PHILADELPHIA — John Fetterman didn’t just win in Pennsylvania, he trounced his rivals. The lieutenant governor won every single county in the state and had a 30-point lead over U.S. Rep. Conor Lamb in the Democratic race for U.S. Senate with 92% of votes counted Wednesday.
He did it even with a late and shocking development: Fetterman suffered a stroke days before the primary and spent election day recovering in the hospital.
His victory was so decisive, it became a footnote amid a tight GOP Senate race that was still too early to call Wednesday morning. And while predicted by polls and political observers, his win represents a clear shift away from the more moderate candidates Democratic voters typically favor in Pennsylvania primaries.
Fetterman tapped into a growing populist electorate in Pennsylvania, combining that appeal with a progressive message. He got into the race early and set up an unbeatable fundraising operation on the Democratic side. And his “every county” strategy — combined with a social media campaign and TV ads — blanketed his brand statewide.
HOW FETTERMAN WON
—He was a populist-progressive candidate.
In many ways, Fetterman’s nomination flips the script on the kind of candidate Pennsylvania has recently nominated. But more historically, outsiders have often done well in the state’s primaries, including Ed Rendell, Joe Sestak and even Tom Wolf.
And a lot of voters, aware of a political environment in which Democrats have lost voters to Trump’s Republican Party, saw Fetterman’s “outsiderness” as a plus. In a year when Democrats are predicted to struggle, Fetterman’s pitch that he could appeal to a wide base clearly resonated.
That also undercut Fetterman’s biggest opponent, U.S. Rep. Conor Lamb, whose message had been that he and his more moderate approach would be the most electable.
Fetterman also ran a campaign laser-focused on voters, whereas Lamb mined the political establishment for endorsements and the support of lawmakers.
“He wisely focused on winning support from Democratic voters, as opposed to the Democratic establishment,” said Democratic strategist J.J. Balaban. “At a time when Democrats are frustrated with politics as usual, Fetterman’s approach matched the political moment and struck Democrats as different. He ran effective ads that credibly built on that image.”
—He got in early — and raised the most money.
Fetterman set his campaign up extremely well by being the first Democrat to announce in the race and netting the early windfall of cash that followed. He vastly outraised his opponents in a year when Democratic fundraising isn’t as robust as when Trump was in the White House.
The haul was a notable improvement from his last Senate run in 2016, when he ran on a shoestring budget.
—He capitalized on his higher profile as lieutenant governor.
Fetterman came in with the highest name recognition thanks to his time as mayor of Braddock and lieutenant governor. Traditionally, Pennsylvania’s second in command hasn’t gone on to political prominence, but Fetterman spent his one term building his brand through a statewide marijuana decriminalization tour and his work at the Board of Pardons.
He also got on some people’s radars in an unsuccessful 2016 bid for Senate.
All of that, Balaban said, “along with his literally larger-than-life persona, helped him to enter this race with a big lead ... a lead he never lost.”
—His wife helped increase the campaign’s reach.
It was clear early in the race that Fetterman had turned from candidate to celebrity, and his wife, Gisele, was a part of that appeal.
Supporters at Fetterman rallies often stuck around to take photos with her. And no other candidate’s spouse was as visible on the campaign trail.
When John Fetterman was hospitalized with a stroke in the last week, Gisele Fetterman delivered an acceptance speech for her husband, faced reporters at the polls, and appeared on TV the morning after his win.
FETTERMAN’S CHALLENGES AHEAD
—The general election campaign is likely to be expensive.
Fetterman may have been leading in fundraising in the primary, but he’s about to face a multimillionaire in the general election, whether it’s celebrity doctor Mehmet Oz or former hedge fund CEO David McCormick.
Fetterman ran a strong campaign, but it was also an expensive one. And now he’ll need to expand it, which means more money. He’ll have help from his party, but so will either Oz or McCormick, neither of whom is a stranger to spending big. Their campaigns and political allies spent more than $50 million in the Republican primary, much of it blanketing Pennsylvania with television ads.
—He faces questions about his health.
As returns rolled in, Fetterman was in a Lancaster hospital with his father and brother, recovering from a stroke he suffered just four days before the primary. His campaign said Tuesday that he underwent a procedure to get a pacemaker to regulate his heart rate.
While the stroke didn’t seem to drive down support for Fetterman — it likely came too late in the race to make an impact — it has already raised questions about how active he can be on the campaign trail.
How opponents might try to question his health and aptitude for the job is also a lurking question.
The campaign, which has offered few details on Fetterman’s health, didn’t respond to several requests to interview Fetterman’s doctors. But it has said doctors reversed the stroke in time to prevent any cognitive damage, and that Fetterman is expected to make a full recovery.
Gisele Fetterman told reporters Tuesday night that her husband’s health should not be an issue.
“I think anyone who would imply that he would be unfit to serve because of this procedure is also ... offending millions of Americans who have pacemakers,” she said.
—Republicans dub him "too radical."
Republicans have already started trying to depict Fetterman as a “radical progressive,” despite him largely aligning on the issues with the Democrats he faced in the primary.
American Rising PAC, a Republican political action committee, sent out an email shortly after Fetterman’s win calling him a “Bernie-endorsed,” “true progressive.”
“John Fetterman is trying to rebrand himself from a “true progressive” to “just a Democrat” as he goes head-to-head against the Republican nominee in Pennsylvania’s U.S. Senate race,” the release said. “But a quick look at his record shows that ‘progressive’ has been a significant part of Fetterman’s identity for years, and he is much too radical for a state that Joe Biden only won by 1.2%.”
Many of the stances Fetterman has are now common in the Democratic Party — including a $15 minimum wage, elimination of the filibuster and access to abortion without exceptions — and are likely to be attacked by his Republican opponent. While he has said he would support “Medicare for All,” Fetterman’s also said he would also support a more modest plan to help drive down costs and expand coverage.
Fetterman was endorsed by U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders in his 2018 race for lieutenant governor, an alliance his opponent will likely try to use against him.
—The jogger incident could draw more attention.
In 2013, Fetterman pursued a man and pulled a shotgun on him because he believed the man, who turned out to be a Black jogger, had been involved in a shooting. Fetterman, who was then Braddock’s mayor, has long defended his actions, saying he heard gunfire nearby and made a split-second decision to act in what he thought was an “active shooter situation.”
An officer who responded to reports of gunfire searched the man and found he was unarmed, according to a 2013 police report.
Fetterman’s opponents slammed him over the incident, but it also seemed like a nonfactor in his primary run. Does it resurface and gain more traction in a general election?
———
