John Fetterman won a Senate race that history and the fundamental truths of modern electoral politics dictated he should have lost. He overcame a near-death experience when he suffered a stroke at the beginning of his campaign, a difficult debate performance as a result of his recovery, and national headwinds that made the swing state of Pennsylvania a key target for the Republicans.
So how did he do it?
Fresh from a night of celebration, the Fetterman campaign’s communications director Joe Calvello told The Independent that the secret ingredient to victory was simple.
“Let’s be clear: we have a lot of great staff, we do a lot of great stuff, but John Fetterman is the X-factor here,” he said by phone on Wednesday.
“He is the most unique candidate in the country. He’s like nobody else. I think anyone on the staff would tell you that we all emulate him. All our creative ideas from him cuz he is just like no one else. So that’s why we won.”
Pressed a little further, however, Calvello conceded that the campaign’s strategy to seek out votes in Republican strongholds across the state — the “every county, every vote” strategy it adopted as a slogan — was “vitally important.”
“We never thought we’d win these counties, but we were gonna jam ‘em up there. It’s exactly what we did,” he said.
“As lieutenant governor, the first thing he did when he won was a six-county listening tour. We were driving to some of the smallest counties and doing these events and showing up and listening to people. And sometimes people would say, ‘Hell, I’m a Republican, I don’t agree with you on A, B and C, but I’m with you in X, Y, and Z. Honest to God, you’re the first politician from either party to come out here.’ You’re going to these forgotten communities and respecting people and talking to them.”
And when the results came in, it was clear that the strategy paid off. Fetterman didn’t just build up a lead in Democratic strongholds — he chipped away at margins in ruby red, rural counties across the state. Winning votes in those places was key to his victory.
But the campaign was not all smooth sailing. One of the key moments came with the sole debate against his opponent, Dr Mehmet Oz. Fetterman had weathered the fallout from suffering a life-threatening stroke in the days before his primary victory surprisingly well. His wife, Gisele, picked up the slack on the campaign trial and his social media team went into overdrive relentlessly mocking Dr Oz as an out-of-town, out-of-touch New Jersey resident. He built a solid lead in the polls.
But in the run-up to the debate, it was clear Fetterman was having issues with auditory processing and would sometimes jumble up his words. The debate was always going to be tough, but he was adamant that he should do it anyway.
“He believed the people of Pennsylvania deserved a debate,” Calvello said. “He knew was gonna be tough. He wasn’t a good debater before the primary, but he knew the people deserved a debate and it was immensely brave of him to do it.”
On the night itself, Fetterman struggled on the stage. Many Democratic operatives began to question — in the form of anonymous quotes to the DC press — the wisdom of going ahead with the debate when it was obvious he would perform so badly.
Calvello saw it a different way. It was Dr Oz’s remark about abortion, when the Trump-backed candidate said that the decision should be between “women, doctors, local political leaders,” that he thought was the most significant moment of the debate.
“It showed how creative and nimble our team is. We were able to take a debate that everyone said we lost, and take Dr Oz’s moment about abortion and raise $2 million off it and get an ad on television and digital within 48 hours. And that helped us in the suburbs,” he said.
“And it just shows how disconnected people in DC are from real people. I think a lot of people saw a brave guy up there recovering in public.
“People don’t understand that in DC, that honesty with voters is a good thing. They appreciate it when you’re honest with them and say, Look, I’ve gotten knocked down, but I’m fighting to get back up and that’s how I’m gonna fight in the Senate,” he added.
Asked if there were any lessons to be learned from the Fetterman campaign for Democrats across the country, Calvello joked: “You gotta find someone who’s 6’8. The biggest candidate you can find.”
But he added that the campaign did follow some fundamentals, “Politics 101” as he described it.
“I think you have to define your opponent early like we did with Dr Oz. We made sure people understood he was not one of us. The other thing is you’ve got to show up to communities that are forgotten.”
“People are polarized. There is a divide, but people respect you when you come into their community and you listen and you talk to them and you’re honest and you don’t twist yourself into knots saying, ‘Oh, I actually believe this.’
“If we were ever going to a red county in the car, and I said, ‘John, as your comms director, don’t talk about abortion,’ he would throw me out of the car and say ‘I’m talking about the same things. I want people at least know where the fuck I stand.’”
Calvello said the campaign team hadn’t had a chance to digest the significance of the victory yet, but said the closeness of the team carried them through to the end.
“It’s about giving people something to believe in that’s real, having fun sometimes, being creative. It was just so many things hitting this right level,” he said.
“Look man, I spent five days in the hospital in Lancaster with John the only way we were gonna get through this was having fun after that. You gotta have fun. The team had fun on social media, we had fun in the office, people became friends. It was kinda like a rock and roll lifestyle.”
