Democrats react with shock to damning Fetterman profile

When Pennsylvania Senator John Fetterman was hospitalised for depression in 2023, many on Capitol Hill celebrated it as a moment of courage and a willingness to be open about mental health struggles.

- John Bowden, The Independent

Now, a startling picture of relapse and its associated cost is being associated with him after a deeply sourced profile on Fetterman was published Friday in New York Magazine's Intelligencer by reporter Ben Terris. Democrats on Capitol Hill have yet to comment.

But the shock from the profile’s reporting was evident across social media and on political talk programmes. “He needs to resign," The Bulwark’s Jonathan Last, a supporter of the senator who wrote that he “was the first person to suggest that John Fetterman could run for president”, said on The Secret Podcast with co-host Sarah Longwell, Longwell, who agreed, called the piece's revelations “career-ending.” In the piece, Terris quotes extensively from Fetterman's former chief of staff, Capitol Hill veteran Adam Jentleson. He also relies on statements from current and former employees in the senator's office who describe a man harrowed by the challenges of his office and struggling to accept the help he may still require to recover fully.