15‘He’s
gonna
be our
blue collar
tough guy.’
—GEORGE BONSER,
RETIRED
STEELWORKERthe region, implementing youth anti violence pro-
grams that helped it go five years without a homi-
cide. The dates of every murder in Braddock that
happened on his watch are tattooed on Fetter-
man’s right forearm.
One incident from Braddock threatened to
overshadow Fetterman’s campaign. In 2013, while
outside with his young son, Fetterman thought
he heard gunshots and saw a man running from
the area. He chased him down in his truck and de-
tained him with a shotgun until police came. The
man turned out to be an unarmed Black jogger.
Opponents have suggested it was a racist incident,
and demand Fetterman apologize. Fetterman says
he never aimed his gun at the man, and points out
that after the incident, the mostly Black voters
of Braddock re-elected him to two more terms.
He also points to his record on clemency. As the
state’s lieutenant governor since 2019, Fetterman
has revitalized the Pennsylvania Board of Par-
dons, eliminating application fees, and presided
over a sevenfold rise in recommended commuta-
tions of life sentences.While Fetterman endorsed Bernie Sanders
in the 2016 presidential primary, he now avoids
most progressive litmus tests. His main issues
are raising the minimum wage, legalizing mari-
juana, and nuking the filibuster to help Biden get
things done. He’s not a purist on Medicare for All
(he’s for “expanding health care access, whatever
that looks like”), and he isn’t pushing the Green
New Deal. He told the steelworkers he was “pro-
policing, pro–community policing, pro–funding
the police” and called the activist cry to “defund
the police” an “absurd phrase.” He once called
fracking an “environmental abomination,” but
now says the industry has reformed enough that
he sees the practice as crucial to energy security.
Fetterman isn’t running as a progressive cru-
sader or policy wonk. He’s running to be the
Democrats’ 51st vote in the Senate. And support-
ers believe he can get it done. “They have their
own tough guy in Donald Trump,” says George
Bonser, a retired steelworker. “He’s gonna be our
blue collar tough guy.” —With reporting by JULIA
MICHELLE GUSTAFSON—BLOOMBERG/GETTY IMAGES ZORTHIAN