BRADDOCK, Pennsylvania — Sixteen years after winning the mayor’s office of this steel town located on the banks of the Monongahela River by one provisional ballot, John Fetterman has announced his run for the U.S. Senate seat currently held by Lehigh Republican Sen. Pat Toomey.
It marks the second time the current Pennsylvania lieutenant governor has jumped into a Democratic primary for this seat. In 2016, both he and former Rep. Joe Sestak lost the party nomination to former state Energy Secretary Katie McGinty, who went on to lose to Toomey in the general election.
In 2018, Fetterman made history when he challenged and defeated Lt. Gov. Mike Stack III, a Philadelphia Democrat, in a primary, making Stack the first lieutenant governor in modern Pennsylvania history to lose reelection in a primary. Fetterman has served as Gov. Tom Wolf’s second ever since.
The York native has emerged as the current liberal darling, thanks in part to his aggressive tweets against the status quo within his party and also his sharp criticisms of all things Republican. He has been especially savage in his criticism of Trump, whom he famously called a “jagoff,” western Pennsylvania slang for “jerk.”
The 51-year-old son of conservative parents (they had both Trump and Fetterman signs in their yard in 2016) is on the left side of liberal populism. His positions on the $15 minimum wage, marijuana legalization, and gay rights were the highlight of his announcement video released Monday morning.
Since hinting at a run two weeks ago, the tattooed, necktie-averse Fetterman has raised over $1 million and adopted “Every County, Every Vote” as his campaign slogan.
His take-no-prisoners style on Twitter has earned him liberal love in the state, which will work in a potentially crowded primary contest, said G. Terry Madonna, political science professor at Millersville University.
“The ideology of candidates will play out big in the primaries, make no mistake about it,” Madonna said. “It’s hard for me to imagine that the Democrats don’t nominate a liberal or somebody left-leaning because if they nominate a conservative, they’re not going to do well in Philly and in the suburbs of Philadelphia, the two largest-population regions of our state.”
Fetterman’s only potential problem with liberals will be how far he allows them to push him on banning hydraulic fracturing, a source of good-paying union jobs in this area, and fully embracing the Green New Deal. In previous interviews, Fetterman has told me he is opposed to eliminating such good union jobs.
Madonna expects Fetterman’s announcement to be one of several for the primary contest for both parties. “I expect to see multiple candidates jump in to challenge Fetterman,” he said, pointing to Montgomery County Board Chairman Val Arkoosh, Rep. Brendan Boyle of Philadelphia, and state Rep. Malcolm Kenyatta as candidates with liberal street cred.
Madonna said Pennsylvania is in a rare place in which the top two statewide seats, governor and senator, are both open, which essentially means four big primaries.
“You are going to see a lot of money and attention in particular for the Senate seat as the balance of power in the Senate goes straight through Pennsylvania and Ohio, with both Toomey and Portman not seeking reelection,” Madonna said.
Within a few months of each other, both Toomey and Ohio Republican Sen. Rob Portman announced they would not seek reelection in 2022. Currently, the Senate is 50/50, with Vice President Kamala Harris giving the Democrats the edge in the upper chamber.
Fetterman’s term as lieutenant governor ends Jan. 17, 2023.
