A federal judge shut down efforts to fight Philadelphia’s renaming of “Columbus Day” to “Indigenous Peoples’ Day,” but attorney and Pennsylvania U.S. Senate hopeful George Bochetto says he is not backing down on the issue.

Bochetto, of Bochetto & Lentz, said he intends to appeal to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit to defend a holiday that he sees as “virtually synonymous” with Italian American heritage.