According to a POLITICO report, President Trump offered to give Sen. John Fetterman (D-PA) his “total and complete endorsement” if he switches to the Republican Party.

“Trump has made the sell, offering his patented total and complete endorsement plus a financial windfall to the Pennsylvanian,” POLITICO stated.

“A handful of Senate Republicans are also gently feeling out Fetterman and responding to his concerns over the prospect of defecting from the Democratic Party, multiple high-level GOP officials tell me,” the report continued.

Fetterman said in an interview that he’s “not changing.”

More from POLITICO:

If Fetterman does flip, according to officials who were given anonymity to talk about sensitive matters, it will be thanks in large part to his deepening friendship with a pair of senators and their high-profile spouses: Sen. Dave McCormick (R-Pa.), and his wife Dina, and Sen. Katie Britt (R-Ala.), and her husband, Wesley.

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But the first-term Democrat — who’s infuriated his party with his harder line on immigration and staunch support for Israel, Trump nominees, government funding bills and most recently the president’s ballroom — isn’t yet persuaded.

“I’m not changing,” Fetterman told me in an interview Friday when I asked if he was ruling out both becoming a Republican or turning independent. “I’m a Democrat, and I’m staying one.”

Yet, at least in private, he’s not totally rejecting dropping his “D.”

When one senior Republican recently brought up the idea of becoming an independent to Fetterman, he absorbed the suggestion and didn’t embrace or reject the overture, according to a GOP official familiar with the conversation.

In our interview, Fetterman said bluntly: “I’d be a sh***y Republican.”

There are his votes against big-ticket measures, such as last year’s so-called One Big Beautiful Bill, but also his liberal views on a raft of cultural issues.

Fetterman has been unafraid to defect from his party and vote with Republican senators on certain issues.

For example, the Pennsylvania Democrat has voted with Republicans against multiple war powers resolutions to prohibit Trump from taking military action against Iran.

Mediaite shared further:

During an interview with Fox News last Wednesday, Fetterman dismissed the idea of crossing the aisle.

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“My voting record actually reflects that I am a Democrat. You know, what’s changed me with many of my other colleagues is that I don’t agree and I use like extreme rhetoric and say, but I support what I think most Americans should agree with these things. You know, the Democratic Party, you know, we became an open border party, without a doubt. And now that’s wrong, and I support to make our border more security, and deport all of the criminals right now,” he said. “So I can’t be a Republican because in many other areas, I disagree on that. So whether if I’m politically homeless or whatever, but I’m staying in my party.”

Still, he burst out laughing after being asked about his relationship with his Democratic colleagues.

“Well, I mean, cordial,” replied Fetterman once he gathered himself. “But I’m not necessarily the popular guy, which is strange to me because it’s like, I am a Democrat and, you know, I’m the guy that flipped the seat.”

 

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