Sen. Fetterman Insists: ‘I’m Not a Progressive’

Sen. John Fetterman is insisting that he’s “not a progressive,” marking a turn from previous comments that he was one, as backlash is growing from the left in his party over his support of Israel in its war against Hamas and his stance on immigration reform.

“I just think I’m a Democrat that is very committed to choice and other things, but with Israel, I’m going to be on the right side of that,” the Pennsylvania Democrat said in an interview with NBC News Friday, where he explained why he has broken from the left side of his party. “And immigration is something near and dear to me, and I think we do have to effectively address it as well.”

However, Fetterman has often described himself as a progressive while on the campaign trail and on social media, reports The New York Post.

The senator in 2016 shared a silhouette of himself and Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., and captioned the photograph “progressive champions.”

Further, in 2020, Fetterman posted a tweet directed at former Republican Florida Gov. Jeb Bush, where he commented “My dude, I’m a progressive Democrat.”

He also promised, during his campaign for lieutenant governor in Pennsylvania in 2017, that if he was “lucky enough to be elected, I’m able to be a solid progressive backstop for (Pennsylvania), for Gov. Wolf. It provides a statewide platform to advocate for the issues I care about — a living wage, marijuana legalization, immigration, & community policing.”

But Fetterman’s progressive declarations are being questioned after he came out in strong support of Israel’s right to fight back against Hamas after its attack on Oct. 17, and backing Israel’s refusal of a cease-fire, reports NBC News. 

The resulting backfire has led him to be heckled at public events, and 16 of his former campaign staffers wrote him an open letter in October slamming his support for Israel as “a gutting betrayal.” 

Fetterman has also come under fire because of his stance on immigration. He said he considers himself to be pro-immigration but also said thinks policies to slow the numbers of migrants coming into the United States across its southern border should be considered. 

“It’s a reasonable conversation — until somebody can say there’s an explanation on what we can do when 270,000 people are being encountered on the border, not including the ones, of course, that we don’t know about,” Fetterman, a former mayor of Braddock, Pa., said. “To put that in reference, that is essentially the size of Pittsburgh, the second-largest city in Pennsylvania.”

Progressives, meanwhile, are slamming Fetterman on social media after his comments to NBC News. 

“He was ‘progressive’ when he was asking for money and votes, though,” former Ohio Democratic state Sen. Nina Turner said on X, formerly Twitter. 

However, Adam Jentleson, Fetterman’s chief of staff, commented that the senator “always had” the policy positions he’s claiming now, even though Republicans wanted to portray him as a socialist when he was running for office against Dr. Mehmet Oz in 2022. 

“Some folks on the left are pretending” Fetterman has changed, said Jentleson. “He’s just being consistent. He spent the entire campaign telling people he wasn’t a down-the-line lefty.”