Fitzpatrick was one of only four House Republicans to condemn the president’s “racist comments” in a Democratic-led House vote Tuesday. He said: "My vote was a vote in favor of civility."

Rep. Brian Fitzpartick broke ranks with the Republican Party on Tuesday and voted in favor of the House resolution to condemn President Donald Trump’s “racist” comments regarding four congresswomen of color.

The vote referred to Trump’s Sunday tweets repudiating progressive, Democratic Reps. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, of New York, Ilhan Omar, of Minnesota, Ayanna Pressley, of Massachusetts and Rashida Tlaib, of Michigan. The tweets asked that the four American citizens, "go back and help fix the totally broken and crime infested places from which they came."

Despite the president’s insistence hours before Tuesday's vote that his comments were not racist and urging House Republicans to “not show ‘weakness’” by joining the resolution he called “a Democrat con game,” Fitzpatrick supported the four-page resolution.

“I am a strong proponent of the Golden Rule. Treat others as you want to be treated. Communicate with people in a way that sets a good example for our children," Fitzpatrick wrote in an email Wednesday.

Ultimately, the House voted 240-187 to condemn Trump’s comments largely along party lines — only Fitzpatrick R-1, of Middletown, and three other Republicans deviated from the House GOP.

After Tuesday’s vote, Fitzpatrick tweeted: “The language and tone being used by so many in our country needs to change. The Hatfield versus McCoy brand of politics must end. Democrats and Republicans need to start treating each other respectfully and like human beings. We are all created in the image and likeness of God.”

The hours preceding the vote were chaotic. Between a barrage of presidential tweets, formal objections to Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s calling Trump’s tweets “racist” in a floor speech and one representative storming away from the presiding officer’s chair.

“What transpired on the House floor was childish and unbecoming of the House of Representatives,” Fitzpatrick wrote in the email to this news organization's request for comment. “I believe true leaders must lower the temperature of our discourse, not raise it. Anyone who does not do this is part of the problem, and I think the Speaker contributed to that problem yesterday."

The vote to condemn the president’s language is not the first time that Fitzpatrick broke with the party. Fitzpatrick and two other Republicans voted with a unanimous Democrat block for the Climate Action Now Act to remain in the Paris Climate Agreement May 2. Fitzpatrick also previously joined with Democrats to avoid a government shutdown and prevent the president from utilizing a declaration of emergency to fund a border wall.

As far as his fellow Republicans’ votes against Tuesday’s resolution, Fitzpatrick wrote, “Their job is to represent their constituents to the best of their ability, as is my job to represent mine."

Fitzpatrick, also vice chair of the bipartisan Problem Solvers Caucus, believes that the biggest issue facing the country is “the lack of civility in our discourse.”

“My hope for both parties is to lower the volume of our discourse, and to bridge the gap between our differences. To view differences of opinion as a strength to be harnessed and not a weakness to be criticized,” Fitzpatrick wrote Wednesday. “To understand that there are over 300 million people, including millions of children, who are relying on us to work together to solve our nation's challenges. In order to do that, we need to talk to each other and treat each other with respect."

In this vein, Fitzpatrick also criticized Philadelphia Mayor Jim Kenney on Tuesday, who said, “if Donald Trump ever has to go back to where he came from, he is going to have to go back to hell.”

The remark was “unbecoming of a public official,” according to Fitzpatrick’s Twitter. The congressman equated Kenney’s comments to the president’s.

“My vote was a vote in favor of civility. A vote to say that every single one of us must treat people with kindness and respect, to take the high road, to lower the volume, to bridge the gap.” Fitzpatrick wrote. “Any comments that do the opposite, no matter who makes them, must be called out. The divisive tone of our politics is hurting our country and it needs to change.”