Democrats are strong favorites to flip the House in this year’s midterm elections – and the Senate is looking better for the party by the day.
But Republicans might have an ace up their sleeve if their worst-case scenario pans out: Flip John Fetterman.
Fetterman, a Pennsylvania Democrat, has consistently bucked his party in the Trump era. Now, he may prove to be the ultimate Trump card.
President Donald Trump wants Fetterman to switch parties, per a new Politico report, and even put Fox News Host Sean Hannity as the go-between.
‘Your job is to tell him: He’s gonna run as a Republican, he’s gonna have our full support, more money than he ever dreamed of, and he’s gonna win big,’ Hannity told Fetterman, conveying Trump’s wishes.
Fetterman is close friends with fellow Pennsylvania senator Dave McCormick and his wife, Dina Powell McCormick, a former Trump NSC adviser who now serves as a vice president at Meta. Recent polling shows him performing better with Republicans than with his own party – and even ahead of McCormick.
He also gets along well with Alabama Republican Senator Katie Britt, who came to the Senate the same year as Fetterman, and is even in a group chat that includes her former Alabama football player husband, Wesley.
Fetterman himself, however, told Politico last Friday, ‘I’m not changing,’ rejecting the idea of either becoming a Republican or becoming an independent. ‘I’m a Democrat, and I’m staying one,’ Fetterman also shared, per Politico.
Senator John Fetterman, Democrat of Pennsylvania, speaks to reporters at the Capitol in Washington, DC on March 3, 2026
President Donald Trump passes Fetterman as he departs after delivering the State of the Union address to a joint session of Congress in the House chamber at the US Capitol in Washington, Tuesday, February 24, 2026
US Senator John Fetterman is seen on Capitol Hill in Washington, DC, on February 24, 2025
Fetterman also told Politico, ‘I’d be a shitty Republican,’ pointing to how the party has tossed aside the likes of Bill Cassidy and Thom Tillis, who have stood up to Trump’s whims.
Fetterman has been a rare Democrat vote on key elements of the Trump agenda, including voting to approve the budget for the Department of Homeland Security, and earlier in Trump’s second term, voting to approve the nomination of the administration’s Attorney General, Pam Bondi.
Senator Fetterman, who has become a staple on Fox News, has been unabashed in his disdain for members of his party, especially on the far left.
Speaking to the Daily Mail last week, Fetterman argued that Democrats must ‘drop the TDS’ and back President Trump’s proposed White House ballroom – remarks that came days after the shooting at the White House Correspondents’ Dinner, which he attended.
‘The leader of the Democratic party is TDS,’ the Pennsylvania Democrat said, referring to ‘Trump Derangement Syndrome’, the term coined by Trump supporters to describe what they see as an irrational, obsessive opposition to the President.
‘Our nation needs and deserves this [ballroom],’ he added.
Despite the persistent critiques of his own party, Fetterman appears to have no public plans to leave its ranks.
