- Fetterman appeared in a prerecorded video at the GOP midterm convention praising Republican Sen. Dave McCormick and President Trump, signaling breaks with Democrats.
- Democrats are frustrated: he appears on conservative media, criticizes the party, skips the campaign trail, and faces low favorability among Democratic voters.
- He insists he will remain a Democrat and mostly votes with the party, but close ties to Republicans and potential 2028 challengers create uncertainty.
President Trump’s first-ever midterm convention Wednesday night included an unexpected guest: Democratic Sen. John Fetterman.
The Pennsylvania politician appeared in a prerecorded video to introduce his Republican colleague, Sen. Dave McCormick, praising him as a friend and someone who “gets the job done,” while also pledging to work with President Trump to protect Pennsylvania’s steel industry. The cameo was particularly striking considering the convention was designed to help Republicans maintain control of Congress this November.
But for anyone who has followed Fetterman lately, the display may not have been entirely surprising. The former progressive favorite has increasingly broken with Democrats, criticized his own party, and found common ground with Republicans — including forging an unusually close relationship with McCormick. The two senators even formed a joint fundraising committee, an unusual arrangement for members of opposing parties.
Along the way, Fetterman has alienated many of the Democratic voters who helped elect him while winning an unlikely following on the right. Here’s what you need to know.
What did Fetterman say during the midterm convention?
During a surprise cameo on the convention’s opening night, Fetterman appeared in a prerecorded video to introduce his fellow Pennsylvania senator, Republican Dave McCormick. Standing in front of a steel mill and wearing his signature hoodie, Fetterman made a point of identifying himself as a Democrat — or, in his words, a “common-sense” one.
“I’m always going to stand with America,” Fetterman said. “I’m always going to reject the extremes and socialism and that anti-American way of life.” He went on to praise McCormick as a “great American” and friend and pledged to work with him and Trump to “fight and defend the steel way of life” in western Pennsylvania.
The roughly one-minute appearance was striking not only because Fetterman is a Democrat, but because the convention was explicitly designed to help Republicans hold onto Congress this fall. His criticism of “socialism” also echoed one of the GOP’s biggest lines of attack against Democrats heading into the midterms.
McCormick enthusiastically embraced the endorsement, asking the crowd, “How great is John Fetterman?” and thanking him for his “friendship” and “courage.” The White House also quickly amplified the clip on social media, with the caption, “Based John Fetterman.”
Why are Democrats frustrated with Fetterman?
Fetterman has increasingly irritated members of his own party, appearing frequently on Fox News, backing Trump’s strategy in Iran, and breaking with congressional Democrats during last year’s government shutdown fight. But his decision to make a cameo at a Republican convention — just weeks before the midterms — appears to have struck an especially raw nerve.
Former Rep. Conor Lamb, whom Fetterman defeated in Pennsylvania’s 2022 Democratic Senate primary, compared the convention video to a “North Korean newscast” and said state party officials have “already assumed Fetterman is a non-factor.” (Lamb is among several Pennsylvania Democrats considering a possible Senate run in 2028, when Fetterman will be up for reelection.)
Others within the party have been similarly blunt. Democratic Rep. Chris Deluzio said voters he’s spoken with across Pennsylvania are “pretty frustrated” and “pretty disappointed” with Fetterman — and pointed to the senator’s absence from the campaign trail as Democrats fight to flip several competitive House seats this fall.
“John Fetterman is nowhere to be found,” Deluzio told CNN. “And frankly, folks don’t want him on the trail,” he said, adding that Fetterman has instead spent time appearing on conservative media and criticizing Democrats.
Those complaints have also extended beyond Fetterman’s politics. Recent reports have raised questions about his engagement with some of the day-to-day work of the Senate, including meetings with constituents and attendance at committee hearings. Fetterman has fiercely disputed the reporting, denouncing allegations from former staffers as “lies, half-truths, innuendos, [and] smears.”
Perhaps the clearest sign of just how dramatically Fetterman’s political standing has shifted can be found among Pennsylvania voters. A New York Times/Philadelphia Inquirer/Siena University poll released in late August found that just 20 percent of likely Democratic voters viewed him favorably, compared with 79 percent of likely Republican voters. In fact, Fetterman was more popular among Republican voters than the state’s Republican senator, McCormick, who had a 66 percent favorability rating among the GOP.
But so far, Fetterman’s Senate colleagues have largely stayed quiet. Democrats have been reluctant to publicly criticize him as they work to flip the majority in November, amid ongoing speculation that the 57-year-old Pennsylvanian could leave the party and caucus with Republicans.
"John Fetterman is a friend and an important member of our caucus. It's a waste of energy to get spun up about his voting record or place in our party — he votes with us 90 percent of the time," Democratic Sen. Peter Welch of Vermont, who is close with Fetterman, told POLITICO in a statement before the convention appearance. "We need a big tent if we're going to win in November."
So, will Fetterman actually switch parties?
If you take Fetterman at face value, then the answer would be no. Despite his increasingly public breaks with Democrats, he has repeatedly insisted that he has no plans to become a Republican — a point he reiterated after his appearance at the GOP convention.
“I’m 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,” Fetterman said in a statement Wednesday.
He made a similar case in a Washington Post op-ed in May, arguing that working with Trump and Republicans doesn’t mean his own political beliefs have changed. He pointed to his continued support for abortion rights, labor unions, LGBTQ rights, and SNAP, among other issues.
“Being an independent voice that works with the other side to deliver for Pennsylvanians might put me at odds with the party that I have stayed committed to and have no plans to leave — but I will continue to put the commonwealth and the country first,” he wrote.
And, as Fetterman put it: “Plus, I’d be a terrible Republican who still votes overwhelmingly with Democrats.”
There’s just one caveat. In July, Fetterman said the only circumstance that could cause him to leave would be if Democrats became “the anti-Israel party.” But even then, he stressed: “I’m never changing my party” outside of “that one condition.”
For now, Fetterman insists he’s staying put. But with his relationships with Democrats fraying, his popularity rising among Republicans, and potential 2028 challengers already circling, questions about his political future probably aren’t going away anytime soon.
