Fetterman makes it official: He’ll run for US Senate in 2022
John Fetterman #JohnFetterman
FILE – In this Jan. 24, 2019, file photo, Pennsylvania Lt. Gov. John Fetterman speaks at a news conference in the governor’s Capitol reception room in Harrisburg, Pa. Fetterman is taking definitive steps toward running for the state’s open U.S. Senate seat in 2022. Fetterman said Friday, Jan. 8, 2021, he’s exploring a run for U.S. Senate.
Pennsylvania Lieutenant Governor John Fetterman, right, speaks as he stands beside state Attorney General Josh Shapiro during a news conference about legal action in the dispute between health insurance providers UPMC and Highmark, Thursday, Feb. 7, 2019, in Pittsburgh. Fetterman will run for U.S. Senate, making the announcement Monday, Feb. 8, 2021 after kicking off an exploratory fundraising campaign last month that raised over $1 million.
By MARC LEVY Associated Press
HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) — Pennsylvania’s larger-than-life lieutenant governor, the 6-foot-8, bald, and tattooed John Fetterman, will run for U.S. Senate, making the announcement Monday after kicking off an exploratory fundraising campaign last month that raised over $1 million.
It will be the second bid for U.S. Senate by the plainspoken 51-year-old Democrat. He may ultimately see competition from a member of Congress for his party’s nomination in what could become the nation’s most competitive Senate race in 2022.
Meanwhile, on the Republican side, a number of names are circulating — including former Trump administration figures. Another possibility is Jeff Bartos, a suburban Philadelphia real estate investor who started running for U.S. Senate before switching horses to become Fetterman’s opponent for lieutenant governor in 2018.
The Senate seat in the presidential battleground is being left open after two-term Republican U.S. Sen. Pat Toomey announced in October that he would not run again.
Fetterman is by far the highest-profile name in Pennsylvania politics to show interest in running. He got his start in elective office in 2006 as the mayor of impoverished Braddock, a tiny steel town just outside of Pittsburgh where three-fourths of the residents are Black.
It was there that the Harvard-educated Fetterman became something of a street fighter for progressive values, as well as a minor media star for his work.