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Faced with a crisis that could end the campaign this weekend, Democratic Senate nominee John Feterman of Pennsylvania issued a statement on Sunday thanking the “character and doctors” who treated his stroke.
The vernacular was not a matter of parliamentary correctness – “I have to take a minute,” he wrote to get away from the trail – but that was the point, as is often the case with Feterman. At 6 feet 8, with a shiny pate, a goatee of salt and pepper, tattooed hands, and a sense of fashion at the sports bar, Feterman announced from his hospital bed that even in sickness he remained a different kind of Democrat.
This is a field that paid off in Tuesday’s state primary election, which could set up a one-term vice-governor to lead the party in the open election race in 2022 – a chance for Democrats to see if they can arrest the red-wave building and their dwindling support from the white, working class with a candidate who doesn’t easily fit into any guerrilla box.
Fetterman, 52, easily defeated his main Democratic rival, Connor Lamb, a pure Marine veteran and prosecutor whom President Biden had compared to his late son Bo and whom other party leaders recently cited in 2018 as an example for the future. of the party.
“Democrats are united around John, who is a strong candidate, will run in a tough race and can win in November,” Biden said in a statement Tuesday night. He added that the Republicans in the race were “too dangerous, too thirsty and too extreme to represent Pennsylvania.”
The victory came as Democrats sought an answer to the reshuffle that occurred during Donald Trump’s two presidential campaigns, when support for the party from uneducated voters declined. In Ohio, the party chose a candidate, Tim Ryan, who also presented himself as a champion of the forgotten American industrial communities. Ryan’s first ad declared that the nation’s struggle was “us against China,” which angered some Asian American civil rights groups.
From 2018: Democrat in fitness shorts tries to gather blue votes in Trump’s country
In Pennsylvania, where Feterman is fighting for the seat of Senator Patrick J. Tumi (R), who is retiring – President Barack Obama won voters who did not finish college with 15 points over Mitt Romney in 2012, winning 57 percent against 42 percent of Romney, according to exit polls. Eight years later, Trump reversed the scenario by taking the same group of voters nine points above Biden, 54 percent to 45 percent.
Republicans had to choose on Tuesday from among three leading candidates in the Senate in a tenacious primary race – doctor and celebrity Mehmet Oz, backed by Trump; financier David McCormick; and the climber Katie Barnett, who on January 6, 2021, took part in the Stop Theft rally, which preceded the violent attack on the US Capitol.
John Brabender, a Republican consultant who has led competitions in Pennsylvania for decades, said Feterman’s candidacy will test whether Democrats can join the same kind of populist, anti-establishment energy that works so well for Trump, but with a completely different set of policy solutions.
“I’ve seen people describe Fireman as a left-wing version of Donald Trump,” Brabender said. “What we will learn is whether politics or personality is what draws people to Trump.
Feterman rose to national fame as mayor of the faded manufacturing city of Braddock, where he starred in Levi’s 2010 commercial for America’s Industrial Revival. He embraced much of his party’s orthodoxy, supporting the lack of government restrictions on abortion, the end of the Senate filibuster, a higher minimum wage, a path to citizenship for illegal immigrants and higher refugee quotas. A former supporter of Medicare-for-all, he described healthcare as a “fundamental human right” during the current campaign.
But he has also found ways to differentiate himself from the rest of his buttoned-up party. As mayor, he married same-sex in 2013, before he was legal in the state. He first ran for the Senate in 2016 with the support of Senator Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) And became a vocal supporter of the legalization of marijuana for entertainment. (Feterman has not personally used the drug since his trip to Burning Man in 1999, he told Rolling Stone magazine recently.)
Supporter of climate change legislation, he also criticized the approach of some versions of the Green New Deal, which aimed to limit natural gas fracking and the development of nuclear energy, before renewables were available, an approach that helps parts of Pennsylvania that depend on natural gas production.
He also faces criticism for a 2013 incident when he confronted a black man with a rifle in his hand, whom he believes was involved in a shooting incident near his home in Braddock.
“Partly because of his history, partly because of his personality and partly because he is just the way he is, he’s a man a working-class Democrat can look at and feel like he’s watching,” said former Gov. Ed Randall (D). who sees Feterman as a strong retail politician who ran a smart campaign, raising a whopping $ 16 million in the spring.
The strategists of the National Democrats, despite his recent fear for health, are excited about the match he will secure in the general election. They point to his success in 2018, when he was voted across the state and won in six constituencies that Trump ran two years earlier.
“We believe that he will indeed be able to present convincing arguments and keep margins in parts of the state where Democrats have not performed worse,” said one Democrat, speaking on condition of anonymity to discuss internal discussions. “At the heart of his argument is that he is one of those unique candidates who really makes a connection.”
On Tuesday, his campaign announced that Feterman had undergone a successful procedure to implant a pacemaker with a defibrillator to “help protect his heart and address the root cause of his stroke, atrial fibrillation.”
He has not spoken publicly since the stroke and plans to miss his rally on election night. His campaign released two photos of him from the hospital, both sitting in a chair, including one Tuesday in which he filled out an absentee ballot.
“The good news is that I feel much better and the doctors tell me that I have not suffered any cognitive impairment,” he said in a statement on Sunday. “I’m on my way to a full recovery.”
Under Trump, Connor Lamb was a rising star of the Democrats. Now he is fading.
Republicans are expected to release a similar book against any Democrat nominee to portray the party’s candidate as an extremist.
“Ads are written when you compete against John Fireman. He has embraced the far left on almost every issue, “said Chris Hartline, a spokesman for the National Republican Senatorial Committee. “What the Democrats’ primary election in Pennsylvania shows is that the battle is over. The Progressives have won. “
Democrats remain confident that Feterman, or whoever wins the primary, will be able to withstand the onslaught, given the ideological profile of Republicans in the race, who fought to win Trump’s favor.
“I just don’t think Republicans will give an alternative. I will not sweat from this, “said JB Poersch, president of the PAC of the Senate Majority, a group united with Senate Majority Leader Charles E. Schumer (DN.Y.). “Our challenge is the economy. The challenge for our man is to meet the moment and show why the struggle for working people will begin. “
On Tuesday afternoon in Lawrenceville, one of Pittsburgh’s most useful and noble neighborhoods, many Democrat voters said they voted for Feterman, citing his 15-year term as mayor of nearby Braddock and saying he had the right combination. from attractiveness to everyone and liberal ideology.
“I want progressive,” said Sean Vanata, a 25-year-old social researcher in a nonprofit group.
Bathtub said he was not worried about the stroke that Feterman had suffered in recent days: “It seems to be fine. That didn’t scare me. “
Ellen Lundy, 32, an ordained preacher, said she also followed his career in Braddock. “He has a good reputation,” she said. “It looked like he would be there for everyone, with shorts and a hood.
“I just like it,” said Ruth Barsotti, 68, who owns a wine business with her husband. She said she believed he could win the general election because he “has that feeling for everyone”.
But earlier Tuesday morning, senior Democrat voters in a West Philadelphia polling station said they were not thrilled by the big, tattooed man known for wearing shorts in the winter.
“I’m not against tattoos and all that, but I want to see a tender side,” said Thelma Teak, 66, who runs a day center. “He’s too hard.”
Her voice went to the more centrist Lamb, who she said had “class.”
And even in his hometown, Feterman provoked mixed reactions. Some hail him as a reformer who helped the city regain its pride, while others see him as an interesting politician who uses him as a backdrop.
“I’ve known John since he first came to Braddock,” said Phyllis Brown, 79, a retired office worker who distributes Fetterman flyers in front of a polling station at New Hope Baptist Church. “I saw him marching in those black boots and that black shirt with a bunch of kids. After I met him, he is a man with a big heart. “
Opposite Brown sat 84-year-old Annette Baldwin, chairwoman of the Democratic City Committee. She was reclining in a chair, just in time for a sandwich, as she walked around on election day. She frowned at the mention of Fireman.
“He did nothing,” Baldwin …
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