Democratic Pennsylvania Senator John Fetterman has lost his unique leverage in Washington now that his party has pulled off a blue wave in the midterm elections.
The Democratic Party was handed control of the House and the Senate on Tuesday, dramatically reshaping Congress for the country.
In Pennsylvania, Fetterman has wielded the power of being the deciding vote in what was a narrowly divided Senate, as a Democrat willing to break with his party. But Democratic Senate gains across the country on Tuesday have pushed their seats from a minority of 47 to a majority of at least 54, after flipping at least seven seats, as of early Wednesday morning.
This means Fetterman, who has long faced criticism from wings of his party for obstructing the Democratic agenda by voting with Republicans, will now have less power to force his party to listen to the views he represents.
My biggest worry is finding out one of our newly elected senators turns out to be like him or Sinema. I really wish there was a fast acting recall mechanism for those saboteurs.
So. Carolina Senator-elect Andrews is already hinting that she will do exactly that. I hope I’m misreading the situation.
Chances are, a dem winning in a traditionally R county or state is not going to be the hardest socialist or progressive you can find. Best to suck it up and keep moving the window in the right direction
In the left direction ;)
This is why our work as voters has only just begun. We have to hold our reps feet to the fire on everyrhing. Call them. Make sure they know that if they try to shift their policy to the center we will primary them for someone thy will. If we get more fettermans we make sure they only get one term.
We can only yell at them so much. Someone like Fetterman likely has a lucrative gig with some lobbying group or think tank set up after this. They can easily do their damage as instructed and then duck out when the next primary comes by to challenge them. I want a recall mechanism that takes weeks/months to do rather than wait 6 years where they can still thwart any meaningful bills in the meantime.
Getting a recall mechanism approved though would be next to impossible as the ones who have the power to make that rule wouldn’t want to.
Oh dont worry, the Dems will all be able to vote as a unified block now. Because there is zero chance that Trump will pass anything to the left of anything he wants.
It’s not a narrow margin anymore though. Even in the senate, there’s 54 democrats, and 2 races still haven’t been called.
I fully expect Turek to be the next one. Just a matter of when