Fetterman Rejects Party-Switch Talk: ‘I’d Be a Terrible Republican’

The Pennsylvania senator defended his cross-aisle record on Israel, the border, and government funding while ruling out leaving the Democratic Party.

Sen. John Fetterman speaks to reporters outside the Senate Chambers on March 13, 2025. Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images

Sen. John Fetterman (D-Pa.) on Thursday published a Washington Post column defending his bipartisan record while declaring himself a Democrat with no plans to leave the party. 

Titled “Become a Republican? I'd be terrible,” the column lands days after a Politico Magazine report that detailed an alleged quiet effort by President Donald Trump and Senate Republicans to court the first-term Pennsylvania Democrat. Fetterman has increasingly broken with his party on Israel, border policy, and the Department of Homeland Security shutdown.