A pro-life activist who strongly opposes pornography and once had his home raided by the FBI hopes to make it to Congress as the battleground state of Pennsylvania begins its primary election on Tuesday.
Mark Houck, founder of the Catholic ministry The King’s Men, is campaigning on his experience as a target of “government militarization.”
He was the victim of an FBI raid in 2022, where dozens of armed agents burst into his home pointing guns at his family. Houck was arrested by officers in front of his wife and children.
His crime, according to the FBI, was pushing a Planned Parenthood worker the previous year when he and his family were praying outside the clinic.
Houck, who claimed he was defending his young son at the time, was later cleared of any wrongdoing.
Republican House candidate Mark Houck addresses a crowd of Republican voters a week before Tuesday’s primary election. He is trying to unseat four-term Rep. Brian Fitzpatrick.
FBI agents raided his Houck home in the fall of 2022 after he shoved a Philadelphia Planned Parenthood worker the previous year for yelling at him and his son, who was 12 at the time. FBI agents pointed guns at Houck during his arrest. He was subsequently acquitted of all crimes
Now, the anti-abortion activist hopes to get enough votes on Tuesday to unseat a Republican whom he calls not a true conservative.
Republican Rep. Brian Fitzpatrick, Houck’s opponent, is a four-term congressman and former FBI agent in a district previously held by his late brother, Mike Fitzpatrick.
His name recognition and support from moderates and unions will make it difficult for Houck to unseat him.
Notably, Pennsylvania’s 1st District is one of the few electorates that voted to send a Republican to the House of Representatives while also voting to put a Democrat, Joe Biden, in the White House in 2020.
This narrowly divided, moderate area may prove too centrist for Houck’s strong anti-abortion views.
Meanwhile, Democrat Ashley Ehasz is running unopposed in the district and will be the party’s presumptive nominee.
She is a former Army helicopter pilot who lost to Fitzpatrick by 10 points in 2022.
Additionally, Fitzpatrick has a monetary advantage heading into Tuesday’s vote.
He reportedly has more cash on hand than Houck and Ehasz combined.
The former FBI agent has promised to bring “independent leadership” to Capitol Hill, where he typically votes as a moderate.
And his track record backs up his claims.
Rep. Brian Fitzpatrick has attacked Houck’s past comments about his struggle with pornography.
The conservative nonprofit Heritage Action has given Fitzpatrick a meager 34 percent rating on his conservatism scorecard for his voting record throughout his life as a member of Congress.
Houck has seen this as an opportunity.
“If you’re not strong enough to stand up for your constituents, it’s time to get out of Washington,” Houck posted on X Monday night.
‘Let’s say goodbye to Brian Fitzpatrick and say hello to true conservative values. It’s time to save our republic’
Fitzpatrick, on the other hand, has run ads attacking Houck for not being as God-fearing as he appears.
The member’s campaign has repeatedly targeted Houck for past comments about his struggle with pornography.
“I struggled with pornography and was exposed to it at a young age,” Houck told Jeff Garrett, host of “The Regular Catholic Guy Show” during a 2021 episode.
‘Of course, that leads, you know, to sexual sin, masturbation and stuff. And that was a chronic habit that I had that just became a bad habit. In the end, I can say that at first it was self-medication, and then it became a bad habit,” Houck said at the time.
Houck criticized Fitzpatrick for not having “true conservative values”
But Houck addressed the controversy head-on, saying, “I’ve shared it many times online, in interviews and books.” My past struggles are just that. They are a past from childhood to adulthood.”
He has also responded to Fitzpatrick with cultural war salvos, saying that he “spends more time in Pride Parades than safeguarding the constitutional rights of his constituents.”
Polls close in Pennsylvania at 8:00 pm local time.