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\n

Sen. John Fetterman has faced a tide of public criticism from fellow Democrats as he stakes out lonely ground as a critic of the far-left wing of his party \u2014 and another wave rolled in Wednesday after he made a surprise video appearance at the Republican midterm convention.<\/p>\n

So far, however, his Senate colleagues haven\u2019t joined the pile-on.<\/p>\n

Democratic senators are staying above the fray as they work to flip the majority in November amid constant speculation that the 57-year-old Pennsylvanian could trigger a nightmare scenario by leaving the party and caucusing with the GOP<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Some have worked to publicly bat down suggestions that Fetterman could abandon Democrats for the final two years of his term \u2014 something he has denied considering, even as he continues to raise eyebrows with his outspoken support of Israel, bashing of democratic socialists and close relationships with Senate Republicans.<\/p>\n

\u201cJohn Fetterman is a friend and an important member of our caucus. It\u2019s a waste of energy to get spun up about his voting record or place in our party \u2014 he votes with us 90 percent of the time,\u201d Democratic Sen. Peter Welch of Vermont, who is close with Fetterman, said in a statement to Blue Light News before the convention appearance. \u201cWe need a big tent if we\u2019re going to win in November.\u201d<\/p>\n

That silence could be tested in the coming weeks. Recent reports, including in the Wall Street Journal, detailed how he has skipped meetings with key constituencies<\/a> and largely stopped participating in caucus lunches or committee meetings. Fetterman denounced the report<\/a> as \u201clies, half-truths, innuendos, [and] smears\u201d peddled by \u201cdisgruntled staffers.\u201d<\/p>\n

A social media account purported to be run by former Fetterman aides has teased the release next week of additional stories and evidence related to his job performance, which could spark a new wave of questions for the senator and his colleagues once they return Monday from a five-week summer recess.<\/p>\n

Fetterman further fueled party-switch chatter with a recent appearance<\/a> with Pennsylvania\u2019s Republican senator, David McCormick \u2014 then heaping praise on McCormick in the convention video Wednesday, where he also pledged to \u201cwork with\u201d President Donald Trump to protect his state\u2019s steel industry.<\/p>\n

In a statement Wednesday, Fetterman said his Republican convention remarks were intended to pay tribute to McCormick \u201cas a great American and friend.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are in different parties, but we are both Team PA,\u201d he said. \u201cWe have delivered hundreds of millions of dollars back to Pennsylvania, fought for improved transportation and affordable housing, and the Steel Way of Life.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m a lifelong Democrat who votes overwhelmingly with my party \u2014 and should the Senate flip in November, I will still be the 51st vote that I ran on,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n

If any Democrats fear driving Fetterman into the GOP\u2019s arms with intraparty criticism, some of his potential 2028 competitors aren\u2019t among them.<\/p>\n

Former Rep. Conor Lamb, who lost to Fetterman in 2022 and is mulling a 2028 bid, said in an interview that he\u2019s believed for close to a year that his onetime Democratic primary foe would become a Republican \u2014 a position he acknowledged puts him \u201cin the minority.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t think anything I say, or anyone who is a Democrat says, affects him all that much,\u201d Lamb said, adding, \u201cThe fact that the Senate Democratic leadership thinks they can keep them on their team by saying a few nice things about him in public just shows that they haven\u2019t learned who they are dealing with.\u201d<\/p>\n

Pennsylvania Rep. Chris Deluzio, a Democrat who is also mulling a 2028 Senate bid, also shrugged off a question about if the public criticism of Fetterman \u2014 who he accused of \u201cundermining our efforts to take back the House\u201d \u2014 could drive the senator to become a Republican.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn the two years he has left in this job, in this term, he should be a Democrat,\u201d Deluzio said. \u201cThat is what the people of Pennsylvania elected him to do. That is what they expect him to do, that is what I would say he should do with what he has left in the Senate.\u201d<\/p>\n

Still, Senate Democrats have largely avoided casting aspersions. Republicans hold a three-seat advantage, and Democrats believe they are in striking distance of picking up the four seats they\u2019d need to win control. A post-election Fetterman flip could put the Senate back to 50-50, giving Vice President JD Vance the tiebreaking vote.<\/p>\n

Multiple Democratic senators approached by Blue Light News this week about Fetterman simply declined to comment. Asked in a late July news conference if he wanted Fetterman to stay in the party, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer said he did.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe is a very good member of Congress,\u201d he said. \u201cThe people in our caucus very much like him and respect him, and we’re a big tent party. We can have a lot of different views in that party.\u201d<\/p>\n

A Senate Democratic aide \u2014 who, like others quoted for this story, was granted anonymity to speak candidly \u2014 said Democrats \u201care keen on batting down\u201d the speculation that Fetterman would split from the caucus.<\/p>\n

Fetterman has repeatedly downplayed that possibility. In May he wrote in a Washington Post op-ed<\/a> that he had \u201cno plans to leave\u201d the Democratic Party and that he would be \u201cterrible Republican who still votes overwhelmingly with Democrats.\u201d In July, at the Hill Nation summit<\/a>, he appeared to anticipate being a pivotal member of the party next year.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf I was going to, I would have already done that,\u201d Fetterman said in July about a party switch. \u201cAnd I would remind everybody, we are talking about how it’s possible, how we could retain the majority in the Senate \u2014 well, that\u2019s because I make that mathematically possible. And if we flip those four seats, then I would be 51.\u201d<\/p>\n

But he laid out a red line, saying there was \u201cone condition\u201d where he would abandon the Democrats \u2014 if they become \u201cthe anti-Israel party.\u201d<\/p>\n

Privately, many Senate Democratic colleagues profess to be in the dark about what Fetterman is thinking. Though his colleagues are collegial, he frequently sits alone off the Senate floor during votes.<\/p>\n

\u201cI really don’t have any insight into that,\u201d said one Senate Democrat when asked about the party-switch chatter.<\/p>\n

There\u2019s been speculation within the Senate for months that Fetterman would simply retire rather than mount a difficult reelection campaign in 2028, driven by the widespread view that he doesn\u2019t enjoy the job. Fetterman has sidestepped questions about a second term, arguing that it is too early for such questions.<\/p>\n

A second Senate Democratic aide added that there was “definitely a concern\u201d about Fetterman but that he still voted \u201cpretty solidly\u201d with Democrats.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s a hope that a lot of this is just positioning \u2026 and not a real possibility,\u201d the aide said. \u201cHopefully they can find a way to keep him in the fold, but it\u2019s not really clear what he actually wants.\u201d<\/p>\n

A third Senate Democratic aide acknowledged the internal rumors about what he would do while adding that Fetterman and his office are \u201cinsular\u201d \u2014 making it difficult for anyone outside of his inner circle to know what he\u2019s thinking. A fourth added that Senate Democrats weren\u2019t taking the speculation that Fetterman could flip \u201ctoo seriously\u201d for now.<\/p>\n

But the aide added that Fetterman could make the caucus\u2019 life \u201charder if he ends up being the 51st vote if the majority is in hand next January.\u201d<\/p>\n

Republicans, meanwhile, have made it clear that they are trying to recruit Fetterman. McCormick publicly defended him amid the latest round of Democratic backlash, and Majority Leader John Thune told reporters recently that he and other Republican senators have had “conversations” with Fetterman and \u201cwould welcome the opportunity\u201d to have him join the GOP.<\/p>\n

Only 22% of self-identified Democratic voters in a recent New York Times\/Philadelphia Inquirer\/Siena poll<\/a> have a favorable opinion of Fetterman, compared to 73% of self-identified Republicans.<\/p>\n

But it\u2019s far from clear that Fetterman could win a GOP primary given that he still votes with Democrats most of the time.<\/p>\n

Lamb said Fetterman\u2019s inability to prevail in a Democratic primary in 2028 was \u201cas sure a fact as gravity\u201d and added that the senator\u2019s path in a GOP primary wouldn\u2019t be easy, either.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think there are probably people in the state who would run against him if he was in a Republican primary,\u201d Lamb said.<\/p>\n

Rep. Dan Meuser (R-Pa.) said that he takes Fetterman \u201cat his word\u201d that he\u2019s a Democrat and said doubted he\u2019d ever be fully embraced by GOP primary voters. He cited Fetterman\u2019s poor ratings from key groups influential on the right, such as the National Rifle Association and National Federation of Independent Business.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe’s a good man. Like I said, he’s got courage,\u201d he said, before adding, \u201cHe’s a Democrat and maybe a traditional Democrat, so I don’t think that would be something the Republican Party would embrace.\u201d<\/p>\n

Riley Rogerson contributed to this report.<\/i><\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Sen. John Fetterman has faced a tide of public criticism from fellow Democrats as he stakes out lonely ground as a critic of the far-left wing of his party \u2014 and another wave rolled in Wednesday after he made a surprise video appearance at the Republican midterm convention. So far, however, his Senate colleagues haven\u2019t […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-27065","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-congress"],"amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27065","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=27065"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27065\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=27065"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=27065"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=27065"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}