Thune Says Fetterman Is ‘Welcome’ in the Senate GOP

The Senate majority leader, Senator John Thune, says he and his Republican colleagues would “welcome” Senator John Fetterman’s presence in the GOP conference. Mr. Fetterman has threatened to leave his party if it ever becomes what he calls the “anti-Israel party.”Mr. Fetterman, elected in 2022 as a progressive backed by Senator Bernie Sanders, has become increasingly alienated from his party, especially after the October 7, 2023 Hamas attacks in Israel. He had said consistently for years that he would never leave the Democratic Party, though he changed his tune last week. “If our party ever becomes — and just makes it official — the anti-Israel party, that’s when I would leave because that’s been a moral clarity for me,” Mr. Fetterman said at the Hill Nation Summit on Thursday. “I can’t understand why the Democratic Party that has these very specific values” will not support Israel, because, he says, it is the only country that “lives” and “projects” those same values. After making those remarks, Mr. Thune was asked at his weekly press briefing on Monday about the prospect of Mr. Fetterman becoming a member of the GOP conference. He says that many of his Republican colleagues have talked to Mr. Fetterman about doing so.“Yes, we would welcome him,” Mr. Thune said with a laugh. “I haven’t talked to him recently. I have had conversations with him in the past, as have many of my colleagues about the challenges that he faces in his caucus.”“There are many of us who, I think, would welcome the opportunity to have him join the Republican conference, but, you know, that’s ultimately a decision that’s left up to him,” Mr. Thune said.The majority leader said he understands that Mr. Fetterman is now a registered member of a party “that is moving further and further more radically to the more extreme left on a lot of issues.”“I think people like John Fetterman who have views that probably reflect a more — or at least, historically moderate — Democrat position are really kind of people without a home,” Mr. Thune said. “If he ever comes to the conclusion that he’s ready to move, we would certainly welcome it.”Depending on the outcome of this year’s midterm elections, Mr. Fetterman’s threat to leave the party could be a serious point of leverage for him. If they are only able to pick up three seats, then the GOP will retain a 50–50 majority, with Vice President JD Vance acting as the tiebreaker. If Democrats pick up four Senate seats, however, they will take the majority with 51 seats.At that point, if Mr. Fetterman were to either become a Republican or become an independent who is a member of the GOP conference, Mr. Thune would stay on as majority leader, with Mr. Fetterman as the chamber’s most important swing vote. Only one such similar event has taken place this century. Senator Jim Jeffords, a longtime moderate GOP lawmaker from Vermont, was serving in the Senate in 2001 in a 50–50 Republican majority, with Vice President Dick Cheney as the tiebreaker. In the summer of 2001, Jeffords announced that he would join the Democratic Caucus as an independent, handing Democrats control of the chamber until the beginning of 2003. As a reward, Democrats made Jeffords the chairman of the Environment and Public Works Committee.

Thune Says Fetterman Is ‘Welcome’ in the Senate GOP

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