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All three of John Fetterman’s top communications staffers have resigned in the last month

Two staffers are leaving for more progressive political jobs. Fetterman has recently made a big deal of denouncing that ever-nebulous political label.

Sen. John Fetterman at the U.S. Capitol on in January 2023 with Joe Cavello, his communications directors. Cavello resigned this month to work for Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson. Washington Post photo by Ricky Carioti
Sen. John Fetterman at the U.S. Capitol on in January 2023 with Joe Cavello, his communications directors. Cavello resigned this month to work for Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson. Washington Post photo by Ricky CariotiRead moreRicky Carioti / The Washington Post

Clout learns there’s been some serious turnover in Sen. John Fetterman’s office. In the last month, all three of Fetterman’s top communications staffers have left Capitol Hill.

Nick Gavio, who was deputy communications director, will leave the office at the end of March to take a new role with the Working Families Party. Fetterman’s former communications director, Joe Calvello, left earlier this month to work for Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson.

And Emma Mustion, a press and digital aide also left Fetterman’s office to work on the reelection of Sen. Bob Casey.

Gavio and Calvello, two veterans of Bernie Sanders’ 2020 campaign, and Fetterman’s Senate campaign, offered nothing but nice comments about their new jobs. But Clout doesn’t believe in coincidences, and it seems relevant that both are going to more progressive spaces, given that Fetterman has recently made a big deal of denouncing that ever-nebulous political label.

Fetterman has alienated some of his supporters on the left with his defense of Israel’s war against Hamas and his criticism of cease-fire activists. His office did not comment on the departures but chief of staff Adam Jentleson said the office has already hired replacements.

Gavio said he is grateful for his time with Fetterman and is “extremely proud and excited” to become Mid-Atlantic communications director for the Working Families Party, overseeing the party’s expansion into statewide and regional contests.

Calvello, who is from Chicago, said earlier in the month that he was “deeply honored” to work for Johnson, whom he described as “a true progressive.”

Clout provides often irreverent news and analysis about people, power, and politics.