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Pennsylvania U.S. Senate candidate John Fetterman is shaking up his campaign, replacing his current campaign manager with a former top Biden strategist.
Brendan McPhillips was then-candidate Joe Biden’s state director in Pennsylvania during the 2020 campaign. Fetterman’s campaign praised the veteran political operative as someone who “knows Pennsylvania” and “knows how to win” in a statement to the Philadelphia Inquirer.
McPhillips replaces Fetterman’s current campaign manager, Bobby Maggio, who has taken on an advisory role with the campaign. Maggio previously shepherded Fetterman through a contentious Democratic primary against rivals Rep. Conor Lamb (D-PA) and state Rep. Malcolm Kenyatta.
BIDEN SAYS ‘NO BIGGER’ CANDIDATE FOR WORKING PEOPLE THAN FETTERMAN
McPhillips told the Philadelphia Inquirer in an interview that the stakes of the race are “incredibly high” and attacked Republican nominee Dr. Mehmet Oz as “someone who doesn’t even live in and who isn’t from” Pennsylvania.
“We need more authentic representation from folks who really want to go and do the work,” McPhillips said.
Fetterman, Pennsylvania’s incumbent lieutenant governor, previously hired McPhillips to run his 2016 Senate campaign. Fetterman lost the Democratic primary that year by a wide margin to Katie McGinty, who went on to lose to incumbent Sen. Pat Toomey (R-PA) in the general election. But McPhillips argued that this time is different.
“In 2016, we were just kind of introducing [Fetterman] to the voters for the first time,” McPhillips noted. “He took that platform and made connections with people throughout the state.”
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Fetterman is set to face Oz in the general election in November. The Senate race in Pennsylvania is a top target for both parties, as Democrats seek to flip a competitive seat in a battleground state that has vexed them for several cycles.
But Fetterman’s recent health problems have worried Democrats. The candidate suffered a stroke shortly before the May 17 primary and had to have a pacemaker implanted. Fetterman has been recovering since then and has yet to return to the campaign trail.
