We’ve learned that Katie McGinty, the establishment candidate in Pennsylvania, has already tapped into her insider network boarding a chartered flight to rub elbows with Democrat elites in Martha’s Vineyard and hobnobbing on K Street in Washington, DC. But in an environment where outsiders increasingly drive headlines…will it be enough?
Further complicating McGinty’s path through the primary, Braddock Mayor John Fetterman “has some friends on the inside” which are sure to help him gain traction in the next phase of his campaign. According to the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, Fetterman has ties to Allyson Schwartz, a former Philadelphia-area congresswoman who is bucking the party’s pick and renting Fetterman her lists…not McGinty.
In case you missed it, the Philadelphia Inquirer recently touched on Fetterman’s threat to McGinty:
Democratic ‘outsiders’ gain traction, too
Philadelphia Inquirer
By Thomas Fitzgerald
Conservative voters angry at the political establishment have pushed outsiders Donald Trump and Ben Carson to the top of the Republican presidential field.
On the left, Democrats have their own strain of discontent, personified in the presidential race by the soaring popularity of Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders and his attacks on billionaires and capitalist greed.
That frustration also has inspired liberals to enter Democratic primaries for U.S. Senate in Pennsylvania and several other swing states, taking on candidates anointed by national party leaders.
Take John Fetterman, the 6-foot-8, bald and tattooed mayor of Braddock, Pa., a progressive hero who jumped into the state’s Democratic primary last month.
"No one who looks like me has ever run for an office of this magnitude," Fetterman, 46, said in a recent interview, joking that he hopes the Senate floor does not have a dress code – he favors Dickies work shirts.
Former Rep. Joe Sestak, whose unconventional style and antiestablishment message has irked party leaders, is back for another run, after beating U.S. Sen. Arlen Specter in the 2010 Democratic primary. The party recruited Katie McGinty, a former White House aide and Pennsylvania environmental regulator. She quit as Gov. Wolf’s chief of staff to enter, with the encouragement of some national Democratic groups.
Democrats "have always been so good at calling the shots in these primaries," said Jennifer Duffy, an analyst who tracks Senate races for the nonpartisan Cook Political Report in Washington.
"But in some cases, people aren’t listening anymore," Duffy said. "There’s a frustration, a belief that the party shouldn’t be handpicking nominees, and . . . is not spending enough time and effort on issues they care about, like income equity."
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Fetterman acknowledged that despite different positions on illegal immigration and almost every other issue, he has something in common with Trump.
"Our bank accounts couldn’t be different, but neither one of us is going to be the pick of his party’s bosses," Fetterman said.
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