark Schweiker, before Schweiker became governor of Pennsylvania.
During those years, Warren had the party endorsement. But in recent elections he has run as a Republican outsider in losing bids for commissioner in 2011, U.S. Congress in 2016 and Middletown Township Supervisor in 2011, in addition to the controller’s race.
Froggatt, who lives in Upper Southampton, serves on the township’s board of supervisors. He is vice president at Land Services USA LLC, a title insurance company. He also previously served as the Redevelopment Authority of the County of Bucks’s assistant secretary treasurer.
“(Being a supervisor) is something that I enjoy doing in my location and I think, politically, I do a good job at,” Froggatt said.
He cited the county’s need to support its volunteer emergency services workers and keep a close eye on government spending of taxpayer dollars.
Froggatt explained that in the near future the Bucks County Republican Committee will hold an endorsement meeting to pick the two candidates that establishment Republicans will support this year.
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