Three of Sen. John Fetterman's top communications staffers have left his office for positions with more progressive leanings, the UK Daily Mail reported. This comes as the Pennsylvania Democrat has recently departed from his left-leaning colleagues on key issues.
The timeframe for these departures is almost as shocking as the number of staffers who are leaving. All three are leaving over the course of a month, which hints at a sudden change of heart.
Fetterman has already lost Joe Calvello, who was his director of communications during his 2022 campaign and in his current office. Calvello left earlier this month to join leftist Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson's office.
The Pennsylvania lawmaker will also lose Deputy Communication Director Nicholas Gavio to a position at the progressive Working Families Party at the end of the month. Finally, Fetterman's press and digital aide Emma Mustion is also set to leave at the end of the month to work for Sen. Bob Casey's reelection campaign.
Staff turnover happens in every office, but the rapidity of these losses likely comes from Fetterman's political pivot. After running as a staunch left-leaning Democrat, Fetterman has rankled diehards with his position on the Israel-Hamas conflict.
Following the attack on Israel perpetrated by Hamas on Oct. 7, Fetterman became an outspoken advocate for Israel, Fox News reported. Later that month, Calvello took to social media to blast Fetterman with a screenshot of email instructions for staffers on toeing the line for Israel in their own posts.
"However, if you want to sign onto something that is entirely anonymous - including NOT identifying you as a Fetterman staffer in any way - that is in bounds if you so choose. The distinction here is that you cannot use your status as a current Fetterman staffer to undermine John's position or otherwise make a public statement that is inconsistent with John's views," the screenshot said.
Recently, Fetterman stated he's not a "progressive" and broke with Vice President Kamala Harris for her statement claiming Israel would make a "huge mistake" if it launched an offensive without America's blessing. "Hard disagree," Fetterman posted on X, formerly Twitter.
"Israel has the right to prosecute Hamas to surrender or to be eliminated. Hamas owns every innocent death for their cowardice hiding behind Palestinian lives," Fetterman wrote.
Besides his break with Democrats on the Israel conflict, Fetterman has outraged fellow Democrats with his support for curbing illegal immigration, NBC News reported. He believes that it's reasonable to support immigrants while also keeping illegals out.
"It’s a reasonable conversation — until somebody can say there’s an explanation on what we can do when 270,000 people are being encountered on the border, not including the ones, of course, that we don’t know about. To put that in reference, that is essentially the size of Pittsburgh, the second-largest city in Pennsylvania," Fetterman said.
Adam Jentleson, Fetterman's chief of staff, said his outlook tracks with the positions he's "always had" on these issues. Jentleson said Republicans attempted to paint him as a radical leftist, while Democrats are charging that Fetterman has flip-flopped.
"He’s just being consistent. He spent the entire campaign telling people he wasn’t a down-the-line lefty," Jentleson asserted.
Many Republicans were concerned about Fetterman's rhetoric during the campaign. However, his actions while in office have proven to be more centrist than the they could have hoped for, but that has seemingly led to trouble among his own staffers.
