On border security, support for Israel and diplomacy with President Donald Trump, Sen. John Fetterman, D-Pa., has bucked the Democratic Party on key issues since assuming office in 2022.
A string of media reports emerged this month detailing Fetterman’s alleged cognitive decline and waning support within the Democratic Party. A New York Magazine report sparked questions about Fetterman’s mental stability. Subsequent reports by the Associated Press, detailing an outburst during a union meeting, and by Politico, which indicated he is losing traction among Pennsylvania Democrats, were slammed by several of his Capitol Hill colleagues as a coordinated smear campaign.
In an era of partisan politics, Fetterman has embraced bipartisanship with newly elected Sen. Dave McCormick, R-Pa. When McComrick was elected in November, the Pennsylvanians traded jabs for joint dinners as Fetterman built his reputation for being willing to reach across the aisle. Fetterman also met with Trump’s controversial Cabinet picks and worked with Sen. Katie Britt, R-Ala., to pass the Laken Riley Act this year.
While Fetterman, who suffered a stroke during his 2022 Senate campaign, shut down questions about his mental fitness amid the relentless reports, it’s not the first time a Democrat has been targeted after falling out of line with the party.
Sen. Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., faced the ire of the Democratic Party earlier this year when he joined Fetterman in voting to pass the Republicans’ spending bill and avoid a government shutdown. Schumer, currently Senate minority leader, was slammed by progressive Democrats while the future of party leadership hangs in the balance.
Former Sen. Kyrsten Sinema, I-Ariz., was once a Democrat but later registered as an independent. While she continued to caucus with her party, Sinema ruffled liberal feathers by opposing efforts to eliminate the filibuster rule and opposed former President Joe Biden’s ‘Build Back Better’ plan.
In 2022, Sinema said she was leaving the party, adding that ‘nothing will change about my values or my behavior.’
Sinema became the first senator to switch parties since the late Pennsylvania Sen. Arlen Specter – then Republican – famously announced that ‘my change in party will enable me to be re-elected’ in 2009.
Soon after Sinema came now-former West Virginia Sen. Joe Manchin. Long seen as a moderate thorn in the side of the increasingly liberal Democrats, Manchin often clashed with his former party on environmental issues, given the Mountain State’s reliance on the fossil fuel industry.
Things came to a head in Charleston when then-Gov. Jim Justice held up his bulldog Babydog backward in the legislative chamber and told actress Bette Midler – who had trashed the state over one of Manchin’s such votes – to ‘kiss her heinie.’
Former Hawaii Rep. Tulsi Gabbard was once considered a rising star in the Democratic Party until her comments and behavior drew the ire of party elders like Hillary Clinton. The anti-interventionist Gabbard, who had appeared in the Moscow media, was anonymously slammed by Clinton in 2019 when she said that ‘somebody who is currently in the Democratic primary’ was a ‘favorite of the Russians.’ An advisor later said Gabbard was the figure in question.
Since then, Gabbard has gone on to make a full partisan 180, becoming a member of President Donald Trump’s Cabinet.
During Rep. Nancy Pelosi’s, D-Calif., historic speakership, another Democrat famously bucked the party and ultimately retired soon after trying to proverbially oust the queen.
North Carolina Rep. Heath Shuler became disaffected by the liberal progression of the party and mounted an unsuccessful challenge to Pelosi’s leadership role after Democrats suffered massive losses in the 2010 midterms.
Shuler, a former then-Washington Redskins quarterback, had been the leader of the moderate Blue Dog Democrat caucus when he took aim at the speakership.
Fetterman’s office did not respond to Fox News Digital’s request for comment.
