Fetterman Hits Back at ‘Weird Smear’ After Call to Step Aside Over Mental Health
The Democratic senator responded to a scathing editorial that said he needed to take the job seriously.
Pennsylvania Senator John Fetterman pushed back against criticism as he faces ongoing questions about his mental health and job performance in Washington.
The Democratic lawmaker appeared alongside his fellow Pennsylvania Senator David McCormick on Monday and rejected accusations that he is not engaged in his job.
“For me, it’s very clear, it’s just part of this weird, this weird smear,” Fetterman said.
The senator said he’s been getting “incoming” over his stance on Israel, the border, and not voting to shut the government down.
He pushed for the conversation to move during his appearance in Boston at ‘The Senate Project’, which aired on Fox Nation.
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“I’m here. I’m doing my job. I’m defending on all those things, and all of those important votes, I’ve always been there,” Fetterman said.
Senator John Fetterman responded to criticism from The Philadelphia Inquirer during an appearance in Boston on Monday.
Fox Nation
“And for me, if I miss some of those votes, I mean some of those votes, I’ve made 90 percent of them, and we all know those votes that I’ve missed were on Monday. Those are travel days, and I have three young kids,” Fetterman continued.
He dismissed counts he had missed as “throwaway procedural votes,” which were not important.
Fetterman’s comments came after a scathing op-ed in The Philadelphia Inquirer on Sunday in which the paper’s editorial board wrote he “must take his position seriously.”
It noted the series of recent reports of erratic behavior, the senator missing and canceling meetings, and not showing up for more votes than nearly every other senator in the past two years.
“If Fetterman can’t handle the attention or perform his job, then in the best interest of the country and the nearly 13 million residents of Pennsylvania he represents, he should step aside,” it wrote.
The editorial is the latest in an avalanche of Fetterman criticism since a bombshell New York Magazine report a month ago detailed former staffers raising alarms over the senator’s mental state. Fettrman blasted it as a hit piece.
On Monday, Fetterman claimed Senator Bernie Sanders and Senator Patty Murray missed more votes than him.
“Why aren’t the left media yelling and demanding them and claiming they’re not doing their job?” Fetterman asked.
Senator John Fetterman standing in an elevator on Capitol Hill in February 24.
Alex Wroblwski/AFP via Getty Images
According to tracking by GovTrack.us, Fetterman missed 174 out of 961 roll call votes, or 18.1 percent of votes from February 2023 to May 2025 and more than 21 percent of the votes in the last Congress. It noted that it is much worse than the median of 2.9 percent of votes senators have missed.
Since taking office in 1993, Murray has missed 2.6 percent of votes, and 1.6 percent of votes in the last Congress. Sanders has missed 13.4 percent of votes since 1991, or 9.4 percent of votes in the last Congress.
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