Democrats, Condemning Fetterman, Risk a Future Senate Majority To Rid Themselves of a Pro-Israel Maverick

Senator John Fetterman, Democrat of Pennsylvania, is facing criticism aiming to drive him from office. The party’s power brokers — undermining their talk about a “big tent” — chafe at his support for Israel, opposition to socialists, and friendliness with Republicans — and they’re willing to punish him even if it scuttles their chances of a Senate majority.The blitz began with Friday’s Wall Street Journal story alleging that Mr. Fetterman “churns through staff as he dodges constituents, alienates fellow Democrats, and courts” the “Israel lobby.” Sourced to “interviews with more than a dozen former staffers and lawmakers” and leaked text messages, the article resurfaced the senator’s missed votes. He called this a “weird smear” on Fox in June, and the absences were ballooned by illness.In September, the Journal reported, Mr. Fetterman was told by staff that “officials with the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia wanted to meet” to discuss Medicaid funding and vaccines. “I’m convinced,” the senator wrote to his staff, “they just want free trips to D.C.” A WMAL host, Derek Hunter, dismissed the Journal story on X as “an obvious coordinated hit piece irrelevant to the realities of legislating.” A former health policy analyst and press secretary for the late Montana Republican, Senator Conrad Burns, Mr. Hunter wrote that lobbyists “use sick children to get meetings with politicians and manipulate the public.”Mr. Fetterman’s support for Israel has manifested in targeting the Democratic candidate for Senate in Michigan, Dr. Abdulrahman “Abdul” El-Sayed. The senator condemned him for campaigning with a streamer, Hasan Piker, who in past comments had said that “America deserved 9/11” and downplayed the October 7 attack, as this columnist wrote on Friday in The New York Sun. Mr. Piker subsequently walked back his comments about 9/11.Maine’s former Democratic candidate for Senate, Graham Platner, drew Mr. Fetterman’s ire for having a Nazi Totenkopf tattoo and allegations of abuse. Such attacks irked the party, but Mr. Fetterman persisted. “If Democrats ever … become the anti-Israel party,” he said at an event hosted by the Hill and NewsNation in July, “that’s when I would leave.”Mr. Fetterman’s appearances on conservative news outlets rankle Democrats, but wanting air time isn’t unique to him. Conventional wisdom holds that “the most dangerous place is between a politician and a camera.” Senator Robert Dole, Republican of Kansas, popularized the line for the New York Democrat, Senator Charles Schumer, who embraced it with good humor.Reaction to the Journal story was swift from Pennsylvania Democrats on X. Congressman Christopher Deluzio criticized what he called Mr. Fetterman’s “laziness, disrespect, and willingness to carry water for a foreign government.” Congressman Brendan Boyle called Mr. Fetterman “a disgrace” and a vice chairman of the DNC, State Representative Malcolm Kenyatta, judged him “constantly MIA.” ‪Congressman Conor Lamb, citing allegations that the senator made an excuse about being sick to avoid meeting with three wounded veterans, wrote, “if there is a decent bone left in your body, just quit.”‬ Mr. Fetterman defeated Messrs. Kenyatta and Lamb in the 2022 primary. “Here in Philly,” a Philadelphia city council member, Jamie Gauthier, tweeted, “we’ve had enough. @JohnFetterman needs to resign immediately.” She wants to kick him out of the purported “big tent” so Pennsylvania’s Democratic governor, Joshua Shapiro, can “appoint a replacement who’ll serve the people.”State law says that a permanent senator would be chosen at the next general election “at least 90 days after the vacancy.” Mr. Fetterman would have a good chance of returning like the Connecticut Democrat, Senator Joseph Lieberman. Defeated in the 2006 primary over the Iraq War, he went on to win reelection as an independent.A poll conducted by the New York Times, Philadelphia Inquirer, and Siena University last month found Mr. Fetterman’s overall favorability at 46 percent, unchanged from May within the margin of error. He’s down 41 points with Democrats, but up 13 points with independents and 52 points with Republicans. Those numbers put Mr. Fetterman in a solid position should he lose the Democratic nomination.

Democrats, Condemning Fetterman, Risk a Future Senate Majority To Rid Themselves of a Pro-Israel Maverick

Democrats, Condemning Fetterman, Risk a Future Senate Majority To Rid Themselves of a Pro-Israel Maverick

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