Pennsylvania Democrat Deluzio says he 'might' primary Fetterman in 2028 as party turns on the senator

A second-term Pennsylvania congressman is openly floating a primary challenge to Sen. John Fetterman, the latest sign that Democrats have all but given up on the first-term senator who keeps breaking with his party.

Rep. Chris Deluzio went on NewsNation's "The Hill Sunday" program and told host Chris Stirewalt that he has not ruled out running against Fetterman in the 2028 Democratic primary. The admission followed a social media post days earlier in which Deluzio accused Fetterman of failing the people who sent him to Washington.

The Hill reported that Deluzio, when asked directly about a challenge, did not shut the door:

"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, "I might", is as close to a declaration of intent as a sitting congressman can offer without filing paperwork. Deluzio framed his immediate focus as the midterms, but left 2028 wide open.

Deluzio's Friday broadside set the stage

The television appearance did not come out of nowhere. On Friday, Deluzio posted on X that Fetterman "has no sense of duty" to his constituents and issued a direct warning:

"He is not up for the high office he was elected to, and we in Pennsylvania will do something about it in 2028."

That post landed the same day the Wall Street Journal published a report outlining what it described as Fetterman's lack of commitment to his duties as a senator. Fox News reported that leaked text messages cited in the Journal piece showed Fetterman refusing to meet with representatives from Children's Hospital of Philadelphia who had concerns about Medicaid cuts and vaccine issues. The texts also indicated that attending a three-hour funeral for three slain Pennsylvania police officers was, in Fetterman's view, a "nonstarter."

Fetterman dismissed the Journal report as a "hit piece." But the damage inside his own caucus was already done.

On the same program, Deluzio went further, saying Fetterman has become politically radioactive among Pennsylvania Democrats:

"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."

That is a remarkable statement from a fellow Democrat about a sitting senator from the same state. It amounts to a public declaration that Fetterman is a liability, not an asset, to his own party's candidates.

Fetterman's 28 percent Trump score leads all Senate Democrats

The friction between Fetterman and his party has been building for well over a year. Democrats inside and outside Pennsylvania have criticized the senator throughout the last 18 months for siding with President Trump and the GOP on a range of issues. VoteHub data shows that Fetterman voted in line with Trump's position 28 percent of the time last year, the highest rate of any Senate Democrat.

That number alone would draw attention. But Fetterman has also voted against every Senate war powers resolution introduced regarding Iran, putting him at odds with the progressive wing of his party on one of its signature foreign-policy priorities.

On Israel, Fetterman has been even more direct. He has drawn a hard line defending the Israeli military's campaign in Gaza at a time when roughly half of Democrats believe Israel has committed genocide in Gaza, according to an Associated Press/NORC poll conducted in June.

At the Hill Nation Summit in June, Fetterman made a statement that amounted to a dare aimed at his own party:

"If our party ever becomes, and just makes it official, the anti-Israel party, that's when I would leave."

For a first-term senator who won his seat as a progressive champion, those are fighting words directed at the very voters who put him in office.

No Pennsylvania House Democrat will back Fetterman for re-election

Deluzio is not alone in his frustration. The New York Post reported that not a single Pennsylvania House Democrat in the delegation would say Fetterman should run for re-election as a Democrat. That is a total collapse of intra-party support, the kind of isolation that typically precedes either a retirement or a brutal primary.

Rep. Brendan Boyle, a fellow Pennsylvania Democrat, has been even blunter than Deluzio. Boyle called Fetterman "Trump's favorite Democrat" and accused him of going "to Mar-a-Lago to kiss the ring." Boyle also said he would be "very surprised" if Fetterman ran in the Democratic primary for the Senate at all.

Fetterman's breaks with his party have been specific and repeated. Breitbart reported that the senator co-sponsored the Laken Riley Act, voiced support for ICE, condemned Democratic socialism, and congratulated Trump on the Israel-Hamas peace deal. He has also backed Trump's border policies and supported Markwayne Mullin's nomination for homeland security secretary.

Each of those positions, taken individually, would irritate the Democratic base. Taken together, they represent a senator who has functionally abandoned the party's policy agenda on immigration, foreign policy, and government spending, the issues that animate the party's progressive wing.

Fetterman insists he's staying, but the math is against him

For his part, Fetterman has shown no interest in leaving the Democratic Party. He told Politico flatly: "I'm not changing. I'm a Democrat, and I'm staying one," adding that he would be a "s***ty Republican."

But staying a Democrat and surviving a Democratic primary are two different things. A Quinnipiac University survey found that Fetterman has stronger support among Republicans than Democrats, a polling profile that spells trouble in a closed primary where only registered Democrats vote. The same survey found that a majority of Pennsylvania Democratic voters disapprove of Fetterman's job performance, even as his overall approval among all Pennsylvania voters remains strong.

That gap, popular statewide, unpopular within his own party, is the central problem Fetterman faces. He has also shown a willingness to break with Democrats on constitutional questions, further widening the rift.

Republicans have noticed the opening. The Washington Examiner reported that GOP figures have privately urged Fetterman to switch parties or run as an independent, and that Trump signaled the party would financially back him if he changed affiliation. Fetterman has refused.

Pittsburgh-area Democratic strategist Mike Mikus captured the bewilderment inside the party: "It almost seems as if he's purposefully trying to poke them in the eye. For the life of me, I can't figure out why he thinks that's a good idea."

Deluzio, Boyle, and Lamb form a growing challenger list

Deluzio is not the only name circling the 2028 race. Boyle and former Rep. Conor Lamb are also reportedly positioning themselves for a potential primary challenge, according to Breitbart. That means Fetterman could face a multi-candidate field of Democrats who view him as a man without a party, or at least without their party.

Deluzio, for now, says he is focused on the midterms. "I'll deal with 2028 when we get past" them, he told Stirewalt. But his public statements, the social media post, the television appearance, the refusal to rule anything out, suggest a man who has already made up his mind and is simply waiting for the right moment to say so.

Fetterman, meanwhile, sits in a political no-man's-land. Too independent for Democrats. Too Democratic for Republicans. Too absent, his critics say, for anyone. The internal tensions roiling the Democratic Party have claimed plenty of moderates and mavericks before him.

When a senator's own colleagues won't campaign with him, won't endorse him, and won't even say he should run again, the primary challenge isn't a question of "if." It's a question of who files first.