Senate Candidate John Fetterman

(D-Pennsylvania)

Fetterman is seeking election for a first term

Fetterman’s Membership in Under-Represented Communities: N/A

A Pennsylvania native, John Fetterman was born to teenage parents just starting out on their own. At the time of his birth, his father worked nights in order to put himself through college. John grew up in York, PA, and followed in his father’s footsteps to Albright College, where he played offensive tackle for the Lions.

At 23, Fetterman joined the Big Brothers/Big Sisters organization before serving in AmeriCorps and served in Pittsburgh’s historic Hill District, where he helped set up the first computer labs in the neighborhood and taught GED classes to young mothers and fathers.

He went on to earn a Masters in Public Policy from Harvard University’s Kennedy School. John returned to Pennsylvania to start a GED program in the town of Braddock, one of the poorest and most troubled communities in the Commonwealth. In 2005, encouraged by his students, Fetterman ran for mayor. He managed to win the crowded primary by a single vote. In his 13 years as mayor, John worked to rebuild his community, creating jobs and bringing creative urban policy solutions to Braddock. The town now has a community center, urban gardens, and a free store run by Fetterman’s wife, Gisele.

In 2016, John decided to run for U.S. Senate against incumbent Pat Tomey (R), but he lost the Democratic primary to Katie McGinty (D). Fetterman confounded expectations by earning 20%of the vote as a relatively unknown candidate in a four-way race. Two years later, in 2018, Fetterman was chosen by incumbent Governor Tom Wolf to run on his gubernatorial ticket as Pennsylvania’s Lieutenant Governor. As Lt Governor, Fetterman has been a leader on marijuana legalization and reforming the clemency process in Pennsylvania.

Fetterman and his wife Gisele have chosen not to settle in the Lt. Governor’s Mansion, instead opening up the pool in the official residence to children who don’t have access to one. They live with their three children in a restored car dealership in Braddock with the family dog, Levi.

Fetterman is running for election to the U.S. Senate to represent Pennsylvania. The Pennsylvania primary was held on May 17, 2022. Fetterman secured the Democratic nomination with a commanding 58.6% of the vote (751,521 votes), beating out former House Representative Connor Lamb (D-PA-17) and Pennsylvania House Representative Malcolm Kenyatta. Meanwhile, reality television star Mehmet Oz (R) narrowly won a seven-way Republican primary with just 31.2% of the vote. Oz was able to edge out former hedge fund CEO David McCormick (R) by just 940 votes. The Pennsylvania general election for Senate will take place on November 8, 2022.

Polling:

While polling for the Pennsylvania Senate race has consistently shown Lt. Gov John Fetterman with a strong lead, as the election approaches, the race has significantly tightened. In a CNN poll released on October 2, Lt. Gov. Fetterman led Mehmet Oz (R), 51-46.An Insider Advantage/FOX 29 poll released on October 20 found Fetterman (D) and Oz tied at 46% each. 5% of those polled were undecided. Another poll by Echelon Insights, released on October 20, and fielded between October 18 and the 20th, found Fetterman up by only 3 points over Oz; 46-43.

A poll released in early October by Momentive/SurveyMonkey for Center Street PAC found Fetterman (D) leading Mehmet Oz (R), 55-36. Another poll conducted in early October by the  Trafalgar Group poll found that Lt. Gov. John Fetterman (D) led celebrity Dr. Mehmet Oz (R), 47%-45%. 

Polling has consistently shown Fetterman leading nearly every early projection so far in the 2022 Pennsylvania Senate Race.

A poll conducted by Beacon Research and Shaw & Company Research for Fox News in September found John Fetterman (D) up against his Republican opponent Mehmet Oz, 45-41. Another September poll conducted and released by Franklin and Marshall College found Fetterman (D) beating Oz, 45-42. Compared to a Franklin and Marshall College poll released in August, Oz has significantly closed previously large gaps to Fetterman. This August poll found Fetterman winning the race by 45%, while Oz only captured 36% of the hypothetical vote. 

In August, several new polls showed Fetterman’s continued dominance. A poll released on August 30 by Susquehanna Polling & Research Inc. found Fetterman leading Republican nominee Oz 49-44. Similarly, in an August 25 poll released by Franklin & Marshall College found Fetterman beating Oz 44-36. Another poll released on August 25 conducted by Emerson College found Oz trailing Fetterman by just 4 points (44-48). The only time Oz came this close to Fetterman during the post-primary election was released on June 24 by GOP firm  Cygnal which found Fetterman winning over Oz, 48-44.

Oz has a lot to do to rebuild his image. A bipartisan poll conducted by Democratic firm Impact Research and the GOP firm Fabrizio, Lee, and Associates from June 12-19, about a month post-primary,  not only showed Fetterman up six points, but Oz was 33 points underwater. In this poll, 30% of potential voters found Oz favorable, while 63% of voters found him unfavorable. He had a net negative of 26 with independents and was 42 points underwater with women — and this survey was taken pre-Dobbs. Fetterman, meanwhile, had a net positive rating of 10 points.

Polling prior to the primary also indicated the popularity of Fetterman over the entire Republican field. In one of the first polls released in this race, a December 2021 Data For Progress survey found Fetterman led Oz, 44-42. Fetterman was the only Democratic candidate who was able to beat Oz in this poll, along with two other Republican frontrunners, Jeff Bartos (48-38) and Sean Parnell (48-40) before Parnell dropped out in a general election match-up. Fetterman has a unique appeal amongst Independent voters in Pennsylvania, as the same poll found that Fetterman led in general election matchups against all three Republican frontrunners.

Fetterman’s Campaign Plan:

Born and raised in Pennsylvania, Fetterman has dedicated his life to giving back to public service.Following a 13-year career as mayor of Braddock, a once booming steel city 11 miles east of Pittsburgh, Fetterman was elected Lieutenant Governor in 2018. Fetterman’s biggest advantages in this race are both his name recognition in Pennsylvania, as well as his successful electoral history in the state. 

Fetterman’s campaign believes that in Pennsylvania, Democrats cannot afford to run the same old playbook or the same old Washington candidate. Fetterman is the only candidate in the race who has already proven he can run and win statewide in PA. Weeks after taking office, the first official task Fetterman completed as Lt. Governor was embarking on a listening tour of all 67 counties, something no sitting Lt. Governor has ever done, to engage with Pennsylvanians about legalizing marijuana.

Fetterman also uses his physical and personal history to show people he’s not like other politicians –they can see it for themselves when his large tattooed figure enters the room.  With his straight-talking style, Fetterman defies conventional labels and appeals across party lines. He is the rare candidate with a bold populist record and the proven ability to appeal to independents and voters in Pennsylvania’s reddest and most rural counties. The Fetterman campaign is working with local elected officials and activist groups all across Pennsylvania to ensure high voter turnout for his race as well as other critical races in Pennsylvania this cycle.

While Fetterman has the advantage of being a local politician from Pennsylvania, his time as Braddock Mayor was at times controversial. Fetterman had a clear vision of how he wanted to transform Braddock: by expanding and investing in Braddocks’s alternative industries like the arts and housing sectors to attract newcomers into the city who will then invest in the community. Yet not everyone was on board with this strategy. During his time as Mayor, Fetterman had a contentious relationship with Braddock’s town council. Fetterman’s tense relations with the town council can also be attributed to the fact that he did not attend many council meetings. In 2009, members of the town council attempted to have Fetterman removed from a town council meeting and arrested after he criticized a political opponent while delivering his mayoral report. That same year, council president Jesse Brown ordered Braddock’s code enforcement officer to cite Fetterman for an occupancy permit violation for a building owned by Fetterman’s non-profit. A judge later dismissed the complaint. To avoid the town council’s gridlock, Fetterman would start using his non-profit, Braddock Redux, to accomplish many of his ideas for Braddock, but that also resulted in less citizen input into the projects. Another issue that rubbed local officials the wrong way was the amount of national media attention Fetterman attracted, considering that Fetterman was a white newcomer getting credit for saving a majority-Black town, many of whose representatives were Black.  

One particular incident from Fetterman’s time as Mayor has raised very real concern. In 2013, after hearing what he thought were gunshots in his neighborhood, Fetterman pulled a shotgun and chased a person he saw running, whom he assumed was the shooter. In reality, the person Fetterman perceived to be a shooter was a Black man who said he was out for a jog and who was, according to the police, unarmed. Fetterman has refused to apologize for the incident and doesn’t feel he needs to because he was reelected after the incident became public. Fetterman has even claimed his community “understood that it was about public safety and protecting the community.”During the Democratic primary for this seat, one of Fetterman’s opponents, Pennsylvania House Representative Malcolm Kenyatta (D) brought up this incident several times throughout the race and even confronted Fetterman for his lack of accountability in an April debate. Following Kenyatta’s call to apologize, Fetterman called Kenyatta’s description of the event “categorically false” and stuck to his usual defense. 

After Fetterman entered the Senate race in February 2021, The New York Times published an exposé into the gun incident, which brought the incident back into the national spotlight. The man who was targeted by Fetterman on that fateful day in 2013, Christopher Miyares, has publicly come forward claiming that Fetterman “lied about everything” and that Fetterman knew he was Black. Miyares, however, indicated that he doesn’t think this mistake should define the rest of Fetterman’s life. He even supports Fetterman’s Senate bid stating, “I hope he gets to be a Senator.” Khari Mosley, a go-to Pittsburgh consultant for turning out Black voters said the problem with Fetterman’s response is that he has found himself in a public debate with a Black man over whether he pulled a gun on him and hasn’t discussed how laden with symbolism that is. Fetterman’s gun incident is reminiscent of the 2020 the murder of Ahmaud Arbery: an unarmed Black jogger who was targeted and murdered by white men who took the “law” into their own hands. In addition to the harm Fetterman’s incident continues to have on the Black community, his lack of accountability for his actions will make him the target of Republican attacks against his character; in September, a political committee backing Fetterman’s opponent, Mehmet Oz (R), launched two TV ads about the incident that will air through the election on networks that have solid African American viewership. 

Prior to the May primary, Fetterman suffered a stroke. He was able to return to the campaign trail in August and his campaign is still figuring out to what extent his condition allows him to be out on the trail physically. Going into September, questions about Fetterman’s health are still at the forefront of the race. In early September,  Sen. Pat Toomey (R) endorsed Republican candidate Dr. Mehmet Oz (R) and proclaimed that Fetterman is “not up for the job.” Senator Bob Casey shortly after came out in support of Fetterman and even claimed Fetterman is “doing really well.” It seems that Fetterman’s health will remain a top issue until the general election, and in September, five state Democratic Party officials expressed worries over the Senate Challengers’ health.

On Thursday, October 20, President Biden traveled to Pennsylvania to stump for John Fetterman in both Pittsburgh and Philadelphia. Once he arrived in Pittsburgh, Biden shook hands with Fetterman on the tarmac, telling him: “You’re gonna win.”

Fetterman and Oz (R) are set to have their one and only debate on Tuesday, October 25. There remain questions about his health following his summer stroke. According to a report made by the Washington Post, Fetterman’s campaign hasn’t made public any official medical information about him since June 3. According to an official statement made on behalf of the campaign, Fetterman  “continues to work with a speech therapist and blocks time off nearly every day for a several-mile walk.” Four leading neurologists interviewed by the Post commented that Fetterman appears to have recovered “with no obvious long-term effects other than his acknowledged difficulty understanding spoken language and finding words.” Fetterman’s main base of supporters, though, seem not to be overtly concerned about the constant attacks and questions about his health. 

This race is shaping up to be one of the nation’s most memorable races of the 2022 cycle. Fetterman’s famous opponent and political newcomer, Dr. Oz, has been running a very news-worthy campaign. Notably, Oz was not born or raised in Pennsylvania, and the only time he spent in Pennsylvania was in the 1980s when he attended both the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine and Penn’sWharton School of Business. Oz has been painted as “carpetbagging” given his multiple homes and long New Jersey residence before moving to Pennsylvania. Oz’s biggest connection to Pennsylvania is where his wife grew up in the Philadelphia suburbs.

Oz has also spent a significant portion of the campaign on vacation; he spent much of the end of June into early July on vacation in Ireland, and post-primary traveled frequently to Palm Beach. Even though Fetterman held no major public events during most of this time after suffering a stroke in May, it is Oz who seems to have paid for it more negatively. There seems to have been some sympathy for Fetterman’s recovery, though questions about his health do still remain. 

Oz is also the Trump-endorsed candidate of this race, and it’s no surprise his campaign has incorporated Twitter into a major part of its strategy. Yet utilization of the platform has been to the advantage of John Fetterman, as out-of-touch Oz recently went viral for shopping at “Wegners” (Wegmans) for “crudité” (a vegetable tray) for his wife while blaming Biden for the rising cost of food. Immediately, Fetterman’s savvy social media team went to work creating campaign stickers with the slogan “Wegners: Let them eat crudité.” According to his campaign, they raised more than $500,000 in the 24 hours after the video went viral, and $65,000 of that came from sales of the sticker.

Republicans in turn have focused on taunting Fetterman’s recovery and have emphasized Fetterman’s past support for Bernie Sanders and paint him as a potential “extreme progressive.” Yet a simple glance at Oz compared to the hoodie-and-shorts clad tattooed Fetterman, and it’s not surprising to discern who comes across as more authentic and relatable to voters. 

The 2022 Pennsylvania Senate race is also one of the 2022 cycle’s most expensive targets for both Democrats and Republicans. The ad tracking firm AdImpact reported following the May 17 primary, that Fetterman’s campaign has spent $4.4 million on TV and digital ads, while Oz’s own campaign had spent just $17,000 on digital ads, but his campaign did launch a joint $999,000 ad buy with the National Republican Senatorial Committee (NRSC). 

As of August 18, Adimpact reported that Democrats had spent a total of $55.7 million on this race, with the Senate Majority PAC spending so far $29.5 million, the Future Forward PAC spending $11.4 million, and Fetterman’s campaign spending $6.4 million. Meanwhile, Republicans have poured $41.5 million into this race, with the Senate Leadership Fund contributing $31.9 million, the NRSC has spent$2.8 million, and Oz’s campaign has spent $2.4 million. So far Democrats have reserved a combined $39.6 million through Election Day, while Republicans have reserved a combined $31.9 million, per AdImpact.

In August, it was also reported that the NRSC had canceled $13.5 million in planned ad spending including $7.5 million, was scheduled for Pennsylvania, where GOP Senate candidate Dr. Mehmet Oz has trailed Fetterman in polling and fundraising. The cuts were allegedly made to help bolster once considered safe races like Ohio and North Carolina’s Senate races. The news of these cancellations comes after second quarter filings showed the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee (DSCC) had nearly twice the cash on hand as its Republican counterpart, $53.5 million to the NRSC’s $28.5 million.

Following the Supreme Court’s decision to overturn Roe v. Wade, Planned Parenthood Votes launched an ad directly attacking Republican nominee Oz, calling him “too extreme for Pennsylvania.”So far, we have seen $2.4M placed by the group in PA markets.

The Fundraising Fight: 

Throughout the election, Fetterman has exhibited strong fundraising and is one of the top raising Senate challengers. Despite his Hollywood connections, Republican candidate Oz has been significantly outraised by Fetterman so far.

In September, the John Fetterman and the Mandela Barnes campaigns launched a joint fundraising effort called Fight to 51, which aims to solicit money together across digital platforms as the two lieutenant governors both angle to be Democrats’ 51st vote in the Senate. The campaign will include joint email campaigns, digital ads, and promotional videos.

In a mid-September internal memo released by Fetterman’s campaign manager, Brendan McPhillips, warned that Republican candidate Oz and his Republican allies are together investing more in television ads than Fetterman and Democratic super PACs that support him. The memo obtained by Politico claimed that in the last three weeks alone, Republicans have spent nearly $12 million dollars — significantly outspending Fetterman and out-communicating on the airwaves.

Fetterman raised over $10 million in the second quarter of 2022, including over $4 million in small dollar donations. Meanwhile, Republican nominee Oz raised $3.8 million in the second quarter, mostly from outside state large dollar donations. Fetterman has $5.4 million cash on hand, while Oz has $1.2 million cash on hand. So far, Fetterman has raised $26 million in his bid for Senate, while Oz has raised $18.8 million. Following this second quarter report, Federal Election Commission data shows Oz loaned nearly 70% of his campaign’s $18 million raised in his race. Oz’s fundraising also shows a lack of small, one-time donors and limited support from outside committees. Shortly after the second quarter report was released, Fetterman’s campaign announced that it had received one million individual donations, highlighting Fetterman’s strong grassroots support.

The Fetterman campaign anticipates their general election budget to be around $40 million. Fetterman is building a state-wide coalition by working with local community and grassroots groups, which will include faith groups, issue advocacy groups, labor unions and groups representative of constituencies throughout Pennsylvania. These partnerships including national and local endorsements by the National Education Association, NARAL-Pro Choice, United Steelworkers District 10, UFCW Local 1776, the United Rural Democrats, and No Dem Left Behind. 

The Cook Political Report recently changed the race rating from a Toss Up to Lean Democratic. Pennsylvania’s Senate race to replace retiring Republican Pat Toomey (R) is considered a critical opportunity to Democrats’ chances of holding their tenuous control of the evenly divided chamber or taking a clear majority. Republicans are invested in retaining this seat with a Republican official. The party has aligned itself with an out-of-state, Trump-endorsed, and self-described MAGA candidate, Dr. Oz Mehmet. 

In modern political history, Pennsylvania is considered a true battleground state. Pennsylvania had voted Democratic in all six presidential elections prior to 2016. Former President Donal Trump (R) won Pennsylvania in 2016 against Hillary Clinton (D); Trump won in the state with 48.2% of the vote and by just 45,000 votes. In the 2020 Presidential election, Biden was able to narrowly secure Pennsylvania with 50% of the vote, beating Donald Trump (R) by under 100,000 votes. The past two presidential elections in Pennsylvania were decided by less than 2 percentage points. Pennsylvania is one of two states in 2022, along with Wisconsin, where Republicans are defending a seat in a state that Joe Biden (D) won in 2020.

In 2014, Tom Wolf (D) became the first candidate to defeat an incumbent governor since the state began allowing governors to serve two terms rather than one term under the 1968 term amendment to the state constitution. He defeated Republican incumbent Tom Corbett to be elected for his first term. In 2018, Wolf and Fetterman won the election over the Republican challengers with 57.8% of the vote or 2,895,652 votes. 

Sen. Pat Toomey was first elected to represent Pennsylvania in the Senate in 2010. In 2016, incumbent Sen. Pat Toomey won re-election against Katie McGinty (D), 48.8% to 47.3%. Tomey (R) was one of seven Republican senators to vote to convict Donald Trump of incitement of insurrection at his second impeachment trial. In early September, Tomey endorsed Republican nominee Oz and even held a press conference alongside Oz questioning Fetterman’s physical health and political ideology. Toomey’s appearance alongside Oz is notable, given the retiring incumbent waited until the last week of July to formally endorse Oz. Toomey had stayed silent during much of the bitter Republican Senate primary, declining to back anyone.

Policy Priorities:

As gleaned from candidate’s submitted V4P Questionnaire, website and research by V4P staff

Strengthening our Democracy

• Fetterman has indicated that he will fight to get secret money out of politics and supports the Freedom to Vote: John R. Lewis Act, among others. 
• Fetterman refuses to accept corporate PAC contributions and supports requiring funding disclosures from outside groups and matching small-dollar contributions.
• Fetterman has pledged to abolish the filibuster and granting D.C. statehood.
• Fetterman will support nominating Supreme Court Justices with clear records of fighting for workers, consumers, civil rights, racial justice, protections for women & LGBTQIA+ Americans, and the environment.

Championing a Healthy Climate and Environment

• Fetterman believes that the transition to clean energy is critical and that investing in this industry will create “good union jobs in the process.”
• Fetterman has signed the “No Fossil Fuel Money” Pledge
• During his time as Braddock Mayor, Fetterman was one of the only elected officials in the area to oppose the environmentally dangerous highway expansion of the Mon-Fayette Expressway, a partially-completed, four-lane highway that connects Western Pennsylvania and West Virginia. The expansion would have cut through Braddock. 
• During his first term as Mayor of Braddock, Fetterman established a community-supported agriculture project called “Pittsburgh Grow” to create an urban farm under the town’s main bridge.
• In 2009 while Mayor of Braddock, Fetterman secured a $400,000 grant from the Heinz Foundation to build a green roof in Braddock, the first of its kind in the Mon Valley. 
• Fetterman’s record on fracking is inconsistent. During his last Senate bid, he claimed that fracking near residential areas was “crazy” but later supported a proposal to drill for natural gas below U.S. Steel’s Edgar Thomson works in Braddock. Fetterman claimed the project would create good union jobs and was being handled at an environmentally conscious facility. The project was later shelved. 
• Fetterman said that he supports transitioning to a 100% clean energy economy by 2050, achieving net zero greenhouse gas emissions, decarbonizing the transportation sector, and ending fossil fuel subsidies.
• Fetterman also supports efforts to strengthen environmental justice and has himself been an advocate against what he calls “environmentally racist policies.

Health Care and Reproductive Justice

• Fetterman thinks that women should have control over their bodies and that a woman’s right to an abortion is “sacred and non-negotiable.”
• Fetterman has indicated that he will support legislation to move the U.S. toward universal health care and will fight for health equity in policy decisions. 
• Fetterman supports reproductive justice and indicated he will support legislation to codify Roe v. Wade into law.

Ensuring Economic Justice for All

• Fetterman released a plan called “Hold Washington Accountable.” The plan consists of five policy points Fetterman hopes to focus on once he is elected: strengthen American manufacturing, cut taxes for working people, slash “out of pocket” healthcare costs, end price gouging by corporations, and ban Members of Congress from trading stocks.
• Fetterman’s top policy priorities include raising wages for working families, reforming the criminal justice system, and protecting the union way of life.
• Fetterman’s first piece of legislation he introduced included raising the minimum wage to $15/hour.
• When Fetterman became the Mayor of Braddock, he personally invested thousands of his personal wealth, as well as his nonprofit’s funds, into bolstering the economically depressed steel town. A few projects Fetterman directly invested in include purchasing Braddock’s First Presbyterian Church and turning it into the town’s community center and setting up a website to publicize Braddock.
• Fetterman will support legislation to strengthen organized labor and strengthen the care economy (paid family and medical leave, affordable child care, and home and community based services). 
• He will also support efforts to cancel student loan debt.
• Fetterman will support legislation to close tax loopholes that benefit the wealthy and corporations and will support a wealth tax. He will also support permanently expanding the Child Tax Credit and Earned Income Tax Credit.

Ensuring Racial and Social Justice for All

• As Lt. Governor, Fetterman ran a state-wide cannabis legalization campaign which led to Pennsylvania Governor Wolf supporting legalization legislation–the first time in the state’s history a governor supported a pro-legalization measure.
• Fetterman founded the nonprofit Braddock Redux and has used the organization to acquire and save properties in Braddock while he has been mayor.
• Fetterman currently serves as the chair of Pennsylvania’s Board of Pardon, and he has been an advocate for reforming the clemency process in Pennsylvania to streamline it. Under his tenure, the Board has recommended more applicants for commutation than under any lieutenant governor in decades.
• Fetterman believes in a pathway to citizenship for immigrants. He is married to a former undocumented immigrant from Brazil and personally understands the need for immigration reform.  Fetterman believed we must create a system that “treats immigrants like human beings.”
• Fetterman was one of the first elected officials in PA to officiate a same-sex wedding when it was still considered illegal. 
• Fetterman will support comprehensive federal justice, policing, and safety reform. 
• He will oppose efforts to ban or limit the teaching of critical race theory and will advance the discussion on reparations. 
• He will cosponsor legislation to protect LGBTQIA+ people. 

*Profile updated as of October 26, 2022