Democratic Sen. John Fetterman has issued a warning to his party: learn from the politically charged whirlwind that returned Donald Trump to the White House and gave Republicans control of both chambers of Congress, or risk remaining in the minority.
“They have forgotten one of the reasons why we lost in 2024,” Fetterman said of his Democratic colleagues in an extensive interview with CNN’s Manu Raju on “Inside Politics Sunday.”
The Pennsylvania Democrat, who was first elected by a five-point margin in 2022, claimed that some of the party’s more left-wing views were “weaponized” against Democrats last fall.
“Some people think now we have to double down on those things or we must become more progressive or more extreme,” said Fetterman, who has renounced the “progressive” label in recent years, adding, “That’s absolutely not true. We need to win in the seven or eight states that will decide who our next president will be, and I understand what that entails.”
Fetterman’s remarks come as the Democratic Party considers how to approach voters about crime, immigration, and culture wars ahead of the 2026 midterm elections. The first-term senator has not shied away from harsh criticism of his Democratic colleagues on issues he considers reactive, such as their reaction to Trump federalizing Washington, DC’s law enforcement, or potentially explosive, such as withholding votes on a government funding bill.
“Clearly, we’ve lost the argument” on the issues that secured Trump’s second term, Fetterman lamented.
“We’ve really lost our connection with American voters in ways,” he said, claiming that Democrats will not achieve political success by simply being “reactive” to the Republican president.
Though the Democratic presidential ticket made calling Trump a “threat to democracy” a central campaign theme, Fetterman warned against comparing him to an autocrat.
“We have to lower the temperature. We can’t seem to compare people to these historical figures. And this is not an autocrat. “This is the result of a democratic election,” he explained. “It’s as if I participated in that. It was safe and secure. We lost, and the American people pushed us into the minority. “That is democracy.”
He went on to say, “I revere democracy. I may not like the outcome, but I must respect it.
Pressed on whether he agrees that Trump, who has broadly wielded executive power since taking office for the second time, is shattering democratic norms, Fetterman said, “He’s definitely different, but that’s what America voted for.”
On Capitol Hill, Democratic lawmakers are debating whether to risk a government shutdown at the end of the month by setting a red line on health-care demands during funding negotiations with Republicans.
“That is not fighting.” Fetterman told Raju, “That is mutilating our nation.”
“If you vote to shut down our government, you will harm millions of Americans. Why would you do this? “Where’s our leverage?” He inquired.
Fetterman has consistently opposed shutdowns, which have far-reaching consequences for the federal government. In March, he was one of only ten members of his caucus who helped Republicans avoid a funding lapse.
On Trump’s crime and immigration crackdowns
As protests erupt over the Trump administration’s influx of National Guard troops and federal agents into the nation’s capital, and Democratic leaders warn the president against attempting to do the same in their cities, Fetterman conceded that accepting assistance to combat crime has its place.
The former mayor of Braddock, Pennsylvania, who has the dates residents were killed while he was in office tattooed on his forearm, expressed gratitude for assistance in reducing violence.
“I did not have the resources to do that. “I was grateful to get all kinds of help for those kind of things, absolutely,” he said, adding, “Just because … if Trump is calling for something X, Y, and Z, doesn’t mean we have to necessarily oppose it.”
Fetterman, on the other hand, is less enthusiastic about the administration’s immigration crackdown in major cities, saying he doesn’t see the point in raids like the one conducted this summer at a Nebraska meatpacking facility, where federal authorities detained more than 70 undocumented workers.
Though he supports secure borders and deporting criminals, he stated, “We should not target otherwise hardworking migrants who are simply contributing significantly to our economy.”
As the party seeks to chart a course forward, Fetterman isn’t as focused as some of his colleagues on the New York City mayoral race, where Democratic nominee Zohran Mamdani, a self-described Democratic socialist who is polling ahead of the field, is seen as a bellwether.
Though the party’s top congressional leaders, both of whom are New York Democrats, have refrained from explicitly endorsing Mamdani, raising concerns among some progressives, Fetterman stated that the race “has really no impact on my life.”
Fetterman told Raju that it is up to Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer and House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries to endorse Mamdani, but “for me, as someone who represents Pennsylvania, there really aren’t any political insights from that election.”
However, one issue on which Mamdani and Fetterman disagree could prove to be politically significant for Democrats as they struggle to keep their base together: the Israel-Hamas conflict.
Fetterman notes that, while some in his party, including Mamdani, are strongly opposed to Israel’s growing offensive in the region, he believes the terrorist group Hamas and its Iranian backers are to blame for the humanitarian crisis in Gaza.
“Absolutely,” Fetterman, who has cheered Israel’s attacks on Iran, told Raju when asked if the country’s recent strike on Hamas leaders in Qatar was appropriate, defying top Democrats on foreign relations and armed services committees who warned the act could undermine a path to peace.
He also denied that Israel uses starvation as a weapon in Gaza, where he admits conditions are “miserable.”
“It’s hell on earth. Why do some blame Israel for this? “I blame Hamas and Iran for that,” he stated.
Fetterman’s future in the Democratic Party
Despite his absence from Senate Democrats’ routine lunches, Fetterman insists he will not follow in the footsteps of former Sens. Joe Manchin and Kyrsten Sinema, who both switched parties in the final years of their terms to become independents.
“I am a Democrat. I recently made a significant investment in the Pennsylvania Democratic Party. “I’m not changing my party,” he said, adding that he’s not making a statement by skipping caucus lunches.
Fetterman stated that he votes with his party “on the big votes,” such as opposing Trump’s sweeping domestic policy and tax bill, which Republicans passed this summer along party lines, as well as rejecting controversial Cabinet nominees such as Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.
“I’ll disagree with my party at some point. I’m going to have an independent opinion on what I think was right or wrong,” he said, adding, “What’s good for Pennsylvania, I’m going to vote for it.”
While he intends to remain a Democrat, Fetterman declined to comment on his plans to run for a second term in three years.
“C’mon, ’28. It’s going to be crazy, and you never know what will happen. You just never know,” he explained.
