Not every Democrat appears to be on board with the coronation of Vice President Kamala Harris at this week’s Democratic National Convention.
The party’s convention kicks off Monday night as attendees give a “hero’s sendoff” to President Joe Biden, Politico reported, but Pennsylvania Sen. John Fetterman (D-PA) won’t be among them. The freshman Democrat recently declared that he is skipping the Chicago convention due to family commitments and maintained that it has nothing to do with what he sees as an increasingly influential anti-Israel wing of his party which recently forced the Harris campaign to opt out of selecting his state’s Jewish Gov. Joshua Shapiro as her running mate. Although the two are bitter adversaries, Sen. Fetterman still believes that the Democratic Party is adrift from its moors by letting young Palestinian agitators bully Jewish voices out of leadership positions in the party.
“I’ve got three young kids, and they’re out of school,” the 55-year-old told The Free Press about his decision to avoid this week’s convention. “That’s four days I can spend with my children.” The decision, he added, “was made well before that debate,” referring to the June 27th showdown between Biden and former President Donald Trump that led to the eventual end of the Biden reelection campaign.
Biden, who has mostly supported Israel’s continual requests for arms in its war with Hamas, contrasted markedly from Harris, who instead appears more sympathetic to far-left party activists she needs to shore up in a close race against President Trump. That grinds on Fetterman, who espoused steadfast support for Jewish hostages taken during the October 7th, 2023 terrorist attack by Hamas.
“I forcefully condemn these cowardly, horrifying, unprovoked attacks on Israel by Hamas. Attacking innocent civilians is particularly despicable and reflects the craven behavior of this terrorist group. I unequivocally stand with the people of Israel now, and always,” the Pennsylvania senator wrote on X following the attack. Asked by The Free Press if he ever feels “lonely” as a pro-Israel voice in the U.S. Senate, Fetterman laughed, replying, “Well, I mean, it’s, it’s”—uneasy laughter—“I keep saying, just like the convention, it’s not about me.”
Since turning on the progressive left, Fetterman has provoked fierce backlash from “Squad” members like Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio Cortez (D-NY) who said in a recent interview, “A lot of folks don’t recognize John Fetterman these days.” The Patriot-News, a Harrisburg paper, recently published an op-ed titled “I wish I had never voted for you.” The shift mirrored how Sen. Fetterman has referred to himself since landing statement positions.
During his unsuccessful first run for Senate in 2016, the lieutenant governor described himself as a “progressive champion.” These days, his social media posts read, “I’m not a progressive, I’m just a regular Democrat.” Former staff members have distanced themselves from the boss they helped elect on a promise to bring progressive values to the Rust Belt.
“I don’t agree with him” on the Israel-Hamas war, admitted current communications director Carrie Adams in a recent interview. “I have a sense that his international views are a lot less nuanced than my generation, because when he was growing up, it was might makes right, and for my generation and younger who, of course, are the ones protesting this, they have a much more nuanced view of the region,” Adams added.
The criticism doesn’t seem to bother the first-term senator. “I’ve been frustrated by some of my members and how they’ve chosen to handle that situation,” Fetterman said about his colleagues without naming names. “I don’t agree with a lot of their views, but whatever kinds of political choices or any kind of political costs that I’ve incurred throughout all that, I don’t care. I haven’t once even regretted any of that.”
