Senator John Fetterman faces deep political isolation among Democrats in Pennsylvania as a shadow primary takes shape for 2028. While progressive voters and local party leaders express frustration over his conservative media appearances and votes with Republicans, his approval ratings have surged among Republican voters across the state.
The Growing Rift Between Fetterman and Pennsylvania Democrats
Around this time two years ago, Senator John Fetterman traveled county-to-county across Pennsylvania to campaign for Democrats up and down the ballot. Today, that political picture has completely reversed. After two years of crossing swords with his own party and supporting several of President Donald Trump’s priorities, the senator finds himself entirely absent from the state’s Democratic campaign stump.
No Democrat in Pennsylvania wants to be seen with him, and local party leaders report that his presence is no longer requested. I absolutely think that Fetterman would bring us more harm than good,
said Lori McFarland, the Democratic Party chair in Lehigh County, which is home to a congressional seat and a state Senate seat that Democrats are trying to flip. Nobody’s asked to see him, nobody’s requested his presence, and people, quite honestly, they’re mad at him and they don’t want anything to do with him. The local feel here is they feel betrayed by him.
Fetterman’s office and political adviser did not return messages seeking comment, and Fetterman has been silent about any plans to campaign in Pennsylvania this year.
Polling Shifts and Voter Reactions
Polling data illustrates a dramatic realignment in how the electorate views the senator. A New York Times poll from August showed that only about 2 in 10 registered Democrats in Pennsylvania hold a favorable view of Fetterman—a stark reversal from 2024, when 74% of Democrats viewed him positively.
Conversely, Fetterman’s standing among Republicans has inverted entirely. A Quinnipiac poll from July found that most Republican voters approve of how Fetterman is handling his job, and the New York Times poll registered his favorable rating among state Republicans at 73%, up from 25% a couple years ago. Cindy Durian, a Democrat voting in May’s primary in suburban Harrisburg, summarized the frustration of many in her party by stating she would never vote for Fetterman again and adding, I think he might as well change parties, he might as well change from a D to an R.
Policy Defections and Senate Friction
Fetterman had a stroke on the campaign trail before winning his Senate seat in 2022 and then was hospitalized for clinical depression in the first months of his term. Progressive frustration began mounting in late 2023 with his staunch support of Israel’s war against Hamas, and it has moved beyond that since Trump took office as Democrats watched him belittle their attempts to push back on Trump while emerging as a conservative media darling.
In Washington, Fetterman has frequently broken ranks, voting repeatedly with Republicans to end the shutdown last year while supporting multiple Trump nominations and opposing efforts to end the war in Iran. He is antagonizing Democrats, seemingly for pleasure,
said J.J. Abbott, a Democratic strategist.
At the same time, questions have been raised about his dedication to the job. Last year, he began racking up missed votes and missed hearings in the Senate. A meeting in Washington with representatives from a teachers union broke up after he began repeating himself, shouting and slamming his hands on a desk, and he has avoided other meetings and public events, including the funeral for three police officers killed in the line of duty. Public officials across Pennsylvania note that they haven’t seen him in several years, with some unable to remember when they last saw him. State Rep. Peter Schweyer of Allentown noted, I couldn’t tell you. We assumed that when we got him there that we were going to get somebody who’s going to fight for us. And what we got instead was somebody who just disappeared.
The 2028 Political Horizon in Pennsylvania
Despite his alienation from the party apparatus, Fetterman has repeatedly insisted he has no intention of switching parties because of his support for labor unions, LGBT rights, and other issues held dear by the left. I'm not going to be a Republican, but I'm going to be a Democrat that's going to have a conversation with whoever is playing it straight,
Fetterman told Fox News host Sean Hannity.
As the state features several marquee races this year—including Democratic Gov. Josh Shapiro running for reelection while leading the party’s efforts to hold a narrow state House majority, capture a state Senate majority for the first time in decades, and flip four U.S. House seats—Fetterman remains entirely sidelined. In one of those competitive U.S. House races, Democrat Bob Harvie is trying to unseat Republican Rep. Brian Fitzpatrick, and a campaign spokesperson confirmed Harvie hasn’t asked Fetterman for help. With a shadow primary taking shape for Fetterman’s Senate seat in 2028, it remains unclear whether Fetterman will ever return to the campaign trail, or whether he even wants another term, given that he spends much of his time criticizing his party and the dysfunction of Congress while often sitting alone in the hallway during Senate votes and eschewing conversations with colleagues inside the chamber.
