Fetterman says he doesn’t know why Trump, GOP aren’t working to ‘lock down’ Texas Senate seat
Sen. John Fetterman (D-Pa.) questioned Tuesday why President Trump and other GOP lawmakers didn’t lock down the Texas Senate race with an endorsement in the three-party primary.
Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas), Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton (R-Texas) and Rep. Wesley Hunt (R-Texas) are running for Cornyn’s seat in the Senate. The often nasty sparring between Paxton and Cornyn has led some Democrats to think it could create an opening for their party in November, especially if Paxton wins.
Fetterman said he thinks his party can win back the House of Representatives, but argued during Fox Business Network’s “Mornings with Maria” that the fight to take back the Senate majority will be tough.
He also argued that Trump and the GOP are putting Texas in the game by not supporting Cornyn.
“I mean, as you noted, the margin is very close. And history tells us that there’s always a backlash against the party in power. … So I think most people would assume that the House of Representatives would flip. Now, it’s a little bit more difficult here in the Senate, and now there are other races in play,” he told host Maria Bartiromo.
“For me, like for Texas, Cornyn is a reasonable Republican, and that means money in the bank now. But now politically I don’t know why — I’m not sure why the Republicans and the president haven’t sat on this and locked down Texas. But for me there are other states that are in flux,” he added.
Democrats are having their own competitive primary in Texas between Rep. Jasmine Crockett and state Rep. James Talarico.
Fetterman shared a pessimistic view of his party. On Tuesday, the Pennsylvania senator said Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (NY) is “part of the rot within the Democratic Party” for her foreign policy stance condemning Israel amid the war in Gaza.
“For me, stand with Israel. I will never vote for any restrictions on aid, whether it’s military, financial or intelligence. There can be no restrictions on that. And now, here we are, we can have peace. This has again become part of the serious problem of our party,” Fetterman told Bartiromo.
He later added: “I refuse to pander to the part of my Democratic Party that thinks anti-Israelism is valuable. And it’s effectively become – they use the word ‘anti-Zionism’ – so, what that actually is on college campuses and places is just anti-Semitism. We have a problem here in our party, and I will stand against that and I will always be an unapologetic supporter of Israel.”
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