By John L. Micek | Pennsylvania Capital-Star
Credit: PA Internet News Service
Capping weeks of build-up, Lt. Gov. John Fetterman announced today that he’s seeking the Democratic nomination for U.S. Senate.
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The Allegheny County politician announced his candidacy on Twitter, quipping that if voters send him to Washington, he will be “100 percent sedition-free.”
Fetterman, the former mayor of Braddock, outside Pittsburgh unsuccessfully sought the Democratic nomination in 2016, finishing third in a three-way primary. Former Wolf administration aide, Kathleen McGinty, who won the nomination, ended up losing in November to U.S. Sen. Pat Toomey, R-Pa.
Last fall, Toomey announced his retirement from politics, blowing both the 2022 Senate field and the 2022 GOP field for governor wide open.
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Fetterman bested former Lt. Gov. Mike Stack in the 2018 primary, becoming Gov. Tom Wolf’s second-in-command. In two years in the No. 2 spot, he’s used his office to advocate for the legalization of recreational cannabis and for criminal justice reform.
During last November’s protracted vote-count drama, Fetterman emerged as a public critic of Pennsylvania Republicans who were working to topple the state’s Electoral College result.
Fetterman doesn’t have the field all to himself. State Rep. Malcolm Kenyatta, D-Philadelphia, is reportedly weighing a bid. A former local official in Montgomery County, John McGuigan, announced his candidacy last week.
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Capital-Star Staff Reporter Stephen Caruso contributed to this story.
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