A former campaign staffer said Sen. John Fetterman’s single-minded focus came at the exclusion of the progressive positions he ran on.
By Akela Lacy, The Intercept
The exodus of staff from the office of Sen. John Fetterman, D-Pa., continued Thursday with two new departures.
The exits of the longtime staffers reflects a deep disillusionment in Fetterman’s office with his disavowal of progressive politics and turn toward the right in both his openness to working with President Donald Trump and his embrace of strident pro-Israel positions.
The office’s “major staff turnover,” as one team Fetterman veteran put it, comes amid a tough hiring environment for Democratic staffers in Washington.
“I don’t find this as a surprise,” said the former Fetterman campaign staffer, who requested anonymity to protect their livelihood. “I think the staff is probably frustrated that working in the Fetterman office means you’re just working on Israel all the time.”
“This is a guy who came in talking about being a champion for labor and he’s gone pretty quiet on it,” they said. “This is a guy who, since Trump won, is for lack of better word basically a useful idiot for Republicans. He’s supporting stuff and it gives them cover to say, ‘Look it’s bipartisan, we got Fetterman.’”
The most recent departures are two of six from Fetterman’s office since his hard pro-Israel turn after the October 7 attacks in 2023. Three of Fetterman’s top communications staffers left his office last spring after he claimed he was not a progressive amid criticism from his left-leaning colleagues over his aggressive pro-Israel stances.
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