By David Morgan
Sept 9 (Reuters) – Democratic Senator John Fetterman, who has increasingly broken with fellow Democrats on issues including Israel, the Iran war and immigration, will make a surprise video appearance at President Donald Trump’s Republican midterm convention in Dallas on Wednesday, Axios and the Wall Street Journal reported.
Fetterman’s office did not immediately respond to a Reuters query seeking comment on the media reports.
The Journal said he would praise a bipartisan effort to bolster the steel industry and distance himself from his party’s left wing.
A first-term lawmaker with an unpredictable streak, the 57-year-old Fetterman was making his video appearance at the two-day event known informally as the “Trumpapalooza,” which Republicans hope will shore up their chances of maintaining control of the Senate and House of Representatives in November’s midterms.
Republicans hold a 53-47-seat Senate majority and have become increasingly vulnerable to Democratic gains in several swing states, according to independent political analysts.
Fetterman has denied any plans to leave the party.
“I’m not going to be a Republican, but I’m going to be a Democrat that’s going to have a conversation with whoever is playing it straight,” Fetterman said in a recent interview with Fox News.
ECHOES OF MANCHIN, SINEMA?
Fetterman’s readiness to buck his party has drawn comparisons with former Senators Joe Manchin and Kyrsten Sinema, Democratic centrists who became independents before leaving the Senate and repeatedly caused headaches for their party leaders during the first half of Democratic President Joe Biden’s term.
By contrast, Fetterman has not used his position to leverage concessions from party leaders or to shape legislation. Instead, Fetterman maintains that he votes for what he thinks is true.
Known for his towering frame and fondness for wearing hoodies and gym shorts on the Senate floor, Fetterman built a working-class image that helped propel him to victory in 2022. But that image has given way to open conflict with his party’s left flank.
In a recent Fox News interview, he described the rise of activism in the Democratic Party as “an orgy of socialism.”
He has faced more intense hostility from party members in recent days, after a Wall Street Journal report in which former staff members and lawmakers claimed he had more interest in cultivating relationships with conservative commentators than in doing the job of senator. The Journal reported Fetterman did not respond to the paper’s several requests for comment.
(Reporting by David Morgan; Editing by Scott Malone and Howard Goller)
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