Democratic Sen. John Fetterman has a warning for his party: learn from the politically charged whirlwind that put Donald Trump back in the White House and secured Republicans control of both chambers of Congress or risk staying in the minority.
“They have forgotten one of the reasons why we lost in 2024,” Fetterman said of his fellow Democrats in a wide-ranging interview with CNN’s Manu Raju on “Inside Politics Sunday.”
The Pennsylvania Democrat, who was first elected by just a five-point margin in 2022, said 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, continuing, “That’s absolutely not true. The seven or eight states that are going to determine who’s going to be our next president, you know, we have to win in those states, and I understand what that takes.”
Fetterman’s comments come as the Democratic Party reassess how to talk to voters about crime, immigration and culture wars ahead of the 2026 midterms elections. The first-term senator hasn’t shied away from outspoken criticism of his Democratic colleagues on issues he finds to be reactive, like their response to Trump federalizing Washington, DC’s law enforcement, or potentially explosive, like withholding votes on a government funding bill.
“Clearly, we’ve lost the argument” on the issues that delivered Trump a second term, Fetterman lamented.
“We’ve really lost our connection with American voters in ways,” he said, declaring that Democrats won’t find political success from just being “reactive” to the Republican president.
Though the Democratic presidential ticket made labeling Trump a “threat to democracy” a central campaign theme, Fetterman cautioned against comparing him to an autocrat.
“We have to turn the temperature down. It’s like we can’t compare people to these kinds of figures in history. And this is not an autocrat. This is a product of a democratic election,” he said. “It’s like, I participated in that. It was safe and it was secure. We lost, and the American people put us in the minority. That’s democracy.”
He continued: “I revere democracy. I may not like the outcome, but I have to respect that.”
Pressed on whether he agrees that Trump, who has broadly brandished executive power since taking office a second time, is shattering the norms of democracy, Fetterman responded, “He’s definitely different, but that’s what America voted for.”
On Capitol Hill, Democratic lawmakers are currently weighing whether to risk a government shutdown at the end of the month, drawing a red line on health care demands in funding negotiations with Republicans.
“That’s not fighting. That’s mutilating our nation,” Fetterman told Raju.
“If you vote to shut our government down, you are going to harm millions of Americans, and why would you do this? Where is our leverage?” he asked.
Fetterman has consistently argued against shutdowns, which have far-reaching consequences across the federal government. In March, he was one of just 10 in his caucus to pave the way for Republicans to stave off a lapse in funding.
On Trump’s crime and immigration crackdowns
As protests erupt over the Trump administration’s flooding National Guard troops and federal agents into the nation’s capital and Democratic leaders warn the president against trying to do the same in their cities, Fetterman conceded that accepting help to fight 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, said he would be grateful for assistance in tamping down on violence.
“I didn’t have the resources to do that. I was grateful to get all the kinds of help for those kind of things, absolutely,” he said, adding, “Just because … if Trump is calling for something X, Y and Z, then that doesn’t mean we have to necessarily oppose that.”
Fetterman, though, isn’t as welcoming of the immigration crackdown that the administration is carrying out across major cities, saying he doesn’t see the point in raids like the one this summer in a Nebraska meatpacking facility where federal authorities detained more than 70 undocumented workers.
Though he said he supports secure borders and deporting criminals, “We shouldn’t target otherwise hard-working migrants that are just effectively, making a significant contribution to our economy.”
As the party looks to chart a direction forward, Fetterman isn’t looking as intently as some of his peers to the New York City mayoral race – where Democratic nominee Zohran Mamdani, a self-described Democratic socialist who is polling ahead of the rest of the field – as a bellwether.
Though the party’s top congressional leaders, who both happen to be New York Democrats, have refrained from offering their explicit endorsement to Mamdani, drawing scrutiny from some progressives, Fetterman said the race “has really no impact on my life.”
Whether Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer or House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries endorse Mamdani, Fetterman told Raju, is up to them, but, he said, “for me, someone that represents Pennsylvania, there really aren’t any political insights from that election.”
Though one issue where Mamdani and Fetterman differ could again prove to be politically significant for Democrats as they fight to hold together their base: the Israel-Hamas War.
Fetterman notes that while some in his party, including Mamdani, are deeply critical of Israel’s mounting offensive in the region, while a humanitarian crisis rages in Gaza, he believes terrorist group Hamas and its backers in Iran are to blame.
“Absolutely,” Fetterman, who has cheered on Israel’s attacks on Iran, told Raju when asked whether the country’s recent strike on Hamas leaders in Qatar was appropriate, breaking with top Democrats on foreign relations and armed services panels who have warned the act could undercut a pathway to peace.
He also denied that Israel is using starvation as a weapon in Gaza, where he acknowledged conditions are “miserable.”
“It is hell on earth. Why do some people blame Israel for that? I blame Hamas and Iran for that,” he said.
Despite his lack of attendance at Senate Democrats’ routine lunches, Fetterman insists he won’t go the way of former Sens. Joe Manchin and Kyrsten Sinema, who both changed their party affiliation to independent in the final years of their terms.
“I’m a Democrat. I just made a significant investment in the Pennsylvania Democratic Party. I’m not changing my party,” he said, adding that he’s not trying to make any sort of statement by skipping out on caucus lunches.
Fetterman pointed out that he votes with his party “on the big votes,” like opposing Trump’s sweeping domestic policy and tax bill that Republicans passed this summer along party lines, as well as rejecting controversial Cabinet appointees like Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.
“I will disagree with my party at some time. I’m going to have an independent view on what I think was right or wrong,” he said, adding, “What’s good for Pennsylvania, I’m going to vote for that.”
While he’s set on remaining a Democrat, Fetterman was noncommittal when asked about his plans to run for a second term in three years.
“Come on, ‘28. It’s going to be crazy, you just never know what’s going to happen. You just never know that,” he said.
