Philadelphia writer Ahmed Moor, a 42-year-old Democratic Socialists of America member born in Rafah, in southern Gaza, announced Monday that he will run in the 2028 Democratic primary for Sen. John Fetterman's Pennsylvania seat, making him the first declared challenger to a senator who has increasingly sided with Republicans.
The campaign website for Moor - who moved to Pennsylvania at a child, worked in finance, and then became a journalist, reads: "A few years ago my birthplace was turned to rubble in a genocide funded by our tax dollars."
Moor supports ending U.S. aid to Israel and imposing sanctions until Palestinians have equal rights, and told the Philadelphia Inquirer he is "not really running against Fetterman." "I'm running for good government. I'm running for the rule of law. I'm running because I believe in America," he said.
The blue wave fueled by Trump's war in Iran for Israel has been paying dividends for far-left progressives and socialists. If that trend continues, Moor beating Fetterman should be a layup - while Fetterman's value to Republicans for the occasional aisle-crossing is now moot.
Democrats won at least 54 Senate seats, a majority that holds regardless of how Fetterman votes, the Inquirer reported on Nov. 4. Fetterman did not campaign for any Democrats this year, in Pennsylvania or elsewhere. His former chief of staff, Adam Jentleson, said: "You know who doesn't matter anymore? John Fetterman." State Rep. Malcolm Kenyatta, who lost the 2022 primary to him, put it this way: "We just Fetterman proofed the US Senate."
Fetterman has not said whether he will seek a second term, and his term ends in January 2029. In July he told CNN that an official anti-Israel turn by his party would push him out. "That's my red line," he said. "If the Democratic Party becomes official 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," he said in the interview. He called a House vote the day before to block billions in military aid to Israel "symbolic."
Mike Weidinger, a Lancaster County Democrat with statewide connections, told the Guardian that Moor is not likely to be alone: "I'm pretty confident that you'll see some bigger, mainstream kind of names, involved." He named Rep. Chris Deluzio of the Pittsburgh area and state Rep. Malcolm Kenyatta as likely challengers.
Weidinger also said Fetterman did nothing for Pennsylvania Democrats on the ballot last week. "We just had an election here in Pennsylvania where a lot of us busted our ass for [Pennsylvania governor Josh] 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," he said. On a possible switch to the Republicans, he added: "If he wants to switch, he can switch. If it would have been 51 to 49, it would have mattered. But it doesn't matter now."
Democrats were already moving to primary him, as we noted in May, and Fetterman's September video message to the Republican midterm convention praising Sen. Dave McCormick deepened the anger. Moor's launch is the first sign of whether that anger finds a candidate.