John Fetterman — the media-savvy political battering ram who serves as Pennsylvania’s lieutenant governor — introduced on Monday that he's operatin
John Fetterman — the media-savvy political battering ram who serves as Pennsylvania’s lieutenant governor — introduced on Monday that he’s operating in 2022 for the Senate seat vacated by retiring Republican incumbent Pat Toomey.
The 6’8” former mayor of Braddock, Pa., a struggling postindustrial city close to Pittsburgh, is positioning himself because the rarest of figures in 21st American politics — a populist Democrat hoping to unite the get together’s left wing with Rust Belt voters who backed former President Donald J. Trump.
The announcement video posted on his Twitter web page weaves collectively clips of appearances on liberal mainstays just like the “The Colbert Report” with photos of a set-jawed Mr. Fetterman stomping via the gritty streets of small city Pennsylvania in work boots.
“These locations throughout Pennsylvania really feel left behind, they don’t really feel a part of the dialog,” Mr. Fetterman, 51, mentioned in his voice-over. “That’s why Donald Trump went to those small counties, and held these huge rallies. We can not afford to take any vote as a right.”
On the identical time, Mr. Fetterman isn’t shying away from his political positions — marijuana legalization, expanded LGBTQ rights, assist for some components of the Inexperienced New Deal (sans the fracking ban) and a minimum-wage enhance — that place him comfortably within the progressive wing of the Democratic Social gathering.
Mr. Fetterman’s announcement was lengthy anticipated in a race that’s shaping as much as be one of the crucial aggressive in an particularly consequential midterm election. He has already raised about $1.four million, and secured the assist of a number of unions.
Different doable Democratic rivals embrace two members of Congress, Rep. Conor Lamb and Rep. Brendan Boyle, together with State Rep. Malcolm Kenyatta. Ex-Navy Secretary Kenneth Braithwaite and former federal prosecutor William McSwain are amongst doable entrants in what is anticipated to be a crowded Republican subject.
This isn’t the primary time Mr. Fetterman has sought Mr. Toomey’s seat. In 2014, he completed a distant third behind the veteran state official Katie McGinty, who was subsequently defeated by Mr. Toomey.
After operating efficiently for the state’s number-two publish in 2018, Mr. Fetterman established himself as one in every of Mr. Trump’s most persistent and colourful critics.
Living proof: In December, he demanded Texas Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick, a Republican, make good on his promise to pay $1 million for any instances of voter fraud found within the nation, after Pennsylvania officers introduced {that a} Trump supporter voted illegally.
Mr. Patrick has not paid up.