John Fetterman spent the last two years cozying up to Donald Trump, praising Republicans, and calling Israel’s critics his “red line.” Now a Palestinian American from Gaza is going to make him pay for it.
Ahmed Moor, 42, a writer and journalist born in Rafah, announced he will challenge Fetterman in the 2028 Democratic primary for his Pennsylvania Senate seat. It is the first serious sign that Fetterman’s act has worn thin with the people who sent him to Washington in the first place.
The Man
Moor is not a firebrand. He is not a bomb-thrower. He is a writer who has contributed to The Guardian, a democratic socialist, and a man who was born in the southern Gaza city of Rafah.
“I’m not really running against Fetterman,” Moor told the Philadelphia Inquirer. “I’m running for good government. I’m running for the rule of law. I’m running because I believe in America.”
That is the line that will haunt Fetterman. A Palestinian American from Gaza is running because he believes in America. The white guy from Braddock is the one who spent the last two years acting like he doesn’t.
The Red Line
Fetterman has made no secret of his loyalties. He has said he has no intention of leaving the Democrats but strongly suggested he would change his mind if the party became “anti-Israel.”
“That’s my red line,” Fetterman said last July. “If the Democratic Party becomes officially anti-Israel, then that’s when I would force me out. If they make it the official platform of the party, then that’s a much different situation.”
Let us be clear about what that means. Fetterman is saying his loyalty to a foreign government is more important than his loyalty to his own party. He is saying that if Democrats decide they want to hold Israel accountable for killing more than 74,000 Palestinians — most of them women and children — he will leave.
That is not a red line. That is a confession.
He has met more often with Benjamin Netanyahu than with Philadelphia’s mayor. He sent a video message to the Republicans’ midterm convention praising Pennsylvania’s Republican senator. Trump has called him “a great guy” and said he would “love” him to become a Republican.
Fetterman is not a Democrat. He is a Republican who refuses to admit it.
The Weakness
The midterms changed everything. Democrats won at least 54 Senate seats. Fetterman’s vote is no longer decisive. His threats to defect no longer matter.
“If it had been 51 to 49, it would have mattered. But it doesn’t matter now,” said Mike Weidinger, a veteran Lancaster County Democrat.
That is the real story. Fetterman spent two years acting like he was the most important man in Washington. He was not. He was a swing vote in a chamber that no longer swings. And now the people he abandoned are lining up to replace him.
Democrats are already talking about bigger, more mainstream challengers. Chris Deluzio. Malcolm Kenyatta. The list is growing.
“Generally, people think he either misrepresented himself when he ran the first time, or he changed completely from what he said he was,” Weidinger said. “We just had an election here in Pennsylvania where a lot of us busted our ass for Shapiro and a lot of other people, and he didn’t spend one penny or do one thing for a single Democrat candidate here last week.”
The Bottom Line
Ahmed Moor, a Palestinian American from Gaza, will challenge John Fetterman in the 2028 Democratic primary for his Pennsylvania Senate seat. Moor supports withdrawing US aid from Israel and imposing sanctions. Fetterman has said the party becoming “anti-Israel” is his red line. Democrats say Moor is unlikely to be the only challenger.
My Opinion
John Fetterman spent two years pretending to be a different kind of Democrat. He wore shorts. He was a progressive. He was going to shake up Washington.
He was none of that. And now a Palestinian American from Gaza is going to expose him.
Ahmed Moor is running for the Senate. He was born in Rafah. And he said the one thing that will make Fetterman’s skin crawl: “I believe in America.”
Fetterman doesn’t. He believes in Netanyahu. He believes in Trump. He believes in whatever gets him on television. And his “red line” is his party becoming anti-Israel — not the killing of 74,000 people, not the starvation of children. His red line is what his party might say about it.
That is who Fetterman is. A man who looked like a progressive and governed like a Republican. A man who talked about the forgotten people of Pennsylvania and then let Gaza be forgotten by his party.
He has met Netanyahu more than Philadelphia’s mayor. He sent a video to the Republican convention. He praised a Republican senator. He accepted praise from Trump. And he still expects Pennsylvania to send him back.
The midterms ended his leverage. Democrats won 54 seats. His vote doesn’t matter. The man who spent two years threatening to leave the party just found out the party doesn’t need him.
