John Fetterman on his frustrations with Congress, why he’s growing a beard, and who he’s calling ‘Dr. Oz-light’

Sen. John Fetterman didn’t hold back with a room full of mayors in Scranton last week as he reflected on his adjustment to Capitol Hill.

“I’m sure a lot of you mayors believe being a senator has got a lot of prestige, and I’m telling you, it’s not,” he said. “Especially as a freshman, it’s kind of like, pretty soon I’m gonna have to start getting people their laundry.”

Fetterman is grateful to be in his position, he said, but that doesn’t change his nostalgia for leading Braddock as mayor or his frustrations with what he called “dysfunction” in Washington, playing out as the farm bill he’s helping draft faces threats of political tug-of-war.

“I miss being connected to people a lot,” he told the mayors. “I miss being connected to problems you can work on directly and it’s not a bunch of committees.”

» READ MORE: Want to earn $100K per year for 50 days of work? Get elected to Pennsylvania’s legislature.

Fetterman, 54, went from flipping a Republican-held Senate seat last year to a very public battle this year with depression that he attributed to the pressures of the campaign and recovery from a near-fatal stroke.

Now, he’s using the Senate’s summer recess to reconnect with people on the ground in his home state, where his popularity is mixed. In addition to mingling with the mayors, he visited an apple orchard in Wilkes-Barre and met with agriculture experts in Centre County about the farm bill.

His trip offered a lens into how he’s adjusting to his job: irked by the slow pace of a politicized Congress but energized — he says — by the constituents who know him far better than is typical for a freshman senator. That familiarity could be an asset as he stumps for Democrats in 2024.

“New Jersey!” Fetterman said as the mayor of Piscataway introduced himself near the buffet at the Radisson Lackawanna Station in Scranton, where the Mayor’s Innovation Project conference was held. “You know who else is from New Jersey? Dr. Oz.”

Fetterman’s pseudo-celebrity hasn’t abated. A steady stream of mayors at the conference approached him for introductions or photos. Staff often had to hustle over as conversations popped up and he needed the assistance of an iPad with closed captioning to follow conversations in the noisy room. (His May 2022 stroke impacted his hearing and auditory processing).

Sen. Bob Casey, who has been in office nearly 18 years and is up for reelection next year, was also at the mayors’ event but got far fewer selfie requests.

Fetterman has spoken at length about his struggle with depression, saying a leave to seek treatment likely saved his life. Eight months ago, he would have had no interest in the constituent interactions that give him a boost today.

“We need more people like you in politics,” Michaela Bennett told Fetterman.

The 23-year-old social media manager for the city of Scranton was there to photograph the event but pulled Fetterman aside to thank him for his open discussion of mental health.

Fetterman is candid that the hardest part about transitioning to D.C. is the separation from his wife and three children in Braddock. He told a city council member from Detroit the grass was not necessarily greener when you’re spending 50% of your time away from home.

“You get to sleep in your own bed every night,” he told her.

Fetterman likes to keep reminders of his family close. He grew a beard in solidarity with his dad, who suffered a heart attack this summer and couldn’t shave during recovery. He wears a bright pink and purple “BFF” bracelet on his wrist that his 12-year-old daughter made for him.

Fetterman chomped into a not-quite-ripe McIntosh pulled from a tree at Heller Orchards in Wapwallopen in Northeast Pennsylvania. He listened as Greg and Andrea Heller, third-generation farm owners, told him how finicky Honeycrisps can be to grow, and aboutworker shortages, the high cost of crop insurance, and the threat of the brown stink bug.

Fetterman, who sits on the Agriculture Committee and chairs the Nutrition Subcommittee, has been visiting farms around Pennsylvania ahead of the reauthorization of the farm bill. He will have a significant role in crafting the bill — a huge package of legislation that supports the agricultural economy and provides food aid for more than 40 million low-income Americans.

It’s typically a bipartisan effort, but the measure could run into a political snare. Some members of the House Freedom Caucus, which is chaired by U.S. Rep. Scott Perry (R., York) have pushed for funding cuts to farm programs and new work requirements for food aid recipients.

“Republicans, a small number of them, are trying to hold all these things hostage, and that’s outrageous,” Fetterman told The Inquirer in an interview. “The farm bill and the defense bill and all these are critical. They’re having baby tantrums about this. ... You know, instead of just saying, ’Let’s just gonna come together and get this done.’”

During a tour of the Hellers’ 100-acre farm, Fetterman talked about growing up in York and having an appreciation for farming. He bought apples and peaches at the farm store and invited the Hellers to testify in D.C. about the bill.

Andrea Heller had one more request for him.

“We’d like all our apple pickers to be your height.”

Fetterman’s trip across the state could be a preview of the stumping he’s likely to do for Democrats in 2024.

He predicted Casey, his mentor in the chamber who isn’t facing a primary challenge, would cruise to reelection. David McCormick, who narrowly lost in the GOP primary last year, is widely expected to run again.

“Bob Casey is a legend. ... Of course, it’s going to be more challenging just because of the presidential [election] but, but I do believe that Bob Casey is gonna handily defeat McCormick, certainly by, I would expect, by close to 5 points, at least.”

Fetterman called McCormick “Dr. Oz-light.”

“You have somebody that’s not from Pennsylvania … living on the Connecticut Gold Coast,” he said.

But he emphasized that when it comes to the presidential election, former President Donald Trump’s strength in the state shouldn’t be ignored.

“Anyone that would take a Trump threat lightly, they do so at their own peril,” Fetterman said. “I think it’s going to be competitive but ... Donald Trump only won Pennsylvania one time, and that was when he was at the zenith of his appeal, without all the baggage that he’s accrued over the last, last six or seven years.”