Fetterman makes his mark in D.C.
The hoodie-wearing freshman lawmaker impactful with his ‘strong voice on issues’
WASHINGTON — John Fetterman isn’t your typical U.S. senator.
Others don’t tower over their colleagues — then again, no other senator is 6-feet-8 inches tall. Others don’t come to work in a hoodie and shorts — which led to the first-ever Senate dress code. And others aren’t as open about their health problems — which included a stroke two years ago Monday and a six-week hospital stay last year for depression.
Two years after he had a stroke in the middle of his campaign for U.S. Senate, and 14 months after he walked out of a hospital he had checked himself into to be treated for clinical depression, Mr. Fetterman has settled into a role as the unconventional senator.
“He’s one of the most exciting senators that’s come through the Senate in the 10 years I’ve been here. He is a bit of a rock star,” said U.S. Sen. Cory Booker, D-N.J. “He has become, in many ways, even more impactful as a result of his stroke. ... He is an inspiring figure now, more so than he already was and I think his moral voice has only grown stronger.”
Some of Mr. Fetterman’s positions — particularly his support for Israel as it retaliates against an attack by Hamas, the Palestinian group designated as a terror organization by the U.S. — has drawn the ire of many progressives who had considered him one of theirs.
“They look at his physical appearance, they look at his blunt approach and too often they conclude that because he’s a maverick, he will be a progressive,” said former U. S. Rep. Paul McHale, D-Pa. “To be an anti-establishment candidate does not mean one must be a progressive. He is anti-establishment without being on the fringe of progressive politics.”
Markedly different
Two years after the stroke, his ability to serve in the U.S. Senate — an issue during the campaign — is no longer a concern. The major accommodation appears to be his continued use of a talk-to-text app on his phone to make it easier to follow conversations and respond to the speaker.
“Certainly from where it was two years ago to today is markedly different in terms of where he’s at, how he’s able to go about his business,” said Christopher Borick, a political science professor at Muhlenberg College.
Mr. Fetterman now is a regular on the Sunday talk shows, maintains a robust presence on the social media site X, and holds impromptu gaggles with reporters in the halls of Congress.
U.S. Rep. Glenn Thompson, a former administrator for Susquehanna Health System in Williamsport, said he has noticed the changes in Mr. Fetterman’s health over the last two years.
“Having worked in rehabilitation for 28 years, I’m really happy for him with the recovery that he’s made,” said Mr. Thompson, R-Centre. “That was a difficult stroke that he had experienced. ... My observation is he really has overcome a lot and his recovery has been really significant.”
Speaking on CBS’s “Mornings” show last month, Mr. Fetterman likened the talk-to-text device to someone wearing eyeglasses.
“Thankfully after the stroke, it didn’t have any impact on my intellect,” Mr. Fetterman said. “But processing language, this allows me to be more precise when we’re doing interviews and things in situations just like this.”
His willingness to discuss his depression and treatment has won him plaudits in the Senate and elsewhere, has allowed him to encourage others to get the help he did, and has helped destigmatize mental illness.
‘A very strong voice’
“He has become a very strong voice on issues that matter to everyday people of Pennsylvania in a way that I think nobody anticipated, and not even he could have foreseen that he would be giving a master class to the country on how to deal with a stroke, how to overcome the challenges that resulted from the stroke, and how to do it in a way that you become even more of not just a policy voice but a moral voice,” Mr. Booker said.
Fellow first-term Democratic U.S. Sen. Peter Welch of Vermont, one of his closest friends in Washington, said Mr. Fetterman’s openness about his post-stroke depression and treatment goes against the grain on Capitol Hill.
“Senators are pretty touchy about their public persona,” Mr. Welch said. “They want to reveal the best and conceal the worst. John isn’t that way. ... There is widespread acclaim for how John handled it. That helped because a lot of people feel very reluctant and afraid to reveal that they’re struggling with mental health issues. That gets in the way of recovery.”
Mr. Welch and another freshman, conservative Alabama U.S. Sen. Katie Britt, have bonded with Mr. Fetterman. Both visited him in the hospital. The three have dinner together when they’re in Washington.
“He’s got that wonderful Fetterman way of being able to work with people on the other side of the aisle,” Mr. Welch said.
More than 50 years ago, Democratic presidential nominee George McGovern dropped his running mate, U.S. Sen. Tom Eagleton, from the ticket because the Missouri Democrat had been hospitalized for depression.
“Because a candidate has had psychiatric care for depression, in my judgment, ought not to preclude that candidate from serving in public office once he or she addresses the underlying medical condition,” Mr. McHale said. “I would hope that if the events of 1972 were replayed, [Mr. Eagleton] would not be dropped from the ticket.”
Mr. Fetterman’s made his mark in other non-conventional ways as well. His sartorial style rubbed some of his colleagues on both sides of the aisle the wrong way, so the Senate adopted a formal dress code. Mr. Fetterman wears a suit when he presides over the chamber or goes onto the Senate floor; otherwise he stands in the doorway and gets the attention of the clerk to cast his vote.
He was the rare lawmaker who took on a memberof his own party, thefirst senator to call for the resignation of fellow Democratic U.S. Sen. Robert Menendez from the neighboring state of New Jersey after his indictment on corruption charges. Mr. Fetterman likened Mr. Menendez to Tony Soprano, the fictional New Jersey mob boss.
“He seems to be having a good time,” Mr. Welch said of his friend. “He’s very down to earth, very direct, very real.”
After Mr. Menendez said he wouldn’t run for re-election as a Democrat, Mr. Fetterman endorsed U.S. Rep. Andy Kim, D-N.J., for the Senate seat over Tammy Murphy, wife of New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy. Ms. Murphy later dropped out of the race.
“We’re certainly different on a number of levels: I’m a Wawa guy; he’s a Sheetz guy,” Mr. Kim said. “He’s somebody we’ve seen on a number of fronts, when he wants to do something, he decides to move on it and do it. When I decided I wanted to step up and run for the [Senate] seat, I also didn’t ask for permission.”
Jim Manley, a former top aide to then-Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, DNevada, acknowledged how unconventional Mr. Fetterman has been in a legislative body steeped in tradition.
“I spent 21 years working in the Senate,” he said. “I get that it is broken and things have to change. But while watching Sen. Fetterman is always interesting, it’s also sometimes kind of shocking for me. He is a leading indicator of how much the Senate has changed, for better or worse, since I worked there years ago.”
Unconditional support
Mr. Fetterman disappointed some of his progressive backers when he gave unconditional support to Israel in its war against Hamas, that broke an existing ceasefire on Oct. 7 by attacking the Jewish state, killing 1,200 people and taking more than 200 hostages.
Israel’s retaliatory strikes — which have led to the deaths of more than 30,000 people, according to the Hamas-run Gaza Health Ministry — have drawn demands for a new cease-fire and protests against President Joe Biden, who has demanded that any pause in fighting also lead to the release of the hostages. Israel says at least 10,000 of the casualties were Hamas fighters.
When Mr. Fetterman has broken with Mr. Biden, it is when he has objected to the president’s criticism of Israeli plans to invade Rafah amid concern that it will lead to more civilian casualties.
“A less genuine politician would probably have tried to find a middle ground,” Mr. McHale said. “Sen. Fetterman has chosen to take a firm stand in support of Israel knowing full well that there may be a political price to be paid. Whether or not you agree with his judgment, you have to admire his political courage.”
It is on that issue that Mr. Fetterman has gotten a lot of attention, Mr. Booker said.
“I hear him speaking in many ways with an authenticity on the issues that have made him the center of conversation for a lot of people,” Mr. Booker said.
At the same time, Mr. Fetterman lets some progressive policies shine through. He successfully urged the Biden administration to adopt a rule requiring financial advisers to act in their clients’ best interests when it comes to investing retirement funds, and currently is pushing the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau to finish a rule limiting how much banks can charge their customers for overdrafts.
He’s used his perch on the Senate Agriculture Committee to insist new legislation renewing farm subsidies for the next five years also include robust funding to help the poor afford food.
One of the big differences between the House version of the farm bill — drafted by Mr. Thompson, the committee chair — and the Senate version is the robust funding for the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, formerly known as food stamps. As chair of the food and nutrition subcommittee, Mr. Fetterman played a large role in drafting that provision, said Mr. Booker, who also sits on the panel.
“He’s leaving an indelible mark on expanding access to fresh, healthy foods in this farm bill,” Mr. Booker said. “We’ve been in there fighting for a lot of these issues, as has the chairwoman [Michigan Democrat Debbie Stabenow], but God, to have him. Metaphorically, he is a heavyweight on these issues that has really helped to make an immediate impact.”