Fetterman has long been viewed as progressive

US Sen. John Fetterman of Pennsylvania made something abundantly clear almost 18 months ago — regardless of his enthusiastic endorsement of Democratic Socialist Sen. Bernie Sanders in 2016, his long support for the disputed community, and his strong backing of unions and other views aligning him with liberal Democrats.

- Benjamin Kail and Steve Bohnel, Tribune News Service

"I'm not a progressive," Fetterman, who reportedly faces more staff departures amid concerns about his health and behaviour, told NBC News in December 2023. But even now, nearly four months into the second Trump administration — after backing several Cabinet nominees and supporting both Republican-led immigration legislation and some of the White House's expansive detention and deportation efforts — several Democratic donors and supporters told the Post-Gazette they have increasingly found Fetterman to be far from the progressive leader they expected. Some Democrats reportedly are already discussing potential primary challengers or replacements if Fetterman resigns — which he says he won't do. And Republicans are openly supportive of Fetterman and trying to swing him toward the GOP — which he's said for months isn’t going to happen.

But Fetterman has always been somewhat of a wild card. His stances and actions dating back to his time as mayor of Braddock, a borough of less than 2,000 along the Monongahela River, shows a complicated picture suggesting he was never going to be a “sidekick” to Sanders, I-Vt., or anyone, as Republican Senate opponent Dr. Mehmet Oz tried to insist in 2022. "I always considered him to be somewhat of a populist, maverick contrarian," Larry Ceisler, a Pennsylvania public affairs executive, told the Post-Gazette. Ceisler, a Democrat, said Fetterman has a rare ability to hold strong views while also coming across as an “empty vessel — and not in a derogatory way.”