PA: John Fetterman (D)

REPLACING:

Patrick Toomey, Jr. (R)[i]

WORK HISTORY:

Commonwealth of Pennsylvania (Lt. Governor); Township of Braddock (Mayor); Big Brothers / Big Sisters; AmeriCorps; Chubb (Risk Management); Braddock Out-of-School Youth Program[ii] [iii]

EDUCATION:

BA, Albright College; MA, Harvard University Kennedy School of Government; MBA, University of Connecticut[iv] [v]

CAMPAIGNED ON:

Holding Washington Accountable; Preparing the Next Generation; Keeping Our Promise to Veterans; Investing in Rural Communities; Respecting Our Seniors; Safeguarding Our Democracy; Delivering Criminal Justice Reform; Building a Humane, Safe, & Secure Immigration System; Protecting Women’s Reproductive Freedom; Guaranteeing Health Care; Legalizing Cannabis; Securing LGBTQIA+ Rights; Taking on Crime; Fighting Inflation & Lowering Costs; Promoting American Energy & Building a Clean Energy Future; Supporting Workers & the Union Way of Life; Maintaining Smart Global Leadership[vi]

ON THE ISSUES

REPRODUCTIVE RIGHTS:

According to his campaign website, Fetterman supports access to abortions and will vote for the Women’s Health Protection Act, which he has touted will leave women’s healthcare decisions between a patient and her doctor. He has pledged to defend Planned Parenthood and move to repeal the Hyde Amendment.[vii]

ECONOMY, JOBS & TAXES:

A union supporter, Fetterman has said that he will ensure that “long-promised investments in rural broadband and other critical infrastructure make their way to where they’re actually needed” and seek to raise the federal minimum wage to $15 per hour.[viii] [ix] To reduce inflation, he has called for fighting “corporate greed that’s been contributing to sky high prices,” a “fair tax code,” making US supply chains “more resilient” by bolstering domestic manufacturing, and suspending the federal gas tax.[x]

HEALTHCARE & SOCIAL SAFETY NET:

Fetterman has said he believes that healthcare is a “basic, fundamental human right,” and thus supports instituting universal healthcare, lowering the eligibility age of Medicare to 60, and including vision, hearing, and dental in Medicare benefits. To lower drug prices, Fetterman has called for “go[ing] after” pharmaceutical companies that he says profit off “people’s health and well-being,” and allowing the US to bring in cheaper prescription drugs from other countries.[xi] He has also advocated for protecting Social Security.[xii]

IMMIGRATION & BORDER SECURITY:

The husband of a Dreamer, Fetterman has argued that the US immigration system is “broken,” and, to fix it, has said he will “support investments that go towards keeping our borders strong and preventing the flow of illegal drugs into our country.” He has advocated for instituting “humane” immigration practices, including modernizing the US visa system and creating a pathway to citizenship “for frontline workers, small business owners, and young people who have only known this country as their home.”[xiii]

CRIME & PUBLIC SAFETY:

According to his campaign website, to support law enforcement, Fetterman will ensure departments have the “resources necessary to do their job,” but he will also “prioritize oversight, accountability, and violence prevention.”[xiv] He supports federally legalizing marijuana – including “descheduling” the drug, removing all records for prior nonviolent marijuana convictions, and “prevent[ing] the monopolization of this vibrant new industry” – and ending the “war on drugs.”[xv] To promote equality in the US justice system, he has said that he will “will work to make sure that serious crimes receive serious punishment, while also alleviating the burdens placed on prosecutors and judges by focusing on effective diversion programs for nonviolent offenders and prioritizing sentencing reform.”[xvi]

GOVERNMENT INSTITUTIONS & ELECTION SECURITY:

A supporter of abolishing the filibuster, Fetterman has also called for preventing Members of Congress from owning or trading stocks. To foster election security and prevent voter suppression, he has said that he will “fight like hell” to expand voting rights, root “big money” out of politics, and prevent partisan gerrymandering.[xvii]

EDUCATION:

According to his campaign website, Fetterman supports implementing universal pre-k and childcare, ensuring public schools receive funding so that teachers “aren’t shouldering so much of a burden,” and greater investments in career and technical programs. To make college more affordable, he has called for making community colleges tuition-free and “reduc[ing] the burden of student loan debt.”[xix]

CLIMATE CHANGE, ENERGY & ENVIRONMENT:

Although he has called for a transition to clean energy resources “as quickly as possible,” Fetterman has also said he believes that the US should “continue to use American oil” and that the transition must preserve natural gas industry jobs. To do so, he promised to support bills that “responsibly” invest in “greener, cleaner technology.” Notably, during the campaign, he also expressed support for fracking, despite making comments years earlier criticizing the practice.[xx]

BIG TECH & DATA PRIVACY:

 Though Big Tech was not a key issue in Fetterman's campaign, he has previously supported Pittsburgh's growing technology industry.[xxi] Notably, in a January 2020 tweet, Fetterman seemed to mock California for "Big Tech’s role in politics" in the state, among several issues.[xxii]

GUN SAFETY:

Fetterman, who has noted that he is a gun owner, advocates for several gun safety measures, including background checks on all gun sales, red flag laws, and other “more proactive efforts to get illegal guns off our streets.”[xxiii]

FOREIGN POLICY:

During the campaign, Fetterman called for no longer “outsourcing any more jobs and production to China,” arguing the practice worsened inflation.[xxiv] He has referred to the Russian invasion of Ukraine as “an attack on democracy itself.”[xxv]