The Solution to the Democrats’ John Fetterman Problem

The party doesn’t just need to secure 51 Senate seats—it needs 52. Fortunately, there is a visible path.

Flipping four Senate seats, which would give Democrats a 51-seat majority in the upper house, is a daunting enough challenge for this midterm cycle. But that’s the easy part. Realistically, the party really needs to flip five. Pennsylvania’s John Fetterman simply can’t be relied upon anymore. He seems more angered by the progressive faction in the Democratic Party than the antidemocratic radicals who run the GOP and the country. So Democrats must invest heavily in Iowa, Texas, and other traditionally red states that will be hard to win, in order to get a 52-seat majority and make him irrelevant—or to spur him to make a party switch. A Senate where John Fetterman is the swing vote cannot be a steady bulwark against President Trump and his misrule.

Fetterman, in a recent interview with The New York Times, declared that he would “never” switch parties. I don’t trust that promise. Fetterman noted that he agrees with the Democrats on the vast majority of policy issues. But based on his public comments, the senator seems fixated on two particular matters: Israeli-Palestinian policy and the progressive-socialist left. And on those two matters, the divide between Fetterman and the Democratic Party is huge and growing. The Democratic left that Fetterman goes on Fox News to bash is surging in numbers and power—in no small part because of the status quo that Fetterman has done much to uphold. Antipathy toward Israel has expanded from progressive politicians to even average Democratic voters. I worry that one day, say in April 2027, someone like Representative Ayanna Pressley tweets something that annoys Fetterman, he declares on X, “I didn’t leave the party, the party left me,’ and immediately becomes a Republican or an independent.

Also, it may eventually be smart (and perhaps even necessary) for Fetterman to leave the Democratic Party. If he runs for reelection in 2028 as a Democrat, he will have a hard time winning a primary. His poll numbers among Pennsylvania Democrats (not just........

© New Republic