Tattooed Pennsylvania mayor launches Senate bid

[Judi Lynn]

Source: CNN

Tattooed Pennsylvania mayor launches Senate bid
By Tom LoBianco, CNN
Updated 8:31 PM ET, Mon September 14, 2015


Washington (CNN)—Voters are already swooning over a Democratic socialist with wild hair (Bernie Sanders) and a former reality star with apparently real hair (Donald Trump), so perhaps it's fitting that a shaved-bald, giant of a man with a wily goatee would seek to capitalize on the wave of supporters for outsider candidates this cycle.

John Fetterman, the mayor of Braddock, Pennsylvania, announced Monday that he was seeking the Democratic nomination to take on Republican Sen. Pat Toomey next year. Standing at 6' 8", with tattoos and wearing cargo shorts and a black, short-sleeved shirt, Fetterman announced his bid from a rooftop near Pittsburgh, according to WTAE-4 in Pittsburgh.

"I do not look like a typical politician. Ha, I don't even look like a typical person," said Fetterman, who is running against Katie McGinty and former Rep. Joe Sestak for the Democratic nod.

Voters have taken a shine to outsiders so far -- lifting up candidates like Sanders, Trump and retired neurosurgeon Ben Carson, while peeling away from veteran politicians like Hillary Clinton and Jeb Bush.






Read more: http://us.cnn.com/2015/09/14/politics/john-fetterman-braddock-mayor-u-s-senate/index.html

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(Getting just a little too "cute" in their "news" writing at CNN, aren't they? How about "Just the facts, m'am.&quot

[femmocrat]

1. Here is a link to his announcement (video):

http://www.wtae.com/politics/braddock-mayor-john-fetterman-adds-intrigue-to-senate-race/35269120

[Judi Lynn]

3. Thank you, femmocrat. n/t

[Ron Obvious]

2. "a shaved-bald, giant of a man with a wily goatee..."

I'm not going to say how I initially read that!

[Brother Buzz]

4. Fetterman, a 46-year-old Democrat with a shaved head and a tattoo of the town’s ZIP Code on his arm

Harvard-educated but so dedicated to his hometown that his zip code is tattooed on one of his arms. The other arm contains tattoos of every date in which there was a murder in Braddock under his tenure.




Steel Town Mayor John Fetterman Enters Pennsylvania Senate Race

Braddock, Pa., mayor admits his bid is unconventional, but points to local successes

Sept. 14, 2015 4:13 p.m. ET


BRADDOCK, Pa.—With steam billowing from a steel mill behind him, the mayor of this struggling steel town announced a run for the U.S. Senate Monday at an event that also featured a reggae band and a popular Pittsburgh food truck serving tacos.

“If the voters of this great Commonwealth see fit to give me that bigger platform, I will perform that duty the only way I know how, through honest hard work and collaboration,” said John Fetterman, from the rooftop of his house in a converted former Chevy dealership, with U.S. Steel ’s Edgar Thomson steel plant across the street serving as a backdrop.

Mr. Fetterman, a 46-year-old Democrat with a shaved head and a tattoo of the town’s ZIP Code on his left arm, faces long odds to win next year’s primary, say political experts.

The candidate, who has led this town for the past nine years, acknowledged his unconventional bid in his announcement speech.

“I don’t look like a typical politician. I don’t even look like a typical person,” said Mr. Fetterman, who is 6 feet, 8 inches tall and wore his usual shorts and black work shirt.

<more>

http://www.wsj.com/articles/mayor-of-struggling-steel-town-enters-pennsylvania-senate-race-1442261628

[Judi Lynn]

5. Thanks for providing this article, Brother Buzz.

Here's more:

. . .

John Kandray was among the supporters. He said he was won over to Mr. Fetterman after the mayor married him and his partner Bill in August 2013, allowing them to become among the first same-sex couples married in Allegheny County. “He really took a stand in support of marriage equality before it was the popular thing,” Mr. Kandray said.

Afterward the announcement, Mr. Fetterman took reporters on a tour of the town, stopping at a former Baptist church that has been taken over by a high-tech company, abandoned lots that have been turned into organic farming plots, and a brewery and pub that opened by two Carnegie Mellon University graduates in 2014.
“My main goal has always been about confronting inequality in all its forms,” Mr. Fetterman said. “It’s really about scaling up what we’ve done in Braddock on a bigger stage.”

At another site, his wife Gisele showed off an initiative run from three brightly painted shipping containers called the Free Store. Roughly 1,600 people receive free food or clothing donated by retailers and others each month.
Mr. Fetterman earned a master’s degree in public policy from Harvard University and moved to Braddock in 2001 to work for AmeriCorps.

Braddock had fallen on hard times long before he arrived. Nearly 40% of residents live below the poverty line, according to the most recent census data. The town has lost nearly 90% of its population since its peak in the middle of the 20th century.

Sounds like an totally unusual (on the GOOD side) candidate.

[Marty McGraw]

6. Tatoos?

I'd Say we Cuff 'im

[Kingofalldems]

7. Nice.

[AnnieBW]

8. Now it's getting interesting!

John Fetterman. That name sounds really familiar. Maybe from when I was spending a lot of time in the 'Burgh with my late mother's illness?

[femmocrat]

10. He has had some national and state exposure.

He was the first official in Allegheny County to perform a same-sex marriage.

http://www.post-gazette.com/local/east/2013/08/07/Braddock-s-mayor-performs-Allegheny-County-s-first-gay-marriage/stories/201308070189

I saw him on C-span years ago. He will probably get a lot more exposure now because he's so interesting.

[flamingdem]

9. For real?

He's done a lot for his town, interesting.

[Amishman]

11. good! he sounds very interesting and Sestak seems like a weak candidate

To unseat a typical old establishment type it helps to set yourself apart, and Mr. Fetterman certainly does that. Also the Public Policy degree from Harvard helps his credentials with donors.

[Sunlei]

12. Toomey backers will eat him alive. He's mayor material, not Senator material.