John Fetterman’s recorded speech to the Republican midterm convention on Wednesday was the last straw for many top Pennsylvania Democrats: They don’t want the senator anywhere around for the final weeks of this intense election year, and many are already zeroing in on a possible consensus choice to run for his seat in 2028 — regardless of whether Fetterman is on the ballot.
While several potential Democratic challengers are in the mix, many party leaders are starting to look at Pittsburgh-area Rep. Chris Deluzio as the candidate who could draw support from both the orbit of popular Gov. Josh Shapiro and Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders’ progressive wing of the party. Such broad support would be critical to win the seat in a presidential year, especially if Fetterman runs for reelection, whether as a Democrat, independent or even Republican.
Deluzio, a Navy veteran and father of four running strong for a third term in a swing district, has been an ally of both: In August he headlined a Shapiro event in Pittsburgh, and two weeks later he scored a rare endorsement of a House incumbent from Sanders, who called him “a fighter willing to take on corporate power.”
“I’m not concerned about what John Fetterman decides to do. I’ll make my own decision without whatever he decides affecting it,” Deluzio told CNN, noting that while his focus remains on this year’s election, he’s proud of the wide support he has and “that coalition I built is something that didn’t just happen overnight.”
The primary could end up more complicated, though, with Pennsylvania Democratic politics often splitting between Pittsburgh and Philadelphia candidates, and a rising left wing in the party that could demand a bigger voice.
Already several other Democrats have been having discussions about taking on Fetterman, including Rep. Brendan Boyle, who represents the Philadelphia area. Lt. Gov. Austin Davis is seen as a possible candidate as well. Former Rep. Conor Lamb, who lost to Fetterman in the 2022 primary, is in the mix too, though seen as less likely to run in a crowded primary.
But Democrats’ disgust with Fetterman back home is running up against their strategy in Washington, as Senate Democrats avoid antagonizing him out of fear that he could switch parties and help preserve a Republican majority after November.
But as much as they want to avoid going public for fear of upsetting their slim chances of winning the majority, Democratic senators in Washington have also grown tired of trying to keep Fetterman in the fold. He skips most of their weekly lunches and committee hearings; his staff turns over so often that few know who to call; and their calculations about keeping him in the fold are made more difficult by many not having much of a relationship with him.
So while Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer hosted Fetterman for dinner last month as part of a walking-on-eggshells charm offensive and has told people he does not think a party switch is imminent, Pennsylvania Democrats are deep into making plans without and against Fetterman.
“I can’t foresee any possibility Fetterman is the 2028 Democratic Senate nominee,” Boyle told CNN.
Boyle added that his own decision is tied up in climbing the House ranks, where he is an ally of Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, especially if Democrats take the majority: “I have a tough decision to make in the next few months, either House Budget Committee chairman or run for US Senate. Both are great options to have. I will choose based on which position gives me more of an impact on public policy.”
Fetterman put out a statement after the midterm convention speech saying he was “a lifelong Democrat who votes overwhelmingly with my party — and should the Senate flip in November, I will still be the 51st vote that I ran on.” It was the latest step in his defense that began last week in response to Wall Street Journal reporting on his lack of interest in many aspects of his job. In an interview with CNN last weekend, Fetterman sought to blame the story on “disgruntled staffers.”
Fetterman introduces McCormick in video played at GOP midterm convention
Fetterman introduces McCormick in video played at GOP midterm convention
1:39
He did not respond when asked several times on Friday by CNN about whether he will campaign for Democrats back home this fall, what he makes of the Pennsylvania Democrats amassing against him or his own expected plans for 2028.
Rep. Madeline Dean, who represents the Philadelphia suburbs, told CNN that she visited Fetterman in his Capitol Hill office in the spring to tell him that as a friend, she wanted him to know how upset people were in her district after knocking on doors for him in 2022, urging him to return to the kind of Democratic approach he ran on.
Dean said Fetterman didn’t seem to care about what she was saying.
“My wish is that he is healthy and well, as is his family, but my constituents are livid because he’s abandoned the very things he stood for,” Dean said.
Chris Rabb, a state representative from Philadelphia from the Democratic Socialists of America wing of the party who is running unopposed for an open House seat, doesn’t even have that much patience.
“My hope is that he resigns as soon as humanly possible so that he can spend more time with family,” Rabb told CNN.
Unlike Dave McCormick, the Republican senator whom Fetterman praised in his video for the convention, Shapiro and Davis are on the ballot this year, as are candidates in four House districts that Democrats are trying to flip and state legislature hopefuls across the state. Fetterman, multiple leaders told CNN, would not be welcome to appear with them on the trail, even if he offered.
“I’ve campaigned all over Pennsylvania with our competitive congressional and state legislature candidates. I’ve heard no one express an interest in campaigning with John Fetterman,” Deluzio said.
“I would find hard to believe anybody would — simply for his clear choice of standing with the president and this corrupt set of rogue charlatans,” said Dean, who pointed out that she was in Dallas for the GOP midterm convention, but came as part of a House Democratic effort to rebut and undermine Trump’s pitch to voters, rather than give it bipartisan cover.
Asked whether Shapiro, whose bad blood with Fetterman began years before the senator began bucking the Democratic Party, would want Fetterman’s help in his reelection campaign, a spokesperson didn’t answer other than to point to comments the governor made about staying focused on his own campaign and job in Harrisburg.
Davis also wouldn’t answer, providing a statement citing his own focus and calling Fetterman’s speech a distraction, but adding pointedly, “I look forward to electing Democrats this November who will be strong partners in Harrisburg and in Washington — leaders who will put Pennsylvanians first.”
Asked how other Pennsylvania Democrats should see Fetterman, Lamb said, “They should look at him as hostile to us, because that’s how he behaves every single day. It’s not that complicated: He’s against us.”
Four years ago, Fetterman handily won his Democratic primary, becoming the cause célèbre of the left on social media and beyond, the iconoclast politician pushing for gay rights and legalizing marijuana with his arm tattoos and Braddock backstory landing him on magazine covers and in future speculation. His debilitating stroke in the middle of the 2022 campaign brought sympathy, and his decision months later to seek hospitalization for depression had him held up as a champion of mental health.
But his evolution into a renegade Democrat and aggressive embrace of a pro-Israel stance, unquestioning of the Israeli government and dismissive of Palestinians left him increasingly isolated.
“John Fetterman is Benedict Arnold but lazy as hell,” said Malcolm Kenyatta, a state representative who was also in the 2022 primary. Kenyatta, who also serves as a Democratic National Committee vice chair, said he’s also been encouraged to run for the seat in 2028.
Rep. Summer Lee, who represents Fetterman’s hometown of Braddock, said her constituents feel “deeply betrayed” over Fetterman’s voting with Trump on bills that included cutting Medicaid and food assistance benefits.
“He stood with Braddock when he needed a prop for his campaign but abandoned them to be a sidekick to a freshman Republican senator,” Lee told CNN, referring to Fetterman’s alliance with McCormick. “Pennsylvanians who didn’t already see him as the cosplayer he is now are ready to see him out the door in 2028.”
A Lee campaign spokesperson told CNN that she “isn’t thinking about a 2028 Senate race right now.”
Despite Fetterman’s denials that he will leave the party, Deluzio and others looking at taking him think they may need to approach him less as a primary opponent than as an independent spoiler or even a Republican.
“Pre-Trump, I would have said that there’s no way someone with Fetterman’s views on abortion, gays, guns, etc. could possibly be the GOP nominee. But if Trump fully embraces him, then perhaps MAGA would welcome him into the fold and he becomes the 2028 GOP Senate nominee?” Boyle said. “I don’t know. But it’s a possibility.”