John Fetterman threatens to flip to Republican if his party make ‘troubling’ majority leader pick

Pennsylvania Senator John Fetterman has once again reiterated that his party’s support for Israel is a key factor in whether or not he will remain a Democrat.

In his first interview since the midterm election earlier this month, Fetterman revealed that the election of Chris Van Hollen, a Maryland senator challenging Chuck Schumer for the job of majority leader, would see him reassess his party allegiances.

Speaking with Fox News anchor and former White House Press Secretary Kayleigh McEnany on her show Saturday in America, Fetterman stated that he could walk away from his party if it continues a leftward shift.

‘It would be troubling if my caucus elects someone like Van Hollen that has really made his name being very anti-hostile to Israel, you know,’ Fetterman told McEnany.

Van Hollen is challenging current Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer for the top job in the upper chamber of Congress after Democrats decisively won back control of both chambers earlier this month.

In his interview on Saturday, Fetterman also suggested that, ‘If you are going to be angry or hostile towards any countries in the region, why not make that, you know, Iran or Hezbollah or Hamas as well too.’

The Pennsylvania Democrat has also stated that he doesn’t want his party to spend the next two years in ‘a circus of constant hearings’ about getting ‘payback’ on the Trump administration.

Van Hollen’s challenge to Schumer came earlier this week after he said he was considering a bid and after Schumer said he has the necessary support to win.

The closed-door, secret-ballot election for the top job in the US Senate for the next two years will be held in early December.

The race will be the first contested election for Democratic leader in decades. The question of whether to reelect Schumer has already divided the caucus and many senators will not say publicly how they will vote.

The party has privately deliberated about what message to take from the election, and Schumer recruited many of the party’s winning candidates and raised money for them.

Over the summer, Fetterman stated that he would be forced to take flight from the party if Democrats abandoned Israel.

‘If our party ever becomes — and just makes it official — the anti-Israel party, that’s when I would leave because that’s been a moral clarity for me,’ he shared at an event.

Fetterman also noted at the time that his ‘long-term concern has been with the Democratic Party, as I am a member of that, is that our party is going to back away and turn their back to Israel.’

Nearly half of the Democrats in the US House of Representatives voted against providing aid to Israel, while 10 more of their colleagues voted ‘present’ on the measure back in July.

Last month, President Donald Trump said that he would love to see Fetterman join the Republican Party.

Nodding at the upcoming re-election fight Fetterman faces, Trump stated that it would be ‘hard’ for him to be nominated to the US Senate ‘as a Democrat,’ adding that he’d ‘love to have him as a Republican.’