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John Fetterman endorses Kamala Harris

Sen. John Fetterman, who fiercely defended President Joe Biden’s ability to remain the Democratic nominee, is "all in" for Vice President Kamala Harris.

Vice President Kamala Harris (right) participates in a ceremonial swearing-in of Sen. John Fetterman (D., Pa.) with his wife, Gisele Barreto Fetterman, in the Old Senate Chamber on Capitol Hill on Jan. 3, 2022.
Vice President Kamala Harris (right) participates in a ceremonial swearing-in of Sen. John Fetterman (D., Pa.) with his wife, Gisele Barreto Fetterman, in the Old Senate Chamber on Capitol Hill on Jan. 3, 2022.Read moreAP

Sen. John Fetterman, who fiercely defended President Joe Biden’s ability to remain the Democratic nominee, seemed to need a day to express his frustration before coming out with an endorsement of Vice President Kamala Harris.

Around 12:30 p.m. Monday, the Pennsylvania Democrat posted a simple and clear message: “Proud to support and be all in for the next president, [Kamala Harris].” He dropped a link to the ActBlue fundraising link for Harris in a reply to the post.

Biden endorsed Harris to replace him on the ticket as he dropped out of the race on Sunday, and his campaign’s war chest was quickly passed down to her. A sizable number of Democrats quickly and resoundingly expressed support for the vice president as the nominee. Fetterman wasn’t among them. Not all Democrats came out with clear endorsements on Sunday — former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D., Calif.), for example, also didn’t endorse Harris until the next day. But Fetterman made his lingering frustration clear on Sunday through comments aired to a couple of reporters.

”People pushed out an honorable man, loving father and a great president before an absolute sleazeball like Menendez,” Fetterman said on Sunday, according to Semafor reporter David Weigel, in reference to Sen. Bob Menendez, the embattled New Jersey senator who was convicted in a corruption trial last week. “Congratulations,” Fetterman added.

Fetterman also made a comment to reporter Salena Zito about what she called “the rush from Democrats to say how accomplished a president [Joe Biden] has been minutes after pushing him out.”

”Spare me the soaring accolades from people with their fingerprints on the blades in our president’s back,” Fetterman said, according to Zito. Earlier this month, Fetterman posted a meme of a person holding up two middle fingers in response to a news article about a longtime Democratic strategist calling on Biden to drop out — a message reflected in Fetterman’s posts and media appearances in which he defended the president. He repeatedly compared Biden’s disastrous and consequential debate performance to his own bad debate in 2022.

One of the people expressing the “soaring accolades” for Biden that irked Fetterman was Sen. Bob Casey (D., Pa.), Fetterman’s counterpart who is generally more cautious when it comes to speaking in line with the party. Casey had been careful not to call for Biden to step down in the days leading up to the president’s announcement, but he acknowledged concerns about Biden’s candidacy as Fetterman dismissed them. Casey posted separate statements praising Biden and endorsing Harris on Sunday.

”With women’s rights, workers’ rights, and voting rights on the line, the stakes of this election for Pennsylvania and the Nation couldn’t be higher,” Casey wrote in a post on X.

Harris, Casey said, has led fights on those issues, and will “draw a clear contrast” with former President Donald Trump due to her experience as a former prosecutor.”

”She is prepared to be Commander-in-Chief and is the best person to meet this moment,” Casey added. “I’m proud to endorse her candidacy for President.”