The 2022 Senate race’s first ad hits John Fetterman in a sore spot on race

The first political ad in Pennsylvania’s 2022 U.S. Senate race isn’t pulling any punches.

It hits Lt. Gov. John Fetterman squarely in a sore spot on race.

The Collective Super PAC, founded in 2015 to support Black candidates, is airing an ad on the radio stations WDAS-FM in Philadelphia and WAMO-FM in Pittsburgh that calls out Fetterman for a 2013 incident, when the then-Braddock mayor held a shotgun while detaining a Black man he saw running from what he said he suspected was a nearby shooting. The man was actually an unarmed jogger, and the incident has exposed a nerve for Fetterman at the start of his campaign for the Democratic nomination.

“What gave John Fetterman the right?” a woman asks in the ad. “The police first surrounded the innocent Black jogger but then let him go and then they let Fetterman go, too. Now John Fetterman is running for U.S. Senate and wants our vote, but it’s time for us to finally hold John Fetterman accountable.”

Quentin James, founder of the Collective, said news that Fetterman, who is white, had raised nearly $4 million since entering the race prompted what he described as a $100,000 ad buy, which is also playing on audio streaming services. A media buyer told Clout the PAC paid $45,000 to run the ad on the radio for two weeks.

“That, for us, was a huge red flag,” James said of Fetterman’s fund-raising, adding that he is “personally, pretty p—ed off” the lieutenant governor has emerged as the Democratic front-runner. Suggesting how the incident could have turned deadly, he cited the police killings of Black men that have prompted a national reckoning on race.

“No one is saying John Fetterman should resign,” James said. “What we’re saying is he doesn’t have to be the U.S. senator from Pennsylvania. This incident can’t just be glossed over. We have other options.”

James said he has spoken about the race with two Black Philadelphians: State Rep. Malcolm Kenyatta, who is also running for the seat, and State Sen. Sharif Street, who is exploring a run. He called them “amazing candidates”

“Imagine if Sharif Street or Malcolm Kenyatta held a white man at gunpoint because they thought he might have committed a crime,” James said. “They would not only not be running for Senate right now, they’d probably be in jail.”

The jogger, Christopher Miyares, in letters to The Inquirer, said Fetterman lied about their encounter. But Miyares said that he still wants Fetterman to become a senator and that Fetterman changing his story now could hurt his chances.

Fetterman has said he couldn’t tell Miyares’ race at the time because Miyares was wearing cold-weather jogging gear and a face mask.

Asked about the ad, Fetterman’s campaign told Clout he thinks it is “important to acknowledge the outrage and the lived reality of racial profiling” and noted the 2013 incident happened in an Allegheny County borough with a majority Black population.

“But this incident 8 years ago was not profiling, and the facts, circumstances, and greater context of that encounter all support that race played no role,” the campaign said.

Did the Democratic Governors Association just recognize former U.S. Attorney Bill McSwain as the 2022 Republican gubernatorial front-runner?

The DGA asked the U.S. Department of Justice this week for records about how McSwain spent federal money on an advertising campaign that featured him in a television commercial and billboards plastered with his name and picture.

The DGA also asked for emails detailing how McSwain and his two top advisers reacted after Clout detailed the $75,000 spent on the billboards last summer. Clout noted at the time that sort of bump in name recognition can help a guy with political ambitions. Some of the billboards are still up, even though McSwain stepped down in January.

McSwain, asked about the DGA requests, issued a statement critical of Philadelphia District Attorney Larry Krasner’s approach to prosecution.

“These billboards made it crystal clear Krasner’s get-out-of-jail-free policy did not apply to our office, and if you commit a crime with a gun we will prosecute you,” McSwain said.

McSwain last month formed a political action committee, a step toward running for governor.

The DGA isn’t waiting on federal records to draw a conclusion. The group said the filings were to get “more information on McSwain’s use of taxpayer recourses to boost his political career.”

A Smart Politics report from the University of Minnesota may explain why the Democrats are getting an early jump in the race for governor.

Author Eric Ostermeier found that Pennsylvania Democrats have gone 174 years without winning three gubernatorial races in a row, as 2022 victory would be. That’s a national record.

Ostermeier told Clout the race, happening in the middle of President Joe Biden’s presidential term, presents “more historical hurdles for the Democrats.”

Midterm elections favor the party not holding the White House. Ostermeier said the party out of power in the presidency won 19 of the last 21 elections for governor in Pennsylvania.

The two exceptions: Dick Thornburgh when Ronald Reagan was president, and Tom Wolf while Barack Obama held the White House.

Clout provides often irreverent news and analysis about people, power, and politics.