Enola, Pa. (AP) – Democratic Sen. John Fetterman of Pennsylvania isn't up for Reelection Until 2028, But Already a One-Time Primary Foe, Former US Rep. Conor Lamb, is Crisscrossing Pennsylvania and Social Media, Looking and Sounding Like He's Preparing to Challenge Fetterman Again.
In the town hall after the town hall in Pennsylvania, Democrats and Allied progressive groups do not hear personally from Fetterman – or Republicans who check Washington.
But they hear from Lamb, a living memory of the Democrat they could have chosen instead of Fetterman. The former conference member has emerged as a much-requested headliner from the town hall, sometimes as a stand-in for Fetterman-Die might be Fetterman.
“I thought I was going to play Senator Fetterman,” Lamb joked as he sat down for a central Pennsylvania last Sunday.
Democrats are frustrated by Fetterman
The revival of Lamb comes at an intervening moment, about halfway through the six-year term of Fetterman, and helps to define the battle with which Democrats are confronted in Swing-State Pennsylvania.
Democrats are prominent in this on their national effort to push back on President Donald Trump, but also in their struggle to find out what to do about Fetterman, who is under fire from rank-and-file Democrats because they are willing to work with Trump.
Frustration with Fetterman has been on social media, during the huge “no Kings” rally in Philadelphia and among the believers of the Democratic Party. The Steering Group of the Progressive Organization Indiveable PA asked Fetterman last month to resign.
It is quite a turn for the Hoodies-and-Shorts-bearing Fetterman, chosen in 2022 with a Everyman Persona and irreverent humor, who was not afraid to challenge the convention.
For some progressives, frustration started with Fetterman with his loyal support for Israel's punishing war against Hamas in Gaza, a matter that divides Democrats.
It has continued since Trump took office. Now some are wondering why he-as they see Trump kissing, why he chases fellow democrats for their anti-Trump resistance and whether he is even committed to their causes.
They recently doubted his support for Trump's bombing on Iran.
“It hurts,” said John Abbott, who attended Sunday's event in the suburbs of Harrisburg.
Speaking during the flagship “No Kings” rally in Philadelphia, indivisible co-founder Leah Greenberg-name controlled Fetterman.
“We look at the leaders who will fight for us, because even today there are people under the democratic party who think we should turn around and play death,” said Greenberg. “Has anyone seen John Fetterman here today?”
The crowd fascinated.
Why does Conor Lamb Pennsylvania cross again?
In Pittsburgh, progressives trying to land a personal town hall with Fetterman or the first term Republican Senator David McCormick when the two senators together advertised an event in a restaurant in the city center to celebrate the release of the new book by McCormick.
Progressive groups organized themselves to protest and – after it had moved to a private location with a private invitation list – continued with their own town hall. Instead, they invited Lamb and a local democratic state representative.
More invitations for LAM started to roll in.
According to his count, he has now attended at least a dozen town halls and party events, which easily clocked more than 2,000 miles to appear in small cities, small cities and suburbs, often in conservative areas.
“Visition up and it really makes a difference,” said Dana Kellerman, a progressive organizer based in Pittsburgh. “Is that important for John Fetterman? I really don't know. I don't know what he thinks. I don't know if he has always been this person or whether he has changed in the last two years.”
Fetterman has criticized and said that he is a dedicated democrat and insists that he was chosen to get in touch with Republicans and – perhaps hypocritical – wondered why Democrats would criticize colleague democrats.
Sometimes Fetterman has criticized Trump and questioned the move to 'put our allies in the mouth' with rates or the need for cuts on net social safety programs in the GOP legislation to extend the tax cuts of 2017. Fetterman's office did not respond to an investigation about LAM.
Is Conor Lamb for the Senate?
For his part, Lamb says – a former American marine and federal public prosecutor – that he is not running for anything at the moment, but he will do what he can do to “stop this slide that we are on his way to a less democratic country and try to create one in which there is more opportunity for people.”
For some Democrats he sounds like a candidate.
“The fact that he does these city houses is a good indication that he will run for something, so it's a good thing,” said Janet Bargh, who attended the event in the suburbs of Harrisburg.
Apart from the town halls, he spoke at the Unite for Veterans event in the National Mall. He was also active on social media, did local radio performances and appeared on MSNBC, where he recently criticized the Military Parade of 14 June that was ordered by Trump.
Not long ago it was difficult to imagine that Lamb once lost a race.
In 2018 he won a heavily Trump-friendly conference district in the southwest of Pennsylvania in a special election. It was the center of the political universe that drew the spring, campaign visits of Trump and the then hopeful Joe Biden.
Suddenly Lam was ascendant. Then he ran to the Senate and lost conveniently with more than two-on-one-to Fetterman in 2022's primary.
People often ask Lamb if he will challenge Fetterman again. Lamb said that he reminds them that Fetterman will have three years left in his term and the conversation is running at what Democrats have to do to win elections in 2025 and 2026.
Yet Lamb is not afraid of publicly criticizing Fetterman. And, he said, he is a magnet for Democrats to express their accident with Fetterman. What he hears time and time again is frustration that Fetterman spends too much time attacking colleague democrats and not enough time challenging Trump.
“And that is, I think, what drives frustration more than a certain problem,” said Lamb.
In the town hall, Lamb was not afraid to admit that he had lost from Fetterman. But he turned it into an attack line.
“If I see the person who has defeated me, giving up every important issue that he campaigned … The more I reasoned that the point of all this is primarily for advocacy for what is right and wrong,” Lamb said the crowd. “And advocacy for not just a certain party to win, but for the type of country where it matters or if you get up, you tell the truth.”
The crowd cheered.
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