In an opinion piece in The Washington Post, the Pennsylvania senator wrote that while he was “at odds” with the party’s approach to some issues, his values had not changed.
With control of the Senate expected to come down to just a few seats in the midterms, some Republicans have started to dream about persuading an increasingly isolated Democrat, Senator John Fetterman of Pennsylvania, to join their party.
On Thursday, Mr. Fetterman shut down the idea.
Mr. Fetterman said in an opinion piece in The Washington Post that while he was “at odds” with Democrats’ approach to foreign affairs and immigration, he had “no plans to leave” his longtime party.
“My values have not changed, and I have always turned to those kinds of ideals that defined being a Democrat,” wrote Mr. Fetterman, a first-term Democrat. “I remain strongly pro-choice, pro-weed, pro-LGBT, pro-SNAP, pro-labor and even pro-rib-eye over bio slop. I refuse to cave on my conscience because Pennsylvania deserves someone who is honest and can work across the aisle.”
Mr. Fetterman has grown more conservative since his election in 2022 and has broken sharply with his party’s position on Israel. And he has been far more willing than others in his party to offer praise to President Trump.
Today, the senator appears to be viewed more favorably by Republican voters in his state than by Democrats. A Quinnipiac poll of Pennsylvania voters in February found that while 73 percent of Republican voters approved of Mr. Fetterman’s job performance, just 22 percent of Democrats did. Many rank-and-file Democrats in the state feel “absolutely tricked” by Mr. Fetterman’s transformation, said Christopher Borick, a political science professor at Muhlenberg College in Allentown, Pa.
The senator is likewise at odds with leaders in his party. He has a strained relationship with his state’s most powerful Democrat, Gov. Josh Shapiro, and the two men rarely speak to each other. Earlier this year, Mr. Shapiro dodged a question about whether he would support Mr. Fetterman if the senator ran for re-election in 2028.