John Fetterman enters 2022 Pennsylvania Senate race

by



[ad_1]

Fetterman, a Democrat, was elected to his current post in 2018, on a ticket with Gov. Tom Wolf, after the Senate bid failed in 2016. Before becoming lieutenant governor, Fetterman spent more than one decade as mayor of Braddock, Pa. , just east of Pittsburgh in the western part of the state, where he polished his reputation as a no-frills, gruff progressive political champion.

The announcement, days after Fetterman filed the documents to start the process, marks the start of what is expected to be a crowded and competitive primary campaign in a state that President Joe Biden won in 2020, but which remains a stronghold. for Republicans loyal to the old. President Donald Trump. In an equally divided Senate, the race could play a decisive role in determining the chamber’s balance of power in next year’s midterm elections.

Fetterman’s campaign says it has already raised more than $ 1.3 million, out of more than 43,000 donations, in the weeks following its first public review of the offer.

“I am running for the United States Senate for the same reason I ran for Lieutenant Governor in 2018 and Mayor of Braddock 16 years ago, because I believe in a core set of truths. in the dignity of work and in the dignity of a paycheck, ”Fetterman said in a statement.

“I believe that the union way of life is sacred. I believe that health care is a basic and fundamental human right. I believe in environmental justice, I believe that our criminal justice system needs a major overhaul . I believe the war on drugs must end and we must legalize marijuana across the country. I believe the LGBTQIA community deserves the same rights and protections as the rest of us in this country. “

Fetterman endorsed Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders in the 2016 Democratic presidential primary – and had Sanders’ backing in his 2018 campaign for lieutenant governor – but remained neutral in 2020, telling the Philadelphia Inquirer last year : our possible candidate against Trump. Because everyone will be on the bridge. “

Biden ultimately won the state by more than 80,000 votes, sending it back to Democrats after Trump defeated Hillary Clinton by about half that margin four years earlier. The upcoming Senate primary will provide new insight into the evolution of the state’s electorate – and how Democrats envision their path to victory in the 2022 Senate election.

Other candidates are rumored to be eyeing the race, including Representative Conor Lamb, a moderate member of the Democratic House also from western Pennsylvania. Statewide, Philadelphia Mayor Jim Kenney, Senator Sharif Street, State Representative Malcolm Kenyatta, and U.S. Representative Chrissy Houlahan, among others, could end up vying for the lion’s share of the strongly Democratic vote in Philadelphia and elsewhere.

Fetterman, however, is the only member of the peloton to win a statewide election.

In a video released Monday to kick off the campaign, Fetterman says he is uniquely qualified to win parts of the state that turned to Republicans during the Trump era.

“These places across Pennsylvania feel left out. They don’t feel involved in the conversation,” Fetterman said. “That’s why Donald Trump has been to these little counties and has these big gatherings. We can’t afford to take a vote for granted, we can’t afford to take a place for granted.”

[ad_2]

Source link