Senator John Fetterman (D-PA) is denying rumors that he intends to switch his affiliation from the Democratic to the Republican Party. The Pennsylvania Democrat’s partisan intentions became the subject of feverish speculation on social media after New Jersey Assemblyman Jamel Holley claimed he was told a prominent Democrat Senator would soon announce they were switching political parties.
“Just left a conversation and my source indicated to me that a key Democratic senator is expected to change party affiliation to Republican by next week. Wow!” Holley wrote on X (formerly Twitter) late Monday. A New Jersey state Democrat lawmaker, Holley is a close political ally of Robert F. Kennedy Jr., President Donald J. Trump’s nominee to lead the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS).
“That’s amateur hour shit,” Sen. Fetterman said in response to the social media rumors regarding his potential party switch. He continued: “It’s not gonna happen. And even if I wanted to do that, that is a rocket sled to Palookaville to try to switch. I would make a pretty bad Republican.”
He emphasized that he would not follow the path of former Senators Joe Manchin (I-WV) and Kyrsten Sinema (I-AZ), both of whom changed their political affiliations from Democrat to Independent while serving in office.
Earlier this month, Fetterman raised eyebrows among his U.S. Senate Democrat colleagues when he bucked party leadership and met with President Trump at Mar-a-Lago. After the meeting, Trump lauded the Pennsylvania Senator, calling him “fascinating” and adding: “I couldn’t be more impressed.”
“He’s a commonsense person. He’s not liberal or conservative. He’s just a commonsense person, which is beautiful,” Trump said of Fetterman.