Democrats are fired up about a blue wave on Tuesday carrying them to a majority in the U.S. Senate, but a familiar worry nags at them: their very own Sen. John Fetterman.
The idiosyncratic senator is staunchly pro-Israel and breaks with his party to support the Iran war, the administration’s illegal immigration crackdown, voter ID laws and President Trump’s nominees. It leaves Senate Democrats in a political catch-22: Mr. Fetterman is a thorn in their side, but, depending on how the election turns out, they might not be able to afford to lose him to build a Senate majority.
“John Fetterman is a small man, and sometimes a small man can cast a big shadow,” said Pennsylvania state Rep. Malcom Kenyatta, vice chair of the Democratic National Committee.
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He said Mr. Fetterman’s reelection race in 2028 “cannot come soon enough, where we can go in a different direction as it relates to our Senate seat.”
For now, Mr. Kenyatta is praying for a massive blue wave on Tuesday that will give Democrats a large enough majority to make Mr. Fetterman “a non-factor.”
The tension centers on Israel.
Mr. Fetterman’s unwavering support for the Jewish nation and the U.S.-Israeli military campaign in Gaza has put him at odds with grassroots activists and younger voters who oppose Israel’s war with Hamas and are sick of foreign conflicts.
In Michigan, those anti-Israel voters are rallying behind Democrat Abdul El-Sayed, one of the most pro-Palestinian candidates in this year’s Senate races.
Mr. Fetterman has warned that the divide over Israel could prompt him to ditch the party. But the gap between Mr. Fetterman and many Democrats extends beyond foreign policy.
He was the lone Democratic senator in September 2025 to support a Republican-backed stopgap spending bill to avert a government shutdown. He also crossed party lines to support Cabinet nominees such as Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin and Attorney General Pam Bondi.
Mr. Fetterman has been largely sidelined in the midterm elections.
In September, however, he made a surprise video appearance at the Republican Party’s midterm convention in Dallas. In the roughly one-minute recording, he introduced his fellow Pennsylvania senator, Republican Dave McCormick, as “a great American” and said he was proud to call him a friend.
It only added fuel to speculation that Mr. Fetterman will defect to the GOP.
Last fall, he said he had no plans to switch parties and reiterated that position in a May opinion piece, writing that he had “no plans to leave” even if working with Republicans occasionally puts him at odds with fellow Democrats.
Still, he hasn’t completely ruled it out.
In July, Mr. Fetterman said things would be different if Democrats officially became the “anti-Israel party.” He declined to elaborate on what that might mean politically and would not discuss what he described as private conversations with Republicans about a potential switch.
He also makes it clear that Mr. El-Sayed embodies the politics he opposes.
In a September on Fox News’s “Hannity,” he said he doesn’t get along with the Michigan nominee “because he absolutely supports Sharia law.”
He called Mr. El-Sayed “absolutely pro-Iran and -Hamas” and said Mr. El-Sayed is “in a spiritual union with” left-wing streamer Hasan Piker, “who really thinks that we deserve 9/11.” Mr. Fetterman also said Mr. El-Sayed has called for defunding the police. He added that he doesn’t get along with “communists and socialists and people that hate America.”
Mr. El-Sayed, meanwhile, in leaked audio obtained by Politico in July, said that if he wins, he would have no problem with “primarying people like John Fetterman.”
“Ideally you put one ogre on a pike, and then everyone else gets the message, and all of a sudden starts to sound a lot different,” Mr. El-Sayed said.
The increasingly personal feud has become a proxy for the Democrats’ infighting over the future of their party.
How Mr. Fetterman fits into that future remains to be seen. He could face a tough Democratic primary in 2028.
A recent Quinnipiac University poll found that 52% of Pennsylvania voters believe Mr. Fetterman should switch parties, including majorities of Democrats and Republicans.
His standing among Democratic voters has also fallen sharply.
Christopher Borick, a political science professor at Muhlenberg College in Pennsylvania, said Mr. Fetterman’s “record of breaking with his party has for all practical purposes ended the possibility that he could win a Democratic primary in 2028.”
“The anger among Democratic voters in Pennsylvania is palpable, and if Fetterman wants another term, he will have to opt for a path other than a Democratic primary,” Mr. Borick said.
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