Pennsylvania lieutenant governor announces Senate bid

Pennsylvania Lt. Gov. John Fetterman (D) formally announced Monday that he will seek the state’s open U.S. Senate seat in 2022.

Fetterman filed to run in what is expected to be one of the nation’s most competitive races last week, but was cagey on whether it constituted a formal announcement. The lieutenant governor raised over $1 million after opening a campaign account in January.

“Talk is cheap, but for the past 20 years, I have been working to represent, rebuild, and to advance these places,” Fetterman, formerly the mayor of Braddock, Pa., said in a video announcing his run Monday.

“It’s not rural versus urban, it’s rural and urban. I’m going to fight not for one part of Pennsylvania, not for one party of Pennsylvania, but for one Pennsylvania. Just the way I did as mayor, just the way I’m doing as lieutenant governor, and just the way I would as your next U.S. senator,” he added.

Thank you to the 37,000 grassroots donors who stepped up.

Now, it’s my turn.

Let’s get to work https://t.co/6ZiSPrhnpS pic.twitter.com/rvjKE6z0Y3

— John Fetterman (@JohnFetterman) February 8, 2021

In a tweet Monday morning, Fetterman pledged to “always be 100% Sedition-Free” as a senator, an apparent reference to a coalition of GOP senators who objected to finalizing President Biden’s Electoral College victory in January. Retiring Pennsylvania Sen. Pat Toomey (R) was not among that group.

If you send me to the US Senate, I will always be 100% Sedition-Free.

We as a nation crossed lines I never thought we would-or even could.

My pledge to you: to hold core ideals like democracy + the peaceful transfer of power sacred, always.

— John Fetterman (@JohnFetterman) February 8, 2021

Toomey announced in late 2020 that he would not seek a third term. In January, Sen. Rob Portman (R-Ohio) became the second Republican senator first elected in 2010 to announce his retirement.

Fetterman lost the 2016 Democratic primary to challenge Toomey to Kathleen McGinty, who went on to lose by 1.4 points in the general election. State Sen. Sharif Street (D) has said he will also seek the Democratic nomination in 2022, while Reps. Chrissy Houlahan (D) and Conor Lamb (D) are also reportedly considering bids.