John Fetterman’s support for Trump’s DHS secretary has made his bad relationship with Democrats even worse: ‘He needs to go’

When State Rep. Malcolm Kenyatta lost a bitter U.S. Senate primary to then-Lt. Gov. John Fetterman in 2022, he immediately threw his support behind the Democratic nominee — vowing to campaign vigorously for Fetterman, who went onto win the general election as he was recovering from a stroke.

Fetterman returned the favor two years later. Endorsing Kenyatta for state auditor general, he wrote that Kenyatta “knows the hardworking men and women of PA deserve a government that works for them.”

Now, after another two years, Kenyatta has joined a growing chorus of Pennsylvania Democrats who say Fetterman has not only abandoned those same constituents, but is actively doing the opposite of what he told them he would do in a divided Washington.

“John promised that he was going to go to D.C. and be Democrats’ 51st vote. And instead he’s gone to D.C. and is behaving like Donald Trump’s f— intern,” Kenyatta told The Inquirer in an interview.

Fetterman’s willingness to break ranks and criticize his own party is not new. He has made repeated appeals to Trump and the Republican base since early last year, saying it is his job as a purple-state senator to work with, and not demonize, the other side.

But the senator’s recent support for the war in Iran — and his tiebreaking vote last week to advance Trump’s nominee for Homeland Security secretary out of committee — have led Democrats to express more intense frustrations.

“People worked so hard for Fetterman and he kicked them in the teeth. On to 2028 when we elect a real Dem,” former U.S. Rep. Susan Wild, who represented the purple Lehigh Valley until her election loss in 2024, wrote on X after Fetterman’s decisive vote for U.S. Sen. Markwayne Mullin (R., Okla.) in the Senate Homeland Security Committee.

Mullin won full confirmation Monday evening. Fetterman was one of just two Democrats to support him in the 54-45 vote, which was made possible through the Pennsylvania senator’s support in the committee last week.

U.S. Rep. Chrissy Houlahan (D., Chester) — after taking the rare step of asking her social media followers to call Fetterman’s office to urge him to oppose Mullin — said in a central Pennsylvania forum on Thursday that it was easier to work with Pennsylvania Republican U.S. Sen. Dave McCormick than with Fetterman.

“He needs to go,” U.S. Rep. Brendan Boyle (D., Philadelphia), who is considered a potential candidate when Fetterman’s seat is on the ballot in 2028, added on social media. Boyle also repeated his common refrain that Fetterman is “Trump’s favorite Democrat,” though he had not explicitly said before that Fetterman should not remain in his role.

Kenyatta — now a five-term state lawmaker representing North Philadelphia who also has a prominent role in charting the future of the party as vice chair of the Democratic National Committee — had not forcefully condemned Fetterman in other high-profile moments.

But he said he took particular issue with Fetterman’s “cheerleading” of the war in Iran, which Trump started without congressional approval or public support.

Fetterman’s comments during a Fox News interview on Saturday that the Democratic Party “is governed by the TDS,” or Trump derangement syndrome, also effectively described Pennsylvanians as having a mental illness for questioning the United States’ involvement in a war that has already claimed the lives of 13 American service members, Kenyatta said.

“He punches down at his constituents and refuses to hold accountable the one person we elected him to hold accountable,” Kenyatta said. “What I see from John Fetterman, unfortunately, is that he’s a weak man’s imitation of a tough man. A tough man doesn’t name-call his neighbors and the people that elected him when they’re asking him genuine questions.”

Fetterman did not respond to questions about fellow Democrats’ criticisms, but he said in an interview that he stood by his vote for Mullin. He referenced a 2024 congressional delegation trip they both took to Turks and Caicos, where they successfully advocated for the release of Americans detained because they carried ammunition in their luggage.

“I’m going to vote for a guy that I know, and that we’ve successfully worked together and saved Americans from spending a decade in prison,” Fetterman told The Inquirer during an interview Tuesday in his Capitol Hill office. “This is someone that I can work with and have a constructive conversation and do these kinds of things. Isn’t it better for the senator to have a working relationship?”

He said if Mullin’s nomination was defeated, Trump could have nominated someone with whom he might not work as well.

“If we blocked his nomination, who are we going to get next?” he said.

Fetterman has publicly mourned the deaths of the American service members. He has said he would vote against the deployment of ground troops to Iran, though he was the lone Democrat to vote against a war powers resolution to restrict Trump’s unilateral actions. And he has forcefully defended the mission that took out Iran’s longtime theocratic leadership and, he said, is making America and its allies safer.

Responding to public criticism from Democrats, he has repeatedly said that he is putting “country over party.”

“What the base demands means nothing to me,” Fetterman said during a Fox News interview earlier this month.

Kenyatta, nearly four years after he campaigned for Fetterman, said he believes the senator has been disingenuous.

“His whole thing has been an act, and I think the act has worn thin and Pennsylvanians are sick of it,” said Kenyatta, who said he had not considered whether to run again in 2028. He added that he was criticizing Fetterman as a constituent, not in his role as a DNC leader.

Statewide surveys have found Fetterman’s support among Democrats and Republicans to be inverted for a typical Democratic senator. A Quinnipiac University poll last month found his job performance was viewed favorably by 73% of GOP voters and only 22% of Democratic voters. A CNN report last week that highlighted those results noted Fetterman’s level of support within his own party was worse than that of every senator who lost a primary in the last 25 years.

In a sign that his latest actions have further eroded support among party activists who would be critical in electing him again, the Monroe County Democratic Party shared those poll results on social media multiple times last week as it highlighted the anger directed at the senator. Fetterman won Monroe County in the 2022 Democratic primary with 60% of the vote, slightly more than his statewide average.

“There doesn’t seem to be a path to reelection for him with the Democratic Party,” said Lew Irwin, a political science professor at Duquesne University in Pittsburgh. “From the perspective of Democratic voters in Pennsylvania, they’re not buying what he’s selling right now.”

Fetterman has not said whether he will run for a second term in 2028, but he has repeatedly rejected the idea that he would switch parties.

His dwindling support from his party’s base — which Irwin also noted reflects “some of the lowest numbers we’ve seen in terms of incumbent politicians” — is partially what is fueling the more forceful pushback from potential 2028 challengers and other Democrats, Irwin said. Those include Boyle, Houlahan, U.S. Rep. Chris Deluzio of Allegheny County, and former U.S. Rep. Conor Lamb of Western Pennsylvania, the runner-up in 2022 who has also repeatedly called out Fetterman.

Wild’s name was also floated this week by Semafor following her criticism of the senator.

The increasing frequency of Fetterman’s clashes with his party, and the types of clashes, also play a role.

Before his tiebreaking committee vote for Mullin last week, Fetterman had supported other Trump nominees, but not in a way that made him the deciding vote. His decision to vote repeatedly with Republicans during a historic, 43-day government shutdown last fall also did not make a difference until some other Democrats eventually joined him to support a compromise plan.

Meanwhile, he has highlighted the fact that he votes with Democrats in the vast majority of circumstances, including during the debate last year over Trump’s signature One Big Beautiful Bill Act.

In instances where he might be a swing vote, Fetterman has not appeared to leverage his position for policy concessions from majority Republicans.

During the Mullin confirmation process, in particular, Democrats were looking for the nominee to promise to reform Immigration and Customs Enforcement practices, which have become increasingly unpopular and also stalled a larger Department of Homeland Security funding bill in Washington.

Fetterman has said he supports reforms but has not outlined which ones and has vocally opposed Democratic proposals to block ICE agents from wearing masks during enforcement operations.

“One of the questions becomes: Is Sen. Fetterman leveraging these kinds of votes and these kinds of positions towards broader goals? Is he advancing his own sense of what policy should look like?” said Dan Hopkins, a political science professor at the University of Pennsylvania. “To some degree, it’s hard to know exactly what the fruits of Sen. Fetterman’s kind of less-antagonistic stance toward the Republicans is precisely because the Republican Party right now is less interested in moving big pieces of legislation through the U.S. Senate.”

Irwin said Fetterman’s vote for Mullin, followed by his comments about his party being consumed by Trump derangement syndrome, was telling in terms of how he is planning on dealing with even more potential fallout.

“It seems pretty clear that Sen. Fetterman just doesn’t really care about the opposition that he’s running into within his own party right now,” he said.