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Graham Platner’s political downfall did more than derail a scandal-ridden Senate campaign in Maine. It also ended the public revolution of Sen. Pennsylvania’s John Fetterman went from a progressive Bernie Sanders supporter to one of the left’s fiercest internal critics.
Fetterman was among the first prominent Democrats to publicize Platner’s growing controversy, as many party leaders continued to support the scandal-plagued man until his ex-girlfriend publicly accused Platner of rape, allegations he denies. The allegations caused the remaining pillars of Democratic support to crumble.
On Wednesday night, Fetterman slept with his political partner Sen. Bernie Sanders, Vt., in an interview with Fox News’ Charles Hurt on “Jesse Watters Primetime.”
“The trash took itself out,” Fetterman said of Platner’s dismissal, as Hurt asked who should be held most responsible for the Platner mess.
KINGMAKER MAMDANI CALLS ON PLATNER TO ‘LEAVE IN JOB’ AFTER REPA ALLEGATIONS.
Sen. John Fetterman, D-Pa., center, watches Sen. Bernie Sanders, Vt., right, speaks on stage in front of Sen. Jeffrey Merkley, D-Ore., left. (Al Drago/Getty Images)
“Absolutely, Bernie Sanders needs to apologize to the voters of Maine and to everyone who contributed to the train wreck of the campaign,” Fetterman said.
Sanders eventually asked Platner to drop out of the race after the allegations surfaced, but Fetterman argued that Vermont’s progressive voters were apologizing for helping to nominate him in the first place.
“More than anyone else, he pushed ‘P. Hustle’ in the election. Now he’s pushing these Communists and these kinds of bad, anti-American people.”
Fox News Digital has reached out to the Sanders, Fetterman and Platner campaigns for comment.
JOHN FETTERMAN’S FALL FROM HERO TO CROCHET IS OVER THE DEMOCRATS’ CURVE TO THE FAR LEFT
Graham Platner, Democratic US Senate candidate in Maine, during a primary election night event at the Blue Hill YMCA in Blue Hill, Maine, US, Tuesday, June 9, 2026. Progressive Democrat Graham Platner won the party’s Senate primary in Maine after a damaging campaign that was largely about his alleged misconduct in the past. (Graeme Sloan/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
The comments capped a dramatic political turnaround for Fetterman, who recently admitted he is more popular with some Republicans than his own party.
“Something unusual [reason]I’m very popular with Republicans, which is confusing because I vote in the 90-[percentile] Dem-line,” Fetterman told NewsNation in March, adding that he supports Israel and President Donald Trump’s “Operation: Epic Fury” against Iran.
Chris Borick, a professor at Lehigh University and former president of the Pennsylvania Political Science Association, called Fetterman’s shift in relationship with Sanders and the progressive wing of Democrats “amazing.”
“As someone who follows Pennsylvania politics, I don’t see anything close to the shifts we’ve seen in Fetterman’s positions on a range of issues in the short term,” Borick said. “We’ve seen people change teams, like Arlen Specter … but in terms of quick moves at the most important levels, Fetterman’s changes are unprecedented in the state.”
Fetterman’s break with the left didn’t end in Sanders-world. In Pennsylvania, his growing independence has also put distance between him and parts of the state’s Democratic Alliance, including breaking with some party norms.
State Sen. Doug Mastriano, R-Gettysburg, who served in the Pennsylvania Senate when Fetterman was lieutenant governor and presided over the chamber, said the Democrat had “political differences” with him but was generally “kind and respectful.”
He spoke of a conversation on the Senate floor in Harrisburg where Fetterman learned that Mastriano had collected a record number of signatures to qualify for governor against then-Attorney General Josh Shapiro.
“Senator Fetterman came down from the rostrum, congratulated me, said, ‘Doug, 30,000. That’s really exciting. Great job.’ It wasn’t something he should have done,” Mastriano told Fox News Digital.
“I can’t speak for Sen. Fetterman’s political evolution – that’s all he can describe. But I respect anyone who is willing to speak their mind, think independently, and put what they believe is America’s best interests first, even when doing so may not be popular within their own party,” said Mastriano, who said Fetterman seemed to “put.[ting] Pennsylvania before politics. “
Fetterman recently promoted the general manager of his state’s Democratic Alliance, Gov. Josh Shapiro, partnered with Republican Sen. David McCormick to help secure a booth on the National Mall for the Great American State Fair after the governor’s office said there was too little time and too little vendor interest to put it together.
Shapiro’s predecessor, Gov. Tom Wolf, who Fetterman worked with as lieutenant governor during Wolf’s second term, also appeared to have no love for his party’s new maverick.
“I have thoughts, but I don’t have to share them anymore,” Wolff, who has retired from public life, said in March about Fetterman’s performance.
When the two were in office in Harrisburg, Fetterman was very close to Sanders and rode the wave of progressives for the lieutenant governor’s office — a different primary ballot line than the governorship.
Sam Chen, a Pennsylvania political analyst and chief strategist at the Allentown-based Liddell Group, told Fox News Digital that Fetterman’s emergence from Sanders ally criticism is important while asking whether the political climate of the Democratic Party helped cause the break.
“Fetterman was really helped by Sanders — even in Fetterman’s first Senate run … and then he ran against who we thought was probably the frontrunner in Conor Lamb.”
“Sanders really helped put Fetterman on the map and helped him rise,” Chen said, calling the senator’s latest criticism of Sanders “his big break” from the progressive wing.
However, Chen doubted that Fetterman and Sanders’ break over Platner was less about policy than about the judgement, character and quality of the candidate.
“I wonder if Fetterman would be in this position if Platner had all the policy ideas he has now but there was no Totenkopf tattoo or accusations from women.”
In his 2018 campaign for lieutenant governor, Fetterman hailed Sanders’ endorsement as evidence that he was making progress, describing the Vermont senator as one of the few politicians in the nation who had the “little guy’s” back. Fetterman was then the mayor of postindustrial Braddock, a working-class suburb outside of Pittsburgh, but his celebrity profile was drawing national attention.
Sanders, meanwhile, came to Pennsylvania to endorse Fetterman: “This is what John’s campaign is about … that we’re going to change this country and build a government that works for all of us, not just wealthy campaign donors,” he said, according to PBS’ Philadelphia affiliate.
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Senator John Fetterman attends a lunch meeting with Senate Democrats at the US Capitol on Nov. 15, 2022, in Washington, DC. (Drew Anger/Getty Images)
Since his election to the Senate, Democratic Alliance groups in Pennsylvania, including the Monroe County Democratic Party in the Poconos, have called him a “traitor,” while Punchbowl described his political status as “bad” and reported that no member of the Keystone State’s House caucus would confirm support for a 2028 re-election bid.
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A member of the “squad” Rep. Summer Lee, who represents Fetterman’s hometown and is closely allied with Sanders, told reporters that the increasingly divisive congressman would run “at her own peril.”
Chen said Fetterman’s progressive “bona fides” remain, noting that he remains staunchly liberal on LGBTQ rights, marijuana and abortion — adding that as mayor or lieutenant governor, foreign policy positions were not an issue. Still, he said, the battle with Platner shows how far Fetterman is from the progressive coalition that got him into national politics.
