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Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer (N.Y.) on Wednesday urged Sen. John Fetterman (D-Pa.) to stay in the Senate Democratic caucus and praised him as a “very good” member of Congress, despite growing tensions between Fetterman and the progressive Democratic base.
Asked if he wants Fetterman to remain Democrat, Schumer responded: “Yes, and he is a very good member of Congress.”
“People in our caucus very much like him and respect him and we’re a big-tent party. We can have a lot of different views in that party,” Schumer said.
Schumer made his comments after Thune said last week that Republicans would roll out the red carpet for Fetterman to join their conference if he ever decides to leave the Democratic Party.
“Yes, we would welcome him,” said Thune, noting that he’s had “conversations” with the maverick Democrat about switching parties — as have other Senate Republicans.
“I have had conversations with him in the past as have many of my colleagues about the challenges he faces in his caucus. And there are many of us who, I think, would welcome the opportunity to have him join the Republican conference but ultimately that’s a decision that’s up to him,” Thune told reporters.
Thune made the case that Fetterman might be more comfortable caucusing with Republicans because the Democratic Party is “moving further and further, more radically, to the more extreme left on a lot of issues.”
Fetterman told Hill Nation Summit earlier this month that he would leave the Democratic Party if it entirely turns it back on Israel. He voiced his concern about growing hostility to Israel among far-left progressives and Democratic socialists.
“If our party ever becomes — and just makes it official — the anti-Israel party, that’s when I would leave because that’s been a moral clarity for me,” he warned.
Fetterman said he “can’t understand why the Democratic Party,” which shares many values with Israel, a leading democracy in the Middle East, would turn against a long-standing ally.
“My long-term concern has been with the Democratic Party, as I am a member of that, is that our party is going to back away and turn their back to Israel,” he said.
A Quinnipiac University poll of 895 registered voters in Pennsylvania earlier this month found that 48 percent of voters approve of how Fetterman is handling his job while 41 percent disapprove.
But the same survey found that while 77 percent of Republicans approve of Fetterman’s job performance, 69 percent of Democrats disapprove.
The survey also found that 52 percent of Democrats said they would like to see Fetterman leave the Democratic Party.
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