There’s a saying that goes, “Politics makes strange bedfellows.”
President Donald Trump hopes to being that sentiment into fruition by trying to woo Democrat Sen. John Fetterman (Pa.) to the Republican Party.
Politico’s Jonathan Martin wrote a column Sunday when he noted some Republicans believe even if they lose four Senate seats this November, they may still hold on to control of the chamber by flipping Fetterman.
“Trump has made the sell, offering his patented total and complete endorsement plus a financial windfall to the Pennsylvanian,” Martin wrote. “A handful of Senate Republicans are also gently feeling out Fetterman and responding to his concerns over the prospect of defecting from the Democratic Party, multiple high-level GOP officials tell me.”
Fetterman has been adament in staying. Democrat, telling Martin, “I’m not changing.”
“I’m a Democrat and I’m staying one,” he said.
As Martin pointed out, Fetterman did not completely reject the idea of becoming a independent.
“When one senior Republican recently brought up the idea of becoming an independent to Fetterman, he absorbed the suggestion and didn’t embrace or reject the overture, according to a GOP official familiar with the conversation,” Martin wrote.
He also noted Fetterman’s friendships with Republicans.
“First, the Senate is akin to a high school cafeteria. And Fetterman these days is much more comfortable sitting, quite literally, with the Republicans. He never shows up for Democrat-only gatherings, such as the caucus’s regular luncheons,” Martin wrote. “Fetterman gets along well with Senate Majority LeaderJohn Thune, the two text one another regularly.”
“After resisting it because he didn’t want to prompt chatter, Fetterman has now started to hang out in the Senate GOP cloakroom during long votes. For a time, he would remain alone and spend time between votes reading through his phone until [Katie] Britt came out to join him for meals. This was a way he didn’t have to enter either party’s mini-Capitol clubhouse. Now, though, Fetterman is spending hours with Senate Republicans in their cloakroom and in some leadership offices,” Martin continued.
“If Fetterman does flip, according to officials who were given anonymity to talk about sensitive matters, it will be thanks in large part to his deepening friendship with a pair of senators and their high-profile spouses: Sen. Dave McCormick (R-Pa.), and his wife Dina, and Sen. Katie Britt (R-Ala.), and her husband, Wesley,” Martin noted.
IJR previously reported Fetterman denied he’d ever cross the aisle.
“My voting record actually reflects that I am a Democrat. You know, what’s changed me with many of my other colleagues is that I don’t agree and I use like extreme rhetoric and say, but I support what I think most Americans should agree with these things. You know, the Democratic Party, you know, we became an open border party, without a doubt,” Fetterman said. “And now that’s wrong, and I support to make our border more security, and deport all of the criminals right now,” he said. “So I can’t be a Republican because in many other areas, I disagree on that. So whether if I’m politically homeless or whatever, but I’m staying in my party.”
