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ANOTHER Bernie Democrat - Meet "the coolest populist in America." JOHN FETTERMAN, Mayor of Braddock
Features » February 29, 2016
We Found the Coolest Populist in America, and He’s Running for U.S. Senate
John Fetterman, mayor of Braddock, Pennsylvania, wants to fight for “legacy communities” and the soul of the Democratic Party
BY Kate Aronoff
John Fetterman, 46, has served as mayor of the hardscrabble Pittsburgh suburb of Braddock for over a decade. His tattoos (of the town’s zip code and the dates of its most recent murders) and his stature (nearly 7 feet) have drawn more attention than his politics. Re-elected twice by huge margins after winning his first run by one vote, the “coolest mayor in America,” as the Guardian dubbed him, is now vying with establishment Democrats for a U.S. Senate seat. While still an under-funded underdog, Fetterman is polling competitively: In head-to-head match-ups in October, he trailed Republican incumbent Pat Toomey by 7 points, and his Democratic competitors trailed Toomey by 7 and 3.
Fetterman, who is white, has led the charge to revitalize the mostly black Braddock, which was abandoned by industry in the 1970s. Nearly 40 percent of its households now fall below the poverty line. Except for its racial demographics, Braddock is typical of the struggling Rust Belt towns that may prove pivotal in this election. Some of Donald Trump’s biggest rallies have been staged in these “legacy communities,” drawing supporters still reeling from the Recession. Bernie Sanders, meanwhile, is hoping to rally the working class against the corporate interests that have deserted it. Like Sanders, Fetterman is in a battle for both the Democratic nomination and the soul of the party. Can he win over his state’s infamously conservative, mostly white center, by wooing the rural working-class voters that have fled the Democratic Party in droves? In These Times talked with Fetterman about Bernie, Braddock and 2016.
Why run for Senate?
When I was running a great GED pro- gram and enjoying a lot of success, two of my students were gunned down a couple weeks apart. And I couldn’t change that as a program director, so I ran for mayor. Now I want to have an impact the direction of this country that I can’t have as a mayor of a small community. The country needs a champion for the forgotten legacy cities. You see the horror that’s emerging in Flint, Michigan. Well, Braddock was no different. Every community needs a champion, and I want to be the champion for legacy cities like my own.
Between Bernie Sanders and Donald Trump, this election season seems to be breaking every rule political scientists have written. Why do you think that is?
People are tired of prepackaged things. They want to go to a real restaurant, not TGI Fridays. Most political candidates are like TGI Fridays—franchises of what the party wants them to be. But we’re coming out with an authentic product. I’m coming from a community from the fringe of society that’s been written off. So we’re reminding Democratic voters what the party should stand for, what we with Democratic principles should fight for.
Do you see your campaign as an effort to change the Democratic Party?
My campaign is to promote what I see as its core values. Goldman Sachs is never going to pay me $200,000 for an hour-long speech. But if they did, I’d say I’m going to bring Wall Street excess to heel. There needs to be congruity in the mission, values and principles that we’re willing to fight for. That’s why I endorsed Bernie Sanders.
<snip>
http://inthesetimes.com/article/18890/john-fetterman-braddock-mayor-the-coolest-populist-in-america-senate-run
PEACE
LOVE
BERNIE
We Found the Coolest Populist in America, and He’s Running for U.S. Senate
John Fetterman, mayor of Braddock, Pennsylvania, wants to fight for “legacy communities” and the soul of the Democratic Party
BY Kate Aronoff
John Fetterman, 46, has served as mayor of the hardscrabble Pittsburgh suburb of Braddock for over a decade. His tattoos (of the town’s zip code and the dates of its most recent murders) and his stature (nearly 7 feet) have drawn more attention than his politics. Re-elected twice by huge margins after winning his first run by one vote, the “coolest mayor in America,” as the Guardian dubbed him, is now vying with establishment Democrats for a U.S. Senate seat. While still an under-funded underdog, Fetterman is polling competitively: In head-to-head match-ups in October, he trailed Republican incumbent Pat Toomey by 7 points, and his Democratic competitors trailed Toomey by 7 and 3.
Fetterman, who is white, has led the charge to revitalize the mostly black Braddock, which was abandoned by industry in the 1970s. Nearly 40 percent of its households now fall below the poverty line. Except for its racial demographics, Braddock is typical of the struggling Rust Belt towns that may prove pivotal in this election. Some of Donald Trump’s biggest rallies have been staged in these “legacy communities,” drawing supporters still reeling from the Recession. Bernie Sanders, meanwhile, is hoping to rally the working class against the corporate interests that have deserted it. Like Sanders, Fetterman is in a battle for both the Democratic nomination and the soul of the party. Can he win over his state’s infamously conservative, mostly white center, by wooing the rural working-class voters that have fled the Democratic Party in droves? In These Times talked with Fetterman about Bernie, Braddock and 2016.
Why run for Senate?
When I was running a great GED pro- gram and enjoying a lot of success, two of my students were gunned down a couple weeks apart. And I couldn’t change that as a program director, so I ran for mayor. Now I want to have an impact the direction of this country that I can’t have as a mayor of a small community. The country needs a champion for the forgotten legacy cities. You see the horror that’s emerging in Flint, Michigan. Well, Braddock was no different. Every community needs a champion, and I want to be the champion for legacy cities like my own.
Between Bernie Sanders and Donald Trump, this election season seems to be breaking every rule political scientists have written. Why do you think that is?
People are tired of prepackaged things. They want to go to a real restaurant, not TGI Fridays. Most political candidates are like TGI Fridays—franchises of what the party wants them to be. But we’re coming out with an authentic product. I’m coming from a community from the fringe of society that’s been written off. So we’re reminding Democratic voters what the party should stand for, what we with Democratic principles should fight for.
Do you see your campaign as an effort to change the Democratic Party?
My campaign is to promote what I see as its core values. Goldman Sachs is never going to pay me $200,000 for an hour-long speech. But if they did, I’d say I’m going to bring Wall Street excess to heel. There needs to be congruity in the mission, values and principles that we’re willing to fight for. That’s why I endorsed Bernie Sanders.
<snip>
http://inthesetimes.com/article/18890/john-fetterman-braddock-mayor-the-coolest-populist-in-america-senate-run
PEACE
LOVE
BERNIE
4 replies
= new reply since forum marked as read
= new reply since forum marked as read
Go John!
Go Bernie!
PEACE
LOVE
BERNIE
