After John Fetterman won a dramatic Senate race in 2022, his political research team reviewed potential vulnerabilities and flagged one concern that now sounds prescient.
A pile of anecdotes, news stories, and data points suggested that Fetterman had often been absent from his two earlier public offices, according to three former aides with direct knowledge of the review, which has not previously been reported. The senator’s incoming staff knew they had to keep him active.
Fetterman, though, hasn’t followed through.
The Pennsylvania Democrat who has become one of his party’s most recognizable names didn’t attend a single committee hearing in 2025 until this month, according to a Bloomberg Government review of videos and transcripts. He showed up on May 8, about a week after an explosive New York Magazine story raised questions about his mental health and dedication to his job.
Skipping hearings at his three committees — Commerce, Agriculture, and Homeland Security — means Fetterman this year missed chances to publicly pin down some of President Donald Trump’s most high-profile officials, including Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick and Budget Director Russ Vought. He hasn’t attended a single Agriculture hearing in 2025, despite his state’s significant farming industry.
Staff prepared questions for him, only for the senator spend the hearings in his office, according to one of four former aides interviewed for this story.
They were among the more than 20 current and former Democratic officials, ex-Fetterman staffers, and Democratic operatives interviewed for this story. Nearly all requested anonymity to protect personal and professional relationships.
While Fetterman’s approach is inevitably bound with the physical and mental struggles that followed a massive stroke in 2022, his team’s internal review shows his work habits predate his health problems. Previous public offices foreshadowed some of the concerns now weighing on him.
Fetterman spent years trying to reach the Senate, fueled by his unconventional image and disdain for stuffy political customs, only to land in a job that seems ill-suited to his style, strengths and weaknesses. His caustic approach, loner persona, and disinterest in policy details have clashed with the clubby, procedure-bound chamber. Instead of shaking up the Senate, he has retreated from it.
Fetterman, asked about his relationship with Democratic colleagues, told Bloomberg Government, “No one’s ever brought that to myself.”
“I’m not really sure what you’re specifically referencing,” he added in a brief interview in the halls of the Senate. “Put a name on it, put a name on it, and then otherwise, it’s just all just anonymous stuff.”
Asked whether he enjoys the job, Fetterman, after facing a series of challenging questions, deadpanned, “I live to have interactions like this.”
Fetterman’s office did not answer further detailed questions for this story and few Democrats have come to his defense. Sen. Tim Kaine (D-Va.), one exception, said he’d encouraged Fetterman to “keep his chin up.”
Little contact, missed meetings
Fetterman is now so detached from his job that most of Pennsylvania’s Democratic House delegation has almost no contact with him, according to five people with direct knowledge of the dynamics. Two said the commonwealth’s House Democrats have heard more from Pennsylvania’s Republican senator, Dave McCormick, who took office in January, than they have from Fetterman, now in his third year.
Fetterman has the talent to rebound, and many of the quirks that make him an odd match for the Senate still make him beloved by many Democrats, said one former aide, who still sees hope in the senator, “but he also needs to grow into the role.”
He needs to “take some time to think about why he wanted to do this job,” the ex-aide said, “and get back in the game.”
What’s baffling to many who have supported Fetterman is that he worked so hard to become a senator, starting with a 2016 primary run and campaigning in 2022 while still ailing from his stroke.
Democrats and former aides wonder if he actually likes the job he labored for, questioning whether he’ll seek reelection in 2028 — or if he might run for president after building some crossover appeal with regular Fox News appearances and breaks with his party.
Fetterman rarely attends Senate Democrats’ weekly lunches, holds few public events, and in refusing to wear a suit is barred from joining colleagues on the Senate floor for the conversations and negotiations that unfold during votes.
‘Nasty Stories’
The senator, according to former aides, seems to enjoy chatting with Republicans more than fellow Democrats. He’s formed an unlikely bond with Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas).
“I like John a lot. He’s become a friend,” Cruz said in an interview, crediting Fetterman with a sense of humor and humility.
He’s “not nearly as bound by the partisan mentality we see in Washington, of red shirts and blue shirts, and my team hates your team.”
Cruz accused Democrats of planting “nasty stories” in the media because of Fetterman’s unwavering support for Israel.
Fetterman’s personal interactions are filtered through a closed-captioning app to help with an auditory problem that makes it hard to process conversation, an after-effect of the stroke just days before his landmark primary victory in 2022. He was also hospitalized for depression shortly after taking office.
Still, people who know Fetterman say he always had an unusual blend of — depending on who’s talking — being shy, socially awkward, arrogant, or all three. He has openly disdained grubby glad-handing (as he sees it) or relationship building and exchange of ideas (as others lawmakers see it).
He’s “just painfully awkward,” said one former Democratic elected official who interacted with him directly. But now, “there’s some real hubris” as well.
Absent Senator
Even after Fetterman presided over the Pennsylvania state Senate for three years as lieutenant governor, not one lawmaker there endorsed him during his Senate primary in 2022, a sign of his struggle or unwillingness to build personal ties.
He campaigned in broad strokes that captured voters’ attention like few politicians can, but aside from a $15 minimum wage and legalized marijuana, Fetterman had few specific goals. He struggled to answer basic questions about what Senate committees he might seek or bills he’d introduce.
Pressed for details about his calls to tax the wealthy, Fetterman couldn’t lay out any specifics, settling on raising levies “if they have yachts.”
“There’s always been a little bit of a performative nature to him and that would be fine if we saw the workhorse to go with it,” said Matt Beynon, a Republican strategist in Pennsylvania and former Senate aide to ex-Sen. Rick Santorum (R-Pa.).
Previous Pennsylvania senators have taken pride in visiting all 67 counties of the sprawling state, Beynon said. Fetterman has barely held public events.
His two previous public jobs carried few day-to-day responsibilities, allowing Fetterman to thrive on grand, headline-making gestures rather than grinding out policy wins. As mayor of Braddock, a borough of about 1,700 near Pittsburgh, he drew attention and investment with his personal story, but most of the governing power lay with the borough council.
As lieutenant governor he used his seat chairing the state’s parole board to aggressively increase pardons and clemency. But mostly it was a ceremonial role.
In the early months of the Covid-19 pandemic, when then-Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Wolf and other top officials gathered for regular virtual meetings, Fetterman joined a handful of early sessions, but then largely stopped showing up, according to two people with knowledge of his attendance.
The Senate has been a step up in terms of scope and staff. It’s “his first real job,” said one frustrated former aide.
Former staffers said there was a stretch — after Fetterman received treatment for depression — when he seemed brighter, more engaged.
But his all-or-nothing tendencies colored a moment that appears to be a turning point: his unconditional support of Israel and its assault on Gaza after Hamas’ Oct. 7, 2023 terror attack.
While former aides knew he backed the Jewish state, they were taken aback by his callousness toward Palestinian suffering.
That approach, along with a challenging working environment, has led to a string of staff departures, leaving former aides worried there’s no one left who has the experience or trust to guide the stubborn and often moody senator.
Primary Concerns
Pennsylvania Democrats warn about predictions for a 2028 reelection campaign that’s still three years away, but they’ve already started to talk about potential primary challengers. No matter who runs, Fetterman’s seat in a swing state will be one of the most competitive in the country.
A prolific fundraiser, Fetterman brought in slightly less than $400,000 in the first quarter of this year, less than half of what he raised in each quarter of 2024. Still, he had more than $2.3 million on hand.
Former Democratic Rep. Conor Lamb, who lost to Fetterman in the 2022 primary, has been rebuilding his public profile on social media and in rallies. He called the senator “a disappointment” in a March interview but downplayed questions about running for office again.
“The damage he’s caused to his image is lasting,” said Mike Mikus, a Democratic consultant who worked for a Fetterman rival in the party’s 2016 primary. “Voters will forgive you if you do something they disagree with, but if you show you’re a phony and a fake, that’s unforgivable.”
Others, even some critical of Fetterman, said that while he might face a tough primary, he could be even stronger in a general election after he has so publicly defied his own party in a moderate swing state.
He’s often “underestimated,” said one former Democratic official.
In the wake of the New York Magazine story he has attended several Commerce committee hearings, but can still be elusive.
Last week when Democrats held a policy retreat, the caucus gathered to talk strategy but also to bond, one senator said. They had a party hosted by Sen. Mark Warner (D-Va.), and some showed off their non-political talents, including Sen. Andy Kim (D-N.J.) playing the cello and Kaine on the harmonica.
Fetterman didn’t go.
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