PERSON: John Fetterman

Senator

John Karl Fetterman (/ˈfɛtərmən/ FEH-tər-mən; born August 15, 1969) is an American politician serving as the junior United States senator from Pennsylvania since 2023. A member of the Democratic Party, he served as the mayor of Braddock, Pennsylvania, from 2006 to 2019 and as the 34th lieutenant governor of Pennsylvania from 2019 to 2023. Although he has since renounced the label, Fetterman was formerly described as a progressive, and advocates healthcare as a right, criminal justice reform, abolishing capital punishment, raising the federal minimum wage to $15 per hour, and legalizing cannabis.

Fetterman studied finance at Albright College and earned an MBA from the University of Connecticut before beginning a professional career in the insurance industry. He went on to join AmeriCorps and earned a Master of Public Policy degree from Harvard University. Fetterman’s service with AmeriCorps led him to Braddock, where he moved in 2004 and was elected mayor the following year. As mayor, Fetterman sought to revitalize the former steel town through art and youth programs.

Fetterman ran for the U.S. Senate in 2016, finishing third in the Democratic primary. He ran for lieutenant governor of Pennsylvania in 2018, defeating a field of candidates that included incumbent Mike Stack in the Democratic primary and winning the election with incumbent governor Tom Wolf. During his tenure, Fetterman received national attention for his efforts to legalize cannabis statewide and opposition to President Donald Trump’s false claims of election fraud in Pennsylvania.

In 2021, Fetterman announced his candidacy in the 2022 U.S. Senate election in Pennsylvania. He won the Democratic nomination with 59% of the vote and defeated Republican nominee Mehmet Oz in the general election. Fetterman resigned as lieutenant governor upon being sworn into the Senate on January 3, 2023.

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