MAGA’s favorite Democrat has secretly been fundraising with Republicans, leaked text messages reveal.
Right-wing groups have been working with Sen. John Fetterman of Pennsylvania behind the scenes to get Trump-sympathetic voters’ attention, according to reporting from The Atlantic and The Intercept.
“I thought you would be interested in this high-performing Fetterman copy,” Leah Mergener, an account associate at the GOP-aligned firm Blitz Digital Group, wrote in a message.
“It has been doing crazy numbers for us,” her message added.
The Atlantic reported that the fundraising push was signed by Fetterman and included links to donate to his own campaign. The text push also included a message from Fetterman reading “I’m always going to reject Socialism and the anti-American way of life,” and warned that socialists are “hijacking the Democratic party.”
The money is also flowing through Anedot, a payment processing system that is used by Republicans.
This comes after his relationship with the Democratic-aligned digital fundraising firm, MissionWired, ended in June.
“MissionWired ended its engagement with Senator Fetterman’s campaign in June 2026,” Kate Kline, the firm’s CEO, told The Atlantic in a statement. “We had no involvement in a revenue-sharing plan with Republican entities, and if we had become aware, we would have objected to the strategy and refused the work.”
This text was put on right-wing Sen. Mike Lee’s radar, who forwarded it to his own fundraising list. He then teased the idea that Fetterman could actually switch parties if enough conservatives were on board.
“I just got an email from John. He’s basically a Republican now,” Lee wrote in a solicitation that The Atlantic obtained. “I need your help to draft him.”
The fundraising almost comes as no surprise given how Fetterman has cozied up to Republicans in recent months. He has largely toed the party line in Senate votes, but has helped Republicans get big wins, including siding with them on a series of war powers resolutions brought by Democrats to rein in Trump over his war with Iran, as well as on government spending bills.
While he originally ran as a left-wing populist in 2022, as he enters his fifth year in office, Fetterman has turned into MAGA’s favorite Democrat.
He is a frequent face on Fox News, even traveling with a group of Republican politicians for a retreat with Fox News executives at Rupert Murdoch’s ranch in Montana.
Earlier this month, he even spoke in a recorded address to attendees of the Republican midterm convention as he delivered remarks denouncing socialism, in a similar sentiment to that of his fundraising messages.
During the video, he called himself a “common-sense Democrat,” and appeared to take a swing at the left wing of his party, saying, “I’m always going to reject extremes of socialism,” and vowed to work “with President Donald Trump to fight and defend the steel way of life.”
Fetterman’s former staffers are furious with him for fundraising on behalf of the GOP, especially in such a tight election for control of the Senate as the 2026 midterm elections are shaping up to be.
“After taking contributions from millions of small-dollar donors who wanted a Democratic Senate, John Fetterman turned around and became Donald Trump’s useful idiot,” one former staffer told The Intercept. “Now, it’s no surprise that he has to resort to GOP donors to prop up his dismal fundraising numbers.
While Republicans like Lee have all but dared Fetterman to switch parties, Fetterman has remained noncommittal about whether he will even remain a Democrat after the midterm elections.
“I’m not going to be a Republican!” he shouted recently to reporters on Capitol Hill. “Why can’t you guys just wait ’til the midterm, you know? And if I turn a Republican and then—I’ll be a liar, then?”
Still, his former staffers remain unconvinced, with one telling The Intercept. “He loves being the enigma. He loves the, ‘Well, you’re gonna have to see what happens.’”
