Rep. Chris Deluzio has openly floated a primary challenge to Sen. John Fetterman, marking the sharpest public break yet between Pennsylvania Democrats and their increasingly isolated first-term senator.
Deluzio, a second-term congressman from western Pennsylvania, told NewsNation host Chris Stirewalt on "The Hill Sunday" that he has not ruled out running against Fetterman in the 2028 Democratic primary. The statement followed days of escalating criticism from within Fetterman's own party, fueled by a Wall Street Journal investigation into the senator's conduct in office and a voting record that has put him closer to President Trump than any other Senate Democrat.
Deluzio told Stirewalt he had not made a final decision but left no doubt about the direction of his thinking:
"I might, I haven't decided that. And to be really blunt, I'm doing everything I can right now to help Democrats in Pennsylvania flip congressional seats to give Josh Shapiro a governing majority in the state Senate and grow the majority in the state House."
That answer, careful enough to preserve deniability but pointed enough to land, came after Deluzio had already gone further on social media. In a post on X the previous Friday, he wrote that Fetterman "is not up for the high office he was elected to, and we in Pennsylvania will do something about it in 2028."
Deluzio also said Fetterman "has no sense of duty" to his constituents.
The frustration building inside the Pennsylvania Democratic delegation did not appear overnight. Over the last eighteen months, Fetterman has broken with his party on a series of high-profile issues, most notably his unwavering support for Israel's military campaign in Gaza and his alignment with the Trump administration on border and Iran policy.
Data from VoteHub shows Fetterman voted in line with Trump's position 28 percent of the time last year, more than any other Senate Democrat. He was the sole Democrat to vote against a Senate war powers resolution that would have limited the president's military actions against Iran. That vote passed 50, 48 without his support, according to Just The News.
Fetterman has also backed the U.S. posture in the Iran conflict, supported the nomination of Sen. Markwayne Mullin, and defended Trump's White House ballroom project, the Washington Examiner reported. The cumulative effect has left him with almost no allies in his own state party.
At the Hill Nation Summit in June, Fetterman drew a line that only widened the gap. He told a reporter that if Democrats officially became "the anti-Israel party, that's when I would leave." An AP, NORC poll conducted the same month found roughly half of Democrats believe Israel has committed genocide in Gaza, a position Fetterman has publicly questioned whether his party has room for.
The immediate catalyst for Deluzio's public challenge was a Wall Street Journal investigation published the Friday before his television appearance. The report outlined what S1 characterized as Fetterman's "lack of commitment" to his duties as a senator. Fetterman dismissed the piece as a "hit piece."
But the details reported by the Journal cut deeper than a single unflattering profile. Leaked text messages showed Fetterman was unwilling to meet with constituents, including representatives from Children's Hospital of Philadelphia who wanted to discuss Medicaid cuts, Fox News reported. He also reportedly declined to attend a funeral for three slain Pennsylvania police officers, calling the three-hour event a potential "nonstarter."
For a senator whose 2022 campaign leaned heavily on blue-collar authenticity and working-class solidarity, refusing to show up for murdered police officers and sick children at a major hospital is a record that pens its own indictment.
Deluzio hammered the absence theme on NewsNation:
"John Fetterman's nowhere to be seen on the campaign trail. And again, to be very blunt, I don't think there's any Democrat in Pennsylvania who wants him campaigning with them, even if he wouldn't show up."
He added that his immediate focus was on the midterms, saying he would "deal with 2028 when we get past" them. The framing was clear: Fetterman is a liability now, and the reckoning is coming later.
Deluzio is not alone. A New York Post report from April found that not a single Pennsylvania House Democrat would say Fetterman should run for re-election as a Democrat. That is a remarkable statement about a sitting senator from his own delegation, the kind of unanimous cold shoulder usually reserved for members who have already been indicted or caught in a scandal.
Rep. Brendan Boyle went further than most. He called Fetterman "a disgrace" and "a lazy trust fund baby who is too lazy to do the job." Boyle also said he would "be very surprised if he ran in the Democratic primary for the U.S. Senate." Rep. Madeleine Dean offered a more measured version of the same conclusion: "I disagree with many of his votes."
DNC Vice Chair Malcolm Kenyatta has also publicly condemned Fetterman, and at least four Democrats, Conor Lamb, Deluzio, Boyle, and Susan Wild, have been mentioned as potential 2028 primary challengers. The Monroe County Democratic Party went so far as to label Fetterman a "traitor" on social media.
Pittsburgh-area Democratic strategist Mike Mikus told the Washington Examiner the obvious: "If he runs again as a Democrat, he's going to have very stiff competition." Fetterman's approval among Pennsylvania Democrats has collapsed from a net-positive 68-point rating in 2023 to just 22 percent approval, a 108-point swing, according to Just The News.
Amid the Democratic revolt, Republicans have quietly encouraged Fetterman to switch parties or run as an independent. Trump himself has signaled the GOP would financially back Fetterman if he changed his affiliation. GOP consultant Matt Beynon told the Examiner that Fetterman is "a test case of your party leaving you."
Fetterman has repeatedly insisted he will not become a Republican. He has publicly vowed to stay in the Democratic Party even as his breaks with it multiply. But staying in a party that does not want you is not the same as having a political future in it.
The senator's situation captures a broader tension inside the Democratic coalition. Senior leaders like Chuck Schumer and Elizabeth Warren are already fighting over the party's direction, and Fetterman's case sits squarely at the fault line between the party's progressive base and whatever remains of its centrist wing.
Schumer has personally pleaded with Fetterman to stay, but pleading is not the same as protecting, and it is not clear the Senate minority leader has the leverage or the will to shield a member whose own state delegation has abandoned him.
Boyle put the party's posture toward Fetterman in blunt terms: "Almost every day, if not every day, our Democratic senator from this state goes on TV, most often on Fox News, never criticizes President Trump and is always criticizing Democrats."
Deluzio's decision to float a challenge without formally committing follows a familiar playbook. He keeps the door open, builds name recognition as the Democrat willing to say what others are thinking, and avoids the risk of a premature announcement that could draw fire before the midterms are settled.
His focus on flipping congressional seats and building a governing majority for Governor Shapiro positions him as a team player, the kind of Democrat who shows up, campaigns, and does the work. The contrast with Fetterman, who by Deluzio's own account is "nowhere to be seen on the campaign trail," is deliberate and sharp.
Fetterman's recent pledge not to oppose Republican Sen. Dave McCormick in 2030 only deepened the sense among Pennsylvania Democrats that their senator has already checked out of the party, even if he has not checked out formally.
Whether Deluzio, Boyle, Lamb, or someone else ultimately files against Fetterman matters less than what is already settled: the Pennsylvania Democratic establishment has decided its junior senator is a problem. They are not whispering about it anymore. They are saying it on television.
When your own party's members line up to call you absent, disloyal, and unfit, and not one colleague will publicly back your re-election, the primary challenge is already underway. The filing is just a formality.
