NYT: Democrats See a Blueprint in Fetterman's Victory in Pennsylvania

[onetexan]

https://www.nytimes.com/2022/11/13/us/politics/fetterman-pennsylvania-voters-democrats.html

Did John Fetterman just show Democrats how to solve their white-working-class problem? Mr. Fetterman’s decisive victory in Pennsylvania’s Senate race — arguably Democrats’ biggest win of the midterms, flipping a Republican-held seat — was achieved in no small part because he did significantly better in counties dominated by white working-class voters compared with Joseph R. Biden Jr. in 2020.

These voters for years have been thought to be all but lost to Democrats, ever since Donald J. Trump turned out explosively high numbers of white voters in rural and exurban counties, especially in Pennsylvania and the northern Midwest. Mr. Biden recaptured Pennsylvania, Michigan and Wisconsin two years ago largely by drumming up support in the suburbs, while working-class white voters stuck with Mr. Trump. But Mr. Fetterman, with his tattoos and Carhartt wardrobe, and priorities like marijuana legalization, appears to have regained ground with the white working class — though whether he persuaded many Trump voters to back him, or whether he improved on Mr. Biden with the demographic in other ways, awaits more detailed data...

Mr. Fetterman’s biggest gains were in deep-red counties dominated by white working-class voters. He didn’t win these places outright, but he drove up the margins for a Democrat by 3, 4 or 5 points compared with Mr. Biden.
“Pennsylvania elections are about margins, and he cut into the margins Republicans had across the counties that they usually control,” said Christopher Borick, a political scientist and pollster at Muhlenberg College in Allentown, Pa. “He got a lot of looks from voters who aren’t very open to looking at Democrats right now.”
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Thought-provoking article.

[dutch777]

1. And more would have voted for him had it not been for concerns around his stroke

Living in PA, I know several moderate Republicans that the only reason they did not vote for Fetterman was because they thought he showed bad judgement by not dealing with his health issue before it led to a stroke. I had the same misgivings but there was no way I was not going to vote for him. I suspect at least some of these Rs voted for no one in the Senate race as Oz had even bigger negatives. And it doesn't hurt to have the R in the race be not really from the voting region or in touch politically and tied to a big self centered has been hack like Trump.

[Amishman]

5. I'd offset the lost votes due to his stoke with the benefit gained from running against Oz

Mastriano and Oz were absolute gifts to us, we couldn't have picked better opponents to run against in PA.

[Cosmocat]

11. Oz is a clown

But EVERYONE knew Mastriano is an unabashed chrisofascist authoritarian, and would have used his office to keep any Democrat from winning statewide again.

Because he's an arrogant pos deluded into thinking he was ordained by God to win he neither raised or spent $, and never attempted to campaign outside of whooping it up w his lunatic supporters.

While Oz was a joke, ge poured a shit ton of $ into it, and did campaign in his clueless, elitist way.

[dutch777]

23. Very true. Anyone reasonably down to earth and local GOPer would have been harder to beat.

I look forward to watching Fetterman in DC

[Raven123]

2. I'm sure we can learn a lot from Fetterman, but do not try to carbon copy him

Each state has it’s own nuances.

[gratuitous]

13. I agree about cloning a successful candidate

But Fetterman's strategy I'm reading about is really useful. It's fun for a candidate to campaign in a friendly environment. The crowds are enthusiastic and loud, everyone tells the candidate how great he is and how much everyone in this particular area loves him. But for statewide office, candidates should go to the hostile areas, places where they might get 30% or less of the vote. Fetterman didn't outpoll Oz in those areas, but he did peel off a few percent of the vote because voters in those areas had seen him up close and personal. Not just once, but a few times. Pick up even a handful of votes in those areas, and your margin of victory can be assured.

[Raven123]

16. Could be mistaken, but I read Ryan did the same in Ohio.

Not that I disagree with the strategy, but it clearly is one on the list of necessary, but not sufficient approaches in some states

[onetexan]

17. Couldn't agree more. The fact Fetterman is from a welltodo family with a Harvard education does not

change who he is as a person whose devoted most of his life to service of others. His 13 years being mayor paid $1800/year. How could he subsist with that salary? I'm sure his parents knew and supported their kind and empathetic son's passions to change the environment and lives of the people around him, and he's quite open on the subject. Fetterman is one of those very rare enlightened, highly driven individuals destined to change the world. Case in point: Budha was from a family of status in the upper cast of Indian society at his time. Malala in her youth is more enlightened and driven than most people living today.

When i listen to Fetterman speak, whether it be with constituents or the media, he remains the same genuine man through & through. He is not a fake like Dr. Oz. Not hard to contrast the two. Fetterman is much more in touch and has more in common with average Americans. We are very fortunate & blessed we have him in the Senate. I hope he stays healthy and have a long career at the federal level. We certainly need him.

[gab13by13]

3. I predicted that Fetterman would get Magat votes.

[unweird]

4. Fetterman Unapologetically Flies the Flags

And did so even when the Republican legislature tried to outlaw his doing so. The lesson at least here in Pennsylvania is if you stand up for something you can lead and we’ll give you our votes to do so. The sad Republican Party can and do only tear down and apart, they offer no leadership to the people and deserve no role in governance.

[Celerity]

7. yes

Link to tweet

Link to tweet

[Indykatie]

6. Fetterman's Every County Every Vote Strategy Was Brilliant and It Paid Off

But we shouldn't lose sight of the fact that Fetterman was a unique candidate. He brought a resume to the table that few can match. The guy also had the best Media campaign and a great advocate in his wife Gisele. She stepped up and filled the void admirably when he was sidelined with his stroke.

[BumRushDaShow]

9. IOW (sorry lots of illustrative stuff)

(as I found out what the term was a few weeks ago) he did some pretty good "shit posting" (using twitter).

I will say this - back during the 2020 election when this state was getting bombarded by dozens of frivious nightmarish lawsuits from the Kracken crew and their PA minions, both at the state and federal levels, both he and Josh Shapiro (along with Marc Elias and his later Democracy Docket) were the primary lines of defense for those of us not only frustrated and worried about the outcome of some of these suits, but were utterly disgusted at the fact that the assault was so multi-pronged.

Fetterman's trolling of fellow Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick from TX, who pranced around promising $1 million to anyway providing proof of voter fraud, and whose AG Ken Paxton sued the state in some idiotic assumption that one state can sue another about how the state runs its election, was epic.

Link to tweet

John Fetterman
·
Dec 21, 2020
@JohnFetterman
·
Follow
US Senate candidate, PA
🚨 VOTER FRAUD IN PA FOUND🚨

🚨DEAD PEOPLE VOTE IN PA 🚨

... for President Trump. 😆
Jeremy Roebuck
@jeremyrroebuck
Is this our first documented case of an actual ballot cast in the name of a verified dead person in the Philly region during the 2020 election? Note: The man was caught and charged by authorities. He also cast the fraudulent ballot for Trump.
Image
John Fetterman
@JohnFetterman
·
Follow
US Senate candidate, PA
My dude in Texas owes me $3M now. X 3️⃣. 👇
4:07 PM · Dec 21, 2020

Link to tweet

John Fetterman
·
Dec 28, 2020
@JohnFetterman
·
Follow
US Senate candidate, PA
PA wants its money
msnbc.com
Is Texas' Dan Patrick prepared to part with his $1 million reward?
Texas' Dan Patrick (R) offered financial rewards for evidence of voter fraud. Then Pennsylvania's John Fetterman (D) came calling.
John Fetterman
@JohnFetterman
·
Follow
US Senate candidate, PA
PA to my dude:
12:08 PM · Dec 28, 2020
from Pittsburgh, PA

Link to tweet

John Fetterman
·
Jan 3, 2021
@JohnFetterman
·
Follow
US Senate candidate, PA
Replying to @JohnFetterman
Will the @washingtonpost now join Pennsylvania in a class action lawsuit against LG Dan Patrick and TX to claim OUR handsome reward for reporting voter fraud???
John Fetterman
@JohnFetterman
·
Follow
US Senate candidate, PA
Exhibit 1: “My dude in Forty Fort”
Election 2020 Pennsylvania Mail-In Voting
citizensvoice.com
Forty Fort man applied for a ballot for his deceased mother, detectives allege
A Forty Fort man forged the name and signature of his deceased mother on an application for an absentee ballot, prosecutors allege.
2:18 PM · Jan 3, 2021
from East Pittsburgh, PA

He was even selling "My Dude in Forty Fort" merchandise!

Link to tweet

John Fetterman
@JohnFetterman
·
Follow
US Senate candidate, PA
You’ve been demanding merch.

We heard you.👂

SNEAK-PEAK: Limited-run commemorative shirts from our forthcoming collection:

(L) Dan Patrick wanted voter fraud. PA gave it to him. Now, where my money Dan?!

(R) The most famous case of voter fraud in 🇺🇸: My dude in Forty Fort.
Image
Image
Radical Liberal Nasty Dr. Mom Parody☮️😉🍑”😷😷!”
@Drmomwhome
Replying to @JohnFetterman
Merch! Merch! Merch!
9:58 AM · Jan 13, 2021
from Pennsylvania, USA

Even when the insurrectionists, lead by yes THAT Doug Mastriano, were holding their infamous COVID super-spreader event in Gettysburg PA, with featured guest Ghouliani and a phone-in from 45, Fetterman was shit-posting at them too!

Link to tweet

John Fetterman
@JohnFetterman
·
Follow
US Senate candidate, PA
“We have been clear from the beginning: the General Assembly has no role to play in the selection of electors,”- Jason Gottesman, spokesman for the House Republican majority

More snake handling or selling timeshares at the Ramada won’t change anything.
pennlive.com
Claiming victory, Trump wants Pa. lawmakers to consider a special election; leaders say that’s...
Also, Republican legislative leaders showed no movement in changing the way presidential electors are chosen.
12:04 AM · Nov 26, 2020
from Braddock, PA

Link to tweet

John Fetterman
·
Nov 26, 2020
@JohnFetterman
·
Follow
US Senate candidate, PA
Replying to @JohnFetterman
“Senate GOP spokeswoman Jenn Kocher said Senate Republican leaders, who have the majority in that chamber, also don’t plan to call senators back to Harrisburg.”
John Fetterman
@JohnFetterman
·
Follow
US Senate candidate, PA
Live Feed: Gettysburg Ramada:
Image
12:18 AM · Nov 26, 2020
from Braddock, PA

[onetexan]

20. LOL GM BRDS thanks for the good laugh of the day :)

Both Shapiro & Fetterman had fantastic campaign teams. They were awesome covering for John while he was so ill. I loved all the jabs at the weak maga idiots

[BumRushDaShow]

21. Those two got me through all the craziness that lead up to Jan. 6 and beyond!

[Captain Zero]

14. Maybe we should run more MAYORS for Lt Gov

TO START.
Then we have Lt. Governors ready to run for the Senate.

We really should try that in Indiana. We have quite a few Dem Mayors of places the size of Braddock.

Also. Run more Dem Mayors for Secretary of State.

[BumRushDaShow]

22. If you have state legislators

they have been who we have generally had run for that position (Fetterman's predecessor Lt. Governor during Tom Wolf's first term - Mike Stack - was a state Senator).

[BumRushDaShow]

8. Here's a no paywall of the article

No paywall

Actually I think since PA has more and more "unaffiliated" voters in many of the suburbs (some who were formally Republicans) and exurbs, he actually picked up that vote. These are people who do a lot of ticket-splitting and even will say so to reporters. Apparently whatever side "wins" doesn't seem to impact them either way so they don't get vested in a party and its platform, and focus on the actual person.

This is often how his marijuana legalization populist push is making inroads.

The one BIG takeaway with him though is that not once but TWICE, which the media refuses to acknowledge because their "poor-john-can't-compaign-because-of-his-stroke nonsense, is that he actually went on what was called a "listening tour" to EVERY COUNTY in PA - all 67 of them back after he was first elected as Lt. Governor. He was trying to gauge the sentient about legalization of recreational marijuana (PA does have medical marijuana) and would present a report to Gov Wolf.

Fast forward to when he threw his hat in the ring to run for Senator (in 2020) and he again visited ALL 67 COUNTIES ahead of the primary, finally falling ill just a week before the election. One of his goals being to get to the many Democrats (like we see on DU) who live and work in those red counties, but who feel they have been written off.

[peggysue2]

10. Fetterman did a lot of traveling across the state long before the election

That's why it made me laugh when the Oz campaign was beating its breast over 100 stops in Pennsylvania. Fetterman was not only a native son but he'd been everywhere listening to prospective voters, giving them a sense of where he stood on their issues two years before the primary even started. He continued to do that until his stroke. The 'every county, every vote' wasn't merely a election meme, it was a strategy to shave the numbers in red regions that he had no hope of winning outright.

And it worked, along with the fact that he looks and sounds like Pennsylvania, a down-to-earth dude who happens to have political/governing experience, an MBA and a Master's degree in public policy from Harvard.

Not too shabby!

Right candidate for the right moment and place.

[FakeNoose]

12. I wish Hillary had done more of that grassroots stuff in 2016

I know, it's water over the dam. But still, I can't help thinking that if more Americans had met her in person it would have made a difference. Democrats used to be the candidates who go out and meet people, talk to them, listen to them, shake their hands, etc. We used to be the party that regular Americans could relate to.

I hope John Fetterman has opened a few eyes at the Party HQ about how to run a winning campaign. His Twitter blogs were awesome!

[blue neen]

15. I think Fetterman ran a great campaign.

People like to know that you're there to see THEM. I doubt that Hillary barely touched down in this state, and it was a big mistake.

John got it right.

[onetexan]

18. Agree. Many ppl here in TX said the same - Hillary never came to TX except to raise money.

I would have liked for her to do more visits to TX, and spread her surrogates all over the states as well, not just in the major cities but rural areas.

[malaise]

19. Fetterman also ridiculed the fool

and reminded working class folks 24/7 that Oz was an out of touch outsider.
Fetterman is comfortable in his own skin and that matters.

[WhiskeyGrinder]

24. There's a lot to learn especially when compared to Tim Ryan's campaign.