Opinion by Matt Roan
Throughout the 2022 campaign, U.S. Sen. John Fetterman included as a keynote in his stump speech that he would always be the 51st vote for causes important to Democrats (his election afforded Democrats a narrow majority with the two Independents in the Senate caucusing with the Democrats).
Fast forward to 2024 and things have changed. Fetterman is now a leader among Democratic senators when it comes to capitulating to Donald Trump and the Republican Party that he controls.
It started with Trump’s cabinet appointments. Sen. Fetterman has voted for more of Trump’s objectively unqualified nominees than nearly any other Democratic member of the body.
Among the most egregious yes votes from Sen. Fetterman has been for Attorney General Pam Bondi, who, in a norms-busting piece of political theater, pledged fealty to President Trump during a blatantly political speech recently at the Department of Justice Headquarters where the resident went on a tirade calling out his enemies and declaring journalism by outlets including CNN and MSNBC to be “illegal”.
As President Trump was incoherently rambling anti-constitutional and fascist rhetoric to the nation’s top law enforcement officials, Sen. Fetterman was on the floor of the U.S. Senate delivering a vote in favor of a Republican government funding bill that will enable the continued decimation of federal agencies at the hands of South African Billionaire Elon Musk. Sen. Fetterman has refused to hold town hall meetings in Pennsylvania to hear from his constituents. In fact, the only public event where Fetterman will face the people of the Commonwealth is a joint appearance with Republican Sen. Dave McCormick and his wife Dina Powell, a former Trump administration official, to promote a children’s book written by the Republican power couple.
Enough is enough. Fetterman no longer represents the interests of those who elected him, he seems disinterested in serving in his important position, and his actions in the Senate are actively harming Pennsylvanians. As a Democratic County Party leader, who worked tirelessly to elect Fetterman in 2022, who stood by him through the hardship of his recovery from stroke and depression, his complete abandonment of the core values of our Party has become untenable.
I call for his immediate resignation from the U.S. Senate.
Matt Roan is chair of the Cumberland County Democratic Party.
He will not resign. Do the state laws allow for a recall?
Iirc you cannot recall federal representatives. Some states have provisions for recalling state and local leadership, but that’s it.