Fetterman: Trump’s ‘special’ place in Pennsylvania ‘deepened’ after shooting

Sen. John Fetterman (D-Pa.) said he thinks former President Trump has a “special” place among Pennsylvania voters and it only deepened after a gunman opened fire at a Trump rally in the state in July.

“Trump has created a special kind of a hold … and he’s remade the party and he has a special kind of place in Pennsylvania,” Fetterman said Thursday to a crowd at The Atlantic Festival. “And I think that only deepened after that first assassination attempt.”

The upcoming election is expected to be a tight race, particularly in the critical battleground state of Pennsylvania. Recent polling has shown Vice President Harris tied with or leading Trump in the state, but Fetterman warned there is real support for Trump there.

That support has been unwavering through the former president’s impeachments, two apparent assassination attempts and legal battles, so “what’s left?” Fetterman questioned.

“I also want people to understand, you know, and it’s not science, but there is, there’s energy and there’s kinds of anger on the ground in Pennsylvania, and people are very committed and strong,” Fetterman said. “Trump is going to be strong and … we have to respect that.”

Fetterman was asked by The Atlantic Editor-in-Chief Jeffrey Goldberg about what advice he would give to Harris about securing Pennsylvania as Election Day nears.

“I’m not going to sit down with a sitting vice president and tell her or say ‘Hey, no, no you better,’” he said. “I’m certainly not going to ‘mansplain’ that [to] the vice president, and she’s perfectly capable.”

He said his advice has been to show up on the campaign trail spreading the Democratic Party’s message.

“I’m showing up in the rooms and … that’s my advice,” he said. “I mean, I’m living my advice. I’m not sitting around saying ‘you should, you should, you should.’”

Fetterman said he will be campaigning next week in Butler, Pa., where the first apparent assassination attempt was made against Trump at one of his rallies. A bullet grazed the former president’s ear, two event attendees were injured and one was killed.

While Fetterman applauded Harris’s debate performance and her ability to beat Trump, he noted that former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton outperformed Trump in the 2016 debates and lost the election.

With all of the changes and big events during this election cycle, Fetterman argued “we are living in a permanent October surprise. There’s not a lot of other things that can happen.”