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So what did Fetterman do to fall out of favor? It wasn’t his health. It was daring to adopt views that, while hardly conservative, still don’t sit well with the Democrat machine. He’s become a wild card — one who, as the AP puts it, is “under fire from rank-and-file Democrats for being willing to cooperate with Trump and criticizing how Democrats have protested him.”
In simpler terms: he won’t always toe the party line. And for today’s Democrat Party, that’s the cardinal sin.
Former Rep. Lamb has seized the opportunity to tour town halls around Pennsylvania. At these events, progressive groups frustrated with Fetterman are finding a sympathetic ear in Lamb. The AP reports:
“At town hall after town hall across Pennsylvania, Democrats and allied progressive groups aren’t hearing from Fetterman in person — or Republicans who control Washington, for that matter. But they are hearing from Lamb, a living reminder of the Democrat they could have elected instead of Fetterman. The former congressman has emerged as an in-demand town hall headliner, sometimes as a stand-in for Fetterman — who just might bash Fetterman.”
Lamb has been careful not to launch direct attacks, but the subtext is clear. He tells crowds he’s concerned about Fetterman’s shift away from party orthodoxy:
“[T]hat is, I think, what’s driving the frustration more than any one particular issue,” Lamb said.
“When I watch the person who beat me give up on every important issue that he campaigned on … the more I reasoned that the point of all of this in the first place is advocacy for what’s right and wrong,” Lamb added.
“And advocacy for not just a particular party to win, but for the type of country where it matters if, when you stand up, you tell the truth.”
The irony here is thicker than Fetterman’s trademark Carhartt hoodies. Lamb is essentially criticizing Fetterman for becoming the independent-minded senator that Lamb himself once claimed he’d be.
Progressives, meanwhile, have taken to publicly venting their frustration. Take Leah Greenberg of the leftist group Indivisible, who used a recent “No Kings” rally in Philadelphia as an anti-Fetterman pulpit. As she put it:
“We’re looking to the leaders who will fight for us, because even today there are folks among the Democratic Party who think we should roll over and play dead. Anyone seen John Fetterman here today?”
According to the AP, “The crowd booed.”
Dana Kellerman, a progressive activist from Pittsburgh, added:
“Showing up matters and it really does make a difference. Is that going to matter to John Fetterman? I really don’t know. I don’t know what he’s thinking. I don’t know if he’s always been this person or if he’s changed in the last two years.”
The grassroots seems eager for Lamb’s reappearance. Janet Bargh, who attended one of his events near Harrisburg, said:
“That he’s doing these town halls is a good indication that he’ll be running for something, so it’s a good thing.”
In 2022, both Lamb and Fetterman were considered “electable” by Democrats. Lamb leaned into a moderate, bipartisan brand. Fetterman leaned into his blue-collar image, sporting workwear and tattoos while promising progressive ideals.
Now, Fetterman has proven he’s not just wearing a costume — he’s willing to speak his mind, even if it annoys the left’s activist base. Lamb, on the other hand, seems determined to become exactly the kind of establishment figure Fetterman’s supporters wanted to avoid.
Lamb’s new pitch boils down to this: Fetterman actually believes the independent rhetoric he campaigned on — but Lamb was only pretending.
If this is the Democrats’ idea of “stepping up,” Republicans should be taking notes — because this intraparty fight could hand the GOP a golden opportunity to flip a key Senate seat in 2028.
Stay tuned. The Democrat civil war in Pennsylvania is just getting started.
