Pennsylvania Democrat says he ‘might’ challenge Fetterman in 2028

Pennsylvania Rep. Chris Deluzio (D-Pa.) said Sunday he “might” mount a primary challenge to Sen. John Fetterman (D-Pa.) in 2028.

“I might, I haven’t decided that. And to be really blunt, I’m doing everything I can right now to help Democrats in Pennsylvania flip congressional seats to give [Pennsylvania Gov.] Josh Shapiro a governing majority in the state Senate and grow the majority in the state House,” Deluzio told host Chris Stirewalt on NewsNation’s “The Hill Sunday.”

Deluzio later said, “John Fetterman’s nowhere to be seen on the campaign trail. And again, to be very blunt, I don’t think there’s any Democrat in Pennsylvania who wants him campaigning with them, even if he wouldn’t show up.

“So I’m focused on doing what we can do right now to win, and I’ll deal with 2028 when we get past the [midterms].”

Democrats inside and outside of Pennsylvania have taken Fetterman to task throughout the last 18 months, as the first-term senator has sided with President Trump and the GOP on multiple issues — including on the Iran war, with Fetterman voting against every Senate war powers resolution introduced in the upper chamber.

Criticism of Fetterman also ramped up after The Wall Street Journal published a piece on Friday outlining Fetterman’s alleged lack of commitment to his duties as a senator. Fetterman has blasted the report as a “hit piece.”

Deluzio was among those to criticize Fetterman, saying Friday that Fetterman “has no sense of duty” to his constituents.

“He is not up for the high office he was elected to — and we in Pennsylvania will do something about it in 2028,” the second-term representative wrote on social platform X .

Fetterman has also criticized his party’s turn against Israel, defending the Israeli military’s campaign in Gaza. Fetterman said in June his party abandoning the country’s Middle Eastern ally would be a red line.

“If our party ever becomes — and just makes it official — the anti-Israel party, that’s when I would leave,” he told Alexander Bolton at the Hill Nation Summit.

Roughly half of Democrats believe that Israel has committed genocide in Gaza, according to a poll conducted in June by The Associated Press and NORC Center for Public Affairs Research.

Last year, Fetterman voted in line with Trump’s position 28 percent of the time, the most of any Senate Democrat, per data from VoteHub .