Inside the Quiet Republican Effort to Flip Fetterman

[In It to Win It]

It’s a few days after the election this November, and the results have become clear: Democrats have netted the four seats they need to claim a Senate majority.

But then there’s a disturbance in the force: Senate Republicans and President Donald Trump persuade Sen. John Fetterman (D-Pa.) to switch parties or at least become an independent to ensure Republicans retain power in the chamber.

It’s a scenario that’s becoming less fantastical by the day.

The political environment is curdling for Republicans, and the quiet campaign to lure Fetterman across the aisle is underway.

Trump has made the sell, offering his patented total and complete endorsement plus a financial windfall to the Pennsylvanian. A handful of Senate Republicans are also gently feeling out Fetterman and responding to his concerns over the prospect of defecting from the Democratic Party, multiple high-level GOP officials tell me.

If Fetterman does flip, according to officials who were given anonymity to talk about sensitive matters, it will be thanks in large part to his deepening friendship with a pair of senators and their high-profile spouses: Sen. Dave McCormick (R-Pa.), and his wife Dina, and Sen. Katie Britt (R-Ala.), and her husband, Wesley.

https://www.politico.com/news/magazine/2026/05/04/fetterman-switch-parties-republican-00904177

[Captain Zero]

1. Act Blue should delist Fetterman

I've delisted him from my contributions.

[bucolic_frolic]

2. Fetterman is weak minded

His positions are fluid, he doesn't stand for anything.

[hlthe2b]

3. I sincerely hope we don't see certain Dems--especially in leadership-- admonishing the rest of us

not to call Fetterman out for his least (D)democratic positions most recently and statements-- i.e., both big and little "d" democratic and telling us that any and all criticism will backfire on us and thus we should cease)...

I joined most here to bend over backwards giving Fetterman benefit-of-the-doubt when he faced all his trauma from stroke and mental health "break," and joined many in helping him get elected. But, I'm done now. With a nod to the late Doris Day, "what will be, will be..."

[mountain grammy]

4. I hope his constituents are giving him hell