Pennsylvania progressives are eying former Rep. Conor Lamb as their counter to Sen. John Fetterman (D-PA), who could face a primary challenge during the 2028 election after breaking with some progressive agenda items.
Lamb’s invitations to town halls across the state and praise from disgruntled progressives as an alternative to Fetterman could catapult him back into office after losing a 2022 primary election to the senator. Progressives’ support for Lamb marks a striking reversal of fortune for the former congressman, who has moved to the Left after being viewed as the centrist alternative to the “socialist” Fetterman during their primary battle three years ago.
Fetterman, who backed socialist Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) for president in 2016, was embraced by the progressive wing of his party when he campaigned for the Senate in 2022. He was endorsed by Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY), known as a progressive standard-bearer, backed increasing the minimum wage, and previously suggested he wanted to see the implementation of universal healthcare.
However, since winning that election, the Pennsylvania senator has provoked outrage from progressive factions in the Democratic Party over his bipartisan approach to policy and his support for Israel in its goal to wipe out Hamas and return those taken hostage during the terrorist group’s Oct. 7, 2023, attack. And after Fetterman criticized Ocasio-Cortez for denouncing a GOP-backed government-funding budget resolution, the New York lawmaker shared a post from Lamb condemning the senator’s stance and said she regretted backing him during the 2022 primary.
Last month, a Pennsylvania group associated with Indivisible, a national progressive organization, asked Fetterman to resign, citing, among other things, accusations that he abandoned positions he took in prior years.
Amid dissatisfaction with Fetterman’s collaborative approach to politics, Pennsylvania progressives have asked Lamb, who favors a more combative approach to Trump, to speak at events, with the former congressman attending at least a dozen town halls and party gatherings since April, according to the Associated Press.
“When I watch the person who beat me give up on every important issue that he campaigned on … the more I reasoned that the point of all of this in the first place is advocacy for what’s right and wrong,” Lamb told a crowd on Sunday. “And advocacy for not just a particular party to win, but for the type of country where it matters if, when you stand up, you tell the truth.”
Michelle McFall, the chairwoman of the Westmoreland County Democrats, invited Lamb to an event in May because she suggested there were growing calls for a more fiery resistance to Trump.
“I thought people might be ready to lay down and die out of exhaustion, but that is not the case,” she told Axios last month. “I have seen the opposite. In Westmoreland County in April, we got around 800 people to the courthouse (to protest Trump). That is a massive number for us.”
In 2018, Lamb flipped Pennsylvania’s 17th Congressional District blue in a special House election by running as a centrist Democrat, before later redistricting to the state’s 18th Congressional District. He twice won reelection there before mounting a Senate run during the 2022 elections, when he lost a primary challenge by double digits to Fetterman, despite being viewed as the establishment favorite.
While Lamb’s appeal to voters included accusations that Republicans were “worshiping” Trump, strategists said Fetterman’s singular ability to build connections with voters put him across the finish line, despite suffering from a stroke that hindered his ability to campaign.
Lamb’s loss was also attributed to arguments that he was too centrist for progressives who have taken over Democratic politics. As he campaigned against “socialist Fetterman,” Lamb was compared to former Sen. Joe Manchin, a maverick West Virginian Democrat who, at times, defied his party to vote with Republicans before becoming an independent in 2024, shortly before he retired. The “Manchin-esque” label has since ironically been transferred to Fetterman during his time in the Senate as he sided with the GOP on matters such as Israel and Trump’s strikes on Iranian nuclear sites in a marked break with progressives.
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Lamb has increasingly targeted Fetterman in recent months, fomenting speculation that he is trying to make a political comeback and challenge the senator for his seat in the 2028 elections.
“Sen Fetterman is not working and we can’t be afraid to say that if we want to convince people who do work that we will fight for them,” Lamb said in May.