Senator John Fetterman (D-Pa.) was seen by some Democrats as a possible contender for the 2028 presidential nomination as early as 2025.
But recently Fetterman has fallen out of favor with the Democrats as he has consistently troubled the party on a number of issues.
On the government shutdown, Fetterman has openly questioned Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer (NY)’s strategy of pushing for an extension of expiring, enhanced Affordable Care Act subsidies in exchange for government funding.
Fetterman has repeatedly voted for funding bills approved by the House GOP, along with Senators Catherine Cortez Masto (D-Nev.) and Angus King (Maine), an independent who works closely with Senate Democrats.
And while his colleagues have not shied away from criticizing President Trump and his policies, Fetterman has refused to get on board.
On Thursday, Fetterman, who has been a staunch supporter of Israel, congratulated Trump on the “historic” peace deal between the nation and Hamas.
“If you want a Democrat who calls people Nazis or fascists or all that kind of stuff… I’m not going to be that guy,” Fetterman said in an interview on Fox News earlier this month.
Fetterman’s views have not gone over well with Democrats, who predict he will face a tough primary if he runs for reelection in 2028.
A top Democratic strategist said, “Fetterman was elected on economic populism and became a MAGA supporter.” “I don’t think he will survive the primaries in 2028.”
A Quinnipiac University poll earlier this month showed Fetterman is in the water with Democrats in his state.
The poll showed that 54 percent of Democrats in Pennsylvania said they disapprove of the job Fetterman is doing, while one-third approve of his job performance. That’s a big change from a poll last year, which showed Fetterman had an 80 percent job approval rating among Democrats in the state, while 10 percent disapproved.
Additionally, Fetterman is receiving support from Republicans in the state, with 62 percent saying they approve of Fetterman’s job performance, while 21 percent disapprove.
Democratic strategist Jamal Simmons said, “Many Democrats don’t love John Fetterman’s recent position, so he’s taking a gamble.”
While having some credibility with Republican voters in his state will ultimately benefit him because it could help put him over the top in a potential reelection campaign, “the danger is that he offends a lot of Democrats and they’re not as excited to vote for him on Election Day,” Simmons said.
When he’s elected in 2022, most Democrats see Fetterman — who often wears hoodies and shorts to work — as a progressive. The senator also described himself as a “progressive Democrat”.
But gradually, at least as some Democrats see it, he dropped the label and moved more and more people to the right, which angered some in his party.
Now Democrats see him going the way of former West Virginia senator Joe Manchin, who was a moderate Democrat before leaving the party last year and registering as an independent.
“Many Democrats feel betrayed,” said Democratic strategist Brad Bannon. “He ran as a radical blue-collar liberal who created the possibility that there was hope for working-class progressive populism.”
“He shattered those dreams with his move into the middle of nowhere,” Bannon said.
Fetterman has said that he has no intention of leaving the Democratic Party.
“No, I’m not going to switch,” he told Fox Business Network host Maria Bartiromo on “Sunday Morning Futures” last week. In other interviews he has gently chided his own party for not realizing why they find themselves directionless.
“They’ve forgotten one of the reasons why we lost in 2024,” Fetterman told CNN’s Manu Raju on “Inside Politics” earlier this month. “Some people think that now we have to double down on those things or that we have to be more progressive or more radical. That’s just not true.”
He added, “The seven or eight states that are going to decide who is going to be our next president, you know, we have to win in those states, and I understand what it takes.”
During the government shutdown fight, Fetterman has argued that Democrats, who are in the minority in both houses, did not have much leverage and that they risked handing over more power to Trump to furlough federal workers and dismantle agencies without government approval.
In interviews, some Democratic senators said Fetterman was out of sync with most of the party.
“He’s irrelevant,” said one Democratic senator, who requested anonymity to discuss Fetterman’s influence on the party’s shutdown stance. “I don’t mean it to be mean…as far as I know he was just at a caucus meeting.”
Other Democrats declined to comment about Fetterman’s standing in the party given his declining job approval numbers. Senator Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn) said, “I can tell you that I have not talked to a single Democratic voter about John Fetterman.”
Senator Chris Murphy (D-Conn.) also declined to comment on Fetterman.
But on the shutdown, he said Senate Democrats are largely united behind Schumer’s firm position on health care.
Murphy said Democratic voters were “not happy” with a group of Senate Democrats — including Schumer and Fetterman — who in March voted for a six-month government funding bill crafted in the House without any Democratic input.
“They want to see us stand up for what we believe in,” Murphy said.
Simmons said Fetterman still has time to appeal to Democratic grounds. But enticing Republicans to support him could also help.
“A smart candidate in this environment will look for ways to steal enough Republicans,” he said.
Alexander Bolton contributed
