{"id":10149,"date":"2026-07-19T02:44:07","date_gmt":"2026-07-18T21:44:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/?p=10149"},"modified":"2026-07-19T02:44:07","modified_gmt":"2026-07-18T21:44:07","slug":"fetterman-threatens-to-abandon-democrats","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/?p=10149","title":{"rendered":"Fetterman threatens to abandon Democrats"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><script>\r\n  atOptions = {\r\n    'key' : '644b717812d811d6a1c1fc5b6ccd6fa6',\r\n    'format' : 'iframe',\r\n    'height' : 90,\r\n    'width' : 728,\r\n    'params' : {}\r\n  };\r\n<\/script>\r\n<script src=\"https:\/\/www.highperformanceformat.com\/644b717812d811d6a1c1fc5b6ccd6fa6\/invoke.js\"><\/script>\r\n<br \/>\n<br \/><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/images.axios.com\/_h8m84C7eoXxgF23jbLc8o9ePgg=\/0x0:4295x2416\/1366x768\/2026\/07\/16\/1784217776023.jpeg\" \/><\/p>\n<p>Sen. <a href=\"https:\/\/www.axios.com\/2026\/03\/20\/john-fetterman-markwayne-mullin-dhs-democrats\" target=\"_blank\">John Fetterman<\/a> (D-Pa.) said he&#8217;d leave the Democratic Party if it becomes the &#8220;anti-Israel party,&#8221; though he signaled he had no plans to imminently depart the caucus.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Why it matters: <\/strong>Republicans currently hold a narrow Senate majority, but with <a href=\"https:\/\/www.axios.com\/2026\/07\/08\/gop-senate-campaign-spending-ohio-iowa\" target=\"_blank\">midterm elections<\/a> looming, Fetterman&#8217;s comments could be a blow to Democrats should they flip four seats in November and regain control. <\/p>\n<hr>\n<ul>\n<li>Fetterman acknowledged the Democrats&#8217; difficult Senate math when speaking Wednesday at The Hill Nation Summit: &#8220;And if we flip those four seats, then I would be 51, and &#8230; watch what I do.&#8221;<\/li>\n<li>He continued, &#8220;I&#8217;m the guy that would be there that 51 as the committed Democrat.&#8221;<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>Driving the news:<\/strong> Democrats have grown more disillusioned and angry toward Israel and its Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, as evidenced by <a href=\"https:\/\/www.axios.com\/2026\/07\/15\/israel-vote-house-massie-amendment-aid-democrats\" target=\"_blank\">Wednesday&#8217;s vote<\/a> to prevent the State Department from funding the nation. <\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>While the measure, sponsored by Rep. Thomas Massie (R-Ky.), failed, more than 100 House Democrats, plus Minority Whip Katherine Clark (D-Mass.), voted for it.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>What they&#8217;re saying:<\/strong> &#8220;If our party ever becomes, and just make it official, as the anti-Israel party &#8230; that&#8217;s when I would leave because that&#8217;s a bit of moral clarity for me,&#8221; Fetterman said at<strong> <\/strong>the summit.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Fetterman&#8217;s office did not immediately respond to Axios&#8217; request to elaborate on what that boundary looks like for him.<\/li>\n<li>However, Fetterman said at Wednesday&#8217;s summit that he is &#8220;never changing&#8221; his party \u2014 except for &#8220;that one condition.&#8221;<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>Catch up quick: <\/strong>While the hoodie-wearing Pennsylvanian&#8217;s cross-aisle <a href=\"https:\/\/apnews.com\/article\/war-powers-resolution-senate-iran-war-f50dcbe654c1e02292c0d3541f8e2ab2\" target=\"_blank\">voting<\/a> has earned him a softer reception from some on the right, his own party <a href=\"https:\/\/www.axios.com\/2026\/03\/20\/john-fetterman-markwayne-mullin-dhs-democrats\" target=\"_blank\">has raged<\/a> against him.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>After Fetterman cast the deciding vote to advance Markwayne Mullin&#8217;s nomination for DHS secretary, Rep. Brendan Boyle (D-Pa.) wrote, &#8220;He needs to go,&#8221; calling the senator &#8220;Trump&#8217;s favorite Democrat.&#8221;<\/li>\n<li>More than half of Pennsylvania voters want to see Fetterman leave the party, per a recent Quinnipiac University <a href=\"https:\/\/poll.qu.edu\/poll-release?releaseid=3962\" target=\"_blank\">poll<\/a> of 895 self-identified registered voters. <\/li>\n<li>Fetterman is likely to face a fierce primary challenge in 2028.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>Go deeper: <\/strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.axios.com\/2025\/10\/16\/john-fetterman-senate-primary-pennsylvania\" target=\"_blank\">Scoop: Dems plot Fetterman ouster<\/a><\/p>\n<script async=\"async\" data-cfasync=\"false\" src=\"https:\/\/pl30214220.effectivecpmnetwork.com\/9ab3d4df8a7e1a6171e16ddbf732cc19\/invoke.js\"><\/script>\r\n<div id=\"container-9ab3d4df8a7e1a6171e16ddbf732cc19\"><\/div>\r\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Sen. John Fetterman (D-Pa.) said he&#8217;d leave the Democratic Party if it becomes the &#8220;anti-Israel party,&#8221; though he signaled he had no plans to imminently depart the caucus. Why it matters: Republicans currently hold a narrow Senate majority, but with midterm elections looming, Fetterman&#8217;s comments could be a blow to Democrats should they flip four&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":10150,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/images.axios.com\/_h8m84C7eoXxgF23jbLc8o9ePgg=\/0x0:4295x2416\/1366x768\/2026\/07\/16\/1784217776023.jpeg","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[17],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-10149","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-political-news"],"brizy_media":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10149","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=10149"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10149\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/10150"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=10149"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=10149"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=10149"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}