Senator John Fetterman, a Democrat from Pennsylvania, is deliberately keeping the political class guessing about his future, declining to clarify whether he will seek a second Senate term, retire altogether, or even take a long-shot step toward a presidential run. As progressive organizers in Pennsylvania begin laying the groundwork for a potential challenge, many around the senator increasingly suspect he may choose not to run again.
Pressed this week on whether he intends to pursue reelection, Fetterman repeatedly brushed off the question with the same refrain: “It’s 2025.” Asked separately if he was considering a White House campaign, he deployed the same answer again. During one exchange, he offered a mock thumbs-up and rolled down a car window to repeat, “It’s 2025.”
In a written statement later that day to NOTUS, Fetterman leaned into the ambiguity: “Accept the mystery. 2028 is gonna be crazy.” The message was paired with a GIF from the Coen brothers’ 2009 film A Serious Man in which a character shrugs and says, “Accept the mystery.”
The posture sharpens a broader shift in Fetterman’s political identity. Leftwing progressives have been trying to run the senator out of the party ever since he had the audacity of defending Israel against pro-Palestine and Hamas supporters. Once hailed as a progressive insurgent during his 2022 race against Republican Mehmet Oz, he has moved toward the center since arriving in Washington in 2023. His willingness to vote with Republicans on spending negotiations, his support for select Trump Cabinet nominees, and his steadfast backing of Israel’s military campaign in Gaza have alienated the activists who once celebrated him as a populist champion.
The Pennsylvania Working Families Party has already vowed to support a primary rival in 2028. While no candidate has formally launched a campaign, several Democratic lawmakers are openly considering the race.
Rep. Brendan Boyle, who previously labeled Fetterman “Trump’s favorite Democrat” after the senator’s high-profile visit to Mar-a-Lago, told reporters he is keeping his options open following his own 2026 House election. Reps. Mary Gay Scanlon and Madeleine Dean, both from the Philadelphia suburbs, offered similar answers—Dean adding that any deliberation would “absolutely” change if the seat were to open.
Former Rep. Conor Lamb, who lost to Fetterman in the 2022 Democratic Senate primary, has begun reappearing at town halls and party events across the state, though he has not signaled a firm intention to run again.
Fundraising has also fueled speculation. Fetterman collected less than $330,000 in the third quarter of this year—his weakest performance since first launching a Senate campaign in 2021. By contrast, Pennsylvania’s junior Republican senator, Dave McCormick, raised more than $890,000 over the same period.
Current and former Democratic staff describe a senator increasingly detached from the mechanics of Senate life. One ex-aide said Fetterman “didn’t like the job, he missed home, and now is a pariah within the party.” Another former staffer called him “a lame duck” who “deep down… knows it.”
With three years still remaining before the 2028 deadline, Pennsylvania Democrats may ultimately confront a simpler question than who will challenge the senator: whether John Fetterman intends to appear on the ballot at all.
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