PHILADELPHIA — In the first Pennsylvania Democratic Senate debate to feature all three major candidates, moderators asked Lt. Gov. John Fetterman a question about a January day in 2013. He had pursued a man and pulled a shotgun on him. Would he do anything differently today?
“The people of Braddock who know me, that know my heart, know that 2013 had nothing to do with what we’re saying today,” Fetterman said at the debate, after his opponents criticized him over the incident. “There was no profiling or anything involved.”
In 2013, Fetterman pursued a man and pulled a shotgun on him because he wrongly believed the man, who turned out to be a Black jogger, had been involved in a shooting. While the incident has long loomed over Fetterman’s campaign, it’s been particularly amplified by his opponents as the May 17 Democratic primary approaches. And Republicans are almost certain to make it an issue in a general election if Fetterman is the Democratic nominee.
