Democratic Sen. John Fetterman appears in surprise video at GOP midterm convention

CNN

By Sarah Ferris

(CNN) — Democratic Sen. John Fetterman praised his fellow senator from his home state, GOP Sen. Dave McCormick, in a surprise video appearance at the GOP midterm convention, and condemned the rise of far-left voices in his own party.

In the roughly one-minute video introducing McCormick on stage, Fetterman made clear that he is still a Democrat but took aim at the rise of “socialism” in his own party.

“Yes, I’m a Democrat. Why am I here talking to you today? Because well, I’m a common sense Democrat. I’m always going to stand with America. I’m always going to reject the extremes and socialism and that anti-American way of life,” Fetterman said in the pre-recorded video.

Fetterman also said he will work with President Trump to defend “the steel way of life.”

“We’ll work with President Trump to fight and defend the steel way of life right here in the steel valley,” he said.

Fetterman praised McCormick as “the kind of senator that gets the job done.”

“I’m proud to count him as my friend,” he said.

Fetterman is perhaps Trump’s closest Democratic ally in Congress, but the video is an unusual move for the first-term senator, who skipped his own party’s convention in 2024 and has become an increasingly divisive figure among Democrats.

“How great is John Fetterman, right?” McCormick said when he took the stage after the video message. “Thank you Senator Fetterman for your friendship, thank you for your courage and thank you for all you do for Pennsylvania.”

Fetterman, who is strongly pro-Israel, has spent months distancing himself from the rest of his party, voting for some of Trump’s nominees and backing the president’s military actions in the Middle East. He has previously told CNN’s Manu Raju that he does not plan to leave the party unless it becomes officially “anti-Israel.”

The-CNN-Wire
™ & © 2026 Cable News Network, Inc., a Warner Bros. Discovery Company. All rights reserved.