Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-SD) said on Tuesday that Republicans would welcome Sen. John Fetterman (D-PA) into their caucus if the maverick lawmaker opted to leave the Democratic Party.
“We would welcome him,” Thune said when asked if he’d talked to Fetterman about jumping ship. “I haven’t talked to him recently. I have had conversations with him in the past, as have many of my colleagues, about the challenges he faces in his caucus. There are many of us who I think would welcome the opportunity to have him in the Republican conference. But that’s a decision that’s up to him.”
Thune added that Fetterman represented a “historically moderate Democrat position” in a party that’s moving “further, more radically, and more extreme left on a lot of issues.”
The comments come as Fetterman has increasingly clashed with Democrats over Israel and other topics while making frequent appearances on Fox News, prompting speculation about whether he could eventually leave the party. The rumors only increased this month when Fetterman launched a new joint fundraising committee with his GOP seatmate, Sen. Dave McCormick (R-PA), called Common Ground PA.
Until recently, Fetterman had long ruled out leaving the Democratic Party. In May, the senator even penned an op-ed in the Washington Post explaining why he’d make a “terrible” Republican.
Fetterman’s voting record seems to back that up. Last year, he voted in line with President Donald Trump only 28% of the time, the most of any Senate Democrat, according to a VoteHub analysis. But as a Republican, Fetterman would be far from Sen. Rand Paul’s (R-KY) 88% record, the lowest among GOP senators.
That’s why former West Virginia Sen. Joe Manchin, a Democrat-turned-independent, has urged Fetterman to follow in his footsteps and shun both parties.
“My observation, and recommendation from observation, would be, John, trust me, set yourself free and become an independent,” Manchin told the Washington Examiner earlier this month. “It’s liberating.”
FOX NEWS’S FAVORITE DEMOCRAT? FETTERMAN HAS APPEARED ON THE NETWORK 56 TIMES THIS YEAR
It’s unclear if Fetterman will take the advice. Even so, last week Fetterman floated for the first time that his future may not be tied to the Democratic Party.
“My long-term concern has been with the Democratic Party, as I am a member of that, is that our party is going to back away and turn their back to Israel,” Fetterman said. “If our party ever becomes, and just makes it official, the anti-Israel party, that’s when I would leave because that’s been a moral clarity for me.”
Judith Kim contributed to this story.