This article will answer every question you have about John Fetterman. Below are some of the frequently asked questions about him.
- What does John Fetterman do for a living?
- Who are John Fetterman’s parents and siblings?
- What are John Fetterman’s interests and hobbies?
- Is John Fetterman married or does he have a girlfriend/boyfriend?
- Does John Fetterman have any children?
- Where is John Fetterman now?
- How tall is John Fetterman?
- How much money does John Fetterman earn?
- What is John Fetterman’s net worth?
N/B: Please read the entire post to have all your questions answered.
Who is John Fetterman?
John Karl Fetterman is best well-known as an American politician from Pennsylvania. A member of the Democratic Party, he is a United States senator-elect and the 34th lieutenant governor of Pennsylvania, having served in the latter role since 2019. He served as mayor of Braddock from 2006 to 2019.
John Fetterman Career
Beginning his professional career in the insurance industry, Fetterman studied finance at Albright College and earned an MBA from the University of Connecticut. He went on to join AmeriCorps and earned a Master of Public Policy degree from Harvard University. Fetterman’s service with AmeriCorps led him to Braddock, where he moved in 2004 and was elected mayor the next year. As mayor, Fetterman sought to revitalize the former steel town through art and youth programs.
Fetterman ran for the U.S. Senate in 2016, finishing third in the Democratic primary. He ran for lieutenant governor of Pennsylvania in 2018, defeating a field of candidates that included incumbent Mike Stack in the Democratic primary and winning the election with incumbent Governor Tom Wolf. During his tenure, Fetterman received national attention for his efforts to legalize cannabis statewide and push back on President Donald Trump’s false claims of election fraud in Pennsylvania.
Fetterman announced his candidacy in the 2022 U.S. Senate election in Pennsylvania in 2021. He won the Democratic nomination with 59% of the vote and defeated Republican Party nominee Mehmet Oz in the general election, becoming the first Democrat to win this seat since 1962. Generally described as progressive, Fetterman advocates healthcare as a right, criminal justice reform, abolishing capital punishment, raising the federal minimum wage to $15 per hour, and legalizing cannabis.
How old is John Fetterman?
Fetterman is aged 53 years old as of 2022, having been born on August 15, 1969, in West Reading, Pennsylvania, U.S. He shared his birthday with popular people such as Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu, Anthony Anderson, Ben Affleck, Debra Messing, Emily Kinney, Jennifer Lawrence and more.
John Fetterman Family
Who are John Fetterman’s Parents?
Fetterman was born to his parents Kari Fetterman and Susan Fetterman. His father also attended Albright College.
Does John Fetterman have Siblings?
He was born into a family of two children and has only one sibling, brother Gregg Fetterman.
John Fetterman Education
Fetterman graduated in 1991, from Albright College with a bachelor’s degree in finance, which is also his father’s alma mater. He then went to the University of Connecticut in 1993, graduating with a Master of Business Administration (MBA). Fetterman then attended Harvard Kennedy School at Harvard University, with a Master of Public Policy degree in 1999.
John Fetterman Spouse
Fetterman is currently married to his supportive wife Gisele Barreto Fetterman. His wife is a Brazilian-American activist, who was once an undocumented immigrant and a resident of Newark, New Jersey. She wrote him a letter in 2007 and he invited her to visit Braddock, and after one year they got married.
John Fetterman Kids
The couple has three children. They have one daughter, namely Grace Fetterman, and two sons namely Karl and August Fetterman.
John Fetterman Height
Fetterman has a well-built, muscular, and
energetic body with a height of 6 ft 8 in (2.3 m) and a weight of 165 lbs (75 kg).
Mayor of Braddock (2006–2019)
They began his career working at an insurance firm and came to Braddock in 2001 to start an Out-of-School-Youth Program, helping local youth to earn their GED. He moved to Braddock in 2004 Fetterman in 2009 him.
Braddock, a former industrial town, known as the site of Andrew Carnegie’s first steel mill, was hit hard by the decline of the U.S. steel industry. The town had lost 90% of its population since its peak in the 1920s, and was declared a financially distressed municipality in 1988; it has no supermarkets, gas stations, or ATMs. Fetterman was attracted to Braddock by what he called its “malignant beauty.”
Fetterman served as the part-time mayor of Braddock, and the full-time director of the city’s youth program. He also founded a nonprofit organization, Braddock Redux, which he used to acquire and save properties in Braddock.
Fetterman’s father helped subsidize Fetterman financially because the position of mayor paid only $150 per month. He received payments of $54,000 from his father in 2015. Fetterman has several tattoos related to the Braddock community. On his left arm are the numbers 15104—Braddock’s ZIP Code—and on the right, the dates of nine murders that dates of 9 murders that occurred in the town while he was mayor.
Elections
Fetterman ran for mayor against the incumbent, Pauline Abdullah, in 2005. With backing from the town’s young residents, he won the Democratic primary by a single vote. Fetterman won the general election he did not face a Republican opponent. In the 2009 Democratic primary for mayor of Braddock, Fetterman faced Jayme Cox. During the 2009 campaign, Cox attacked Fetterman for failing to build a consensus with the town council.
Additionally, Cox criticized Fetterman for abuse of power after Fetterman released non-public records that showed Cox was arrested in 2004. Braddock Solicitor Lawrence Shields agreed that Fetterman’s conduct constituted “an abuse of mayoral authority” and violated the Pennsylvania Criminal History Record Information Act. Fetterman defeated Cox in the primary by a vote of 294 to 103. In 2013 and 2017, Fetterman handily victories the Democratic primaries and was unopposed in the general election.
Lieutenant Governor of Pennsylvania (2019–present)
Election
Fetterman revealed that he would run for the Democratic nomination for lieutenant governor of Pennsylvania, challenging, among others, incumbent Lieutenant Governor Mike Stack on November 14, 2017. Stack was seen as a vulnerable incumbent after the Pennsylvania inspector general launched an investigation into Stack regarding allegations that he mistreated his staff and Pennsylvania state troopers. Fetterman was endorsed by Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders, Pittsburgh Mayor Bill Peduto, and former Pennsylvania Governor and Philadelphia Mayor Ed Rendell.
Fetterman won the Democratic primary for lieutenant governor with 38% of the vote on May 15. He was a part of the Democratic ticket along with incumbent Governor Tom Wolf. Wolf and Fetterman defeated the Republican ticket of Scott Wagner and Jeff Bartos in the general election on November 6, 2018.
Tenure
He was sworn into office as the lieutenant governor of Pennsylvania on January 15, 2019, replacing Mike Stack. One of Fetterman’s first tasks from Governor Tom Wolf was to look into legalizing marijuana statewide. Fetterman went on a statewide tour, visiting all 67 counties in Pennsylvania, and spoke to residents about marijuana legalization. After completing his tour, he published a report on his findings.
In a show of support for marijuana legalization and the LGBTQ+ community, Fetterman hung the pride flag and a flag with a marijuana leaf from his office’s balcony, which overlooks the state capitol. State employees removed them when an omnibus bill, signed into law by Governor Wolf, banned unauthorized flags on capitol property. However, Fetterman has continued to defy the law and fly the flags outside of his office.
U.S Senate
Elections 2016
On September 14, 2015, Fetterman announced his candidacy for the Democratic nomination for the U.S. Senate seat held by Pat Toomey in the 2016 election. His campaign was considered a long shot against two better-known candidates, Katie McGinty and Joe Sestak, the 2010 Democratic nominee for Senate. Fetterman was endorsed by former Maryland Governor Martin O’Malley, former Pennsylvania Treasurer Barbara Hafer, and the PennLive editorial board.
Fetterman’s campaign focused on progressive values and building support through a grassroots movement, drawing comparisons to Bernie Sanders. He was the only statewide Democratic candidate in Pennsylvania to endorse Sanders. Though lacking statewide name recognition, low on campaign funds, and polling as low as 4% a week before the primary, Fetterman garnered 20% of the primary vote.
Katie McGinty, who spent $4,312,688 on the primary and was endorsed by Barack Obama and many U.S. senators, finished ahead of a former congressman. Admiral Joe Sestak, raised $5,064,849, with Fetterman raising $798,981 and finishing third. After the primary, Fetterman campaigned on behalf of McGinty, who lost to Toomey in the general election.
2022
Fetterman’s 2022 U.S. Senate campaign logo
In January 2021, Fetterman announced he was launching an exploratory committee for the 2022 U.S. Senate election in Pennsylvania On February 4, 2021, Fetterman filed a statement of candidacy with the Federal Election Commission declaring his intention to run for the Senate seat being vacated by Toomey. On February 8, 2021, he officially entered the race.
Democratic primary
His primary opponent in the Democratic primary was U.S. Representative Conor Lamb. A political action committee supporting Conor ran ads attacking John as ”a self-described democratic socialist”. Both Conor and another candidate, Malcolm Kenyatta, criticized him for an incident where he pulled a loaded shotgun on a black jogger whom he thought had fired a gun. Although he was leading in many polls, he earned few endorsements in the Democratic primary. State Representative John I. Kane stated that the lack of endorsements was characteristic of his ”lone wolf personality”.
He then won the Democratic primary with 58.7% of the vote, beating his closest rival, Lamb, by 32.4% of the vote. Fetterman won every county, consisting of Philadelphia County, but he struggled to earn much of the city’s black vote- capturing just 18% of the vote in its majority-black precincts. His wife Gisele gave a victory speech on his behalf, as he was hospitalized following suffering a stroke.
General election
In the general election, he faced Republican nominee Mehmet Oz, a celebrity television doctor. Efforts by the campaign to highlight Oz’s New Jersey ties included enlisting New Jersey celebrities Snooki and Steven Van Zandt to record video messages aimed at Oz’s and having a plane banner fly over the Jersey Shore reading “Hey Dr. Oz: Welcome home to N.J. John.
He appeared in public for the 1st time since recovering from his stroke, according to Politico at an August 2022 rally in Erie. Fetterman appeared physically healthy and mostly talked without any issues. However, his speech was somewhat halted at times. He gave his 1st in-person interview since the stroke, with Dasha Burns, on NBC Nightly News with Lester Holt. As a result of his stroke, Fetterman required closed-captioning technology to read the questions as they were being asked out loud. Burns said that in their uncaptioned conversation before the interview, she was uncertain whether he could understand her. This drew criticism from other reports, who said he did not exhibit such difficulty in other interviews.
In September 2022, Oz called on him to debate him before early voting began in Pennsylvania on September 19. Fetterman agreed to debate Oz in “the middle to end of October” but did not commit to an exact date or to a debate in September. Oz and Toomey criticized Fetterman’s approach to the debate. The Washington Post wrote that it “raised questions about whether [Fetterman], still recovering from a serious stroke, is fit to serve in the Senate. On September 15, Oz and Fetterman agreed to a single debut on October 25.
His victory
He was also fluent enough over the course of the hour to present his Democratic vision for a state that could determine control of the Senate”. According to the Times, Fetterman was an uneven debater even before his stroke. Republicans seized on his appearances and behavior following the stroke to suggest that he was not fit for office; according to medical experts, speech impairment following a stroke does not indicate cognitive impairment.
Senator Chris Coons said that the debate “was hard to watch” but that Pennsylvanians would still be attracted to Fetterman’s candidacy because of his “record of what he’s done in Braddock as lieutenant governor. Following the debate, the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette editorial board critiqued Fetterman and endorsed Oz, citing Fetterman’s immaturity and lack of transparency about his medical records. Media outlets projected Fetterman as the winner of the election on November 9.
Political positions
Then he is often described as a social and fiscal progressive, including himself. When running for Senate in 2022, Fetterman said that he is not progressive and is “just a Democrat”, explaining that many parts of his platform that were once considered progressive are now mainstream beliefs of the party. The New York Times characterized Fetterman as “left-leaning in 2022.
Abortion
Fetterman said regarding abortion: “That is between a woman and her physician in a Democratic primary debate in May 2022. To the question, if any exceptions exist, he said: “It’s certainly not between me or any politician. We settled this decades ago, and the fact that these states are trying to repeal it… we have to push back on that. Later that month, Fetterman reiterated his position opposing any legal restrictions on abortion, including in the third trimester.
Within his debate with Oz, Fetterman said he supported the framework in Roe v. Wade, which allows the state to restrict abortions after the first trimester.
Environmental issues
Previously, Fetterman opposed fracking, calling the practice “an environmental abomination”. He has since shifted his stance on the issue, saying that he supports permitting fracking, although he advocates for stricter environmental regulations. Fetterman says there needs to be a balance between decarbonization efforts and creating jobs in the fossil fuel industry.
While running for lieutenant governor, he supported establishing two new fracking wells. In 2021, Fetterman said that he supports moving towards a “de facto moratorium [on fracking] because the transition is going to be toward green and renewable energy. In February 2021, he told MSNBC, “I’m embracing what the green ideal considers a priority. As you know the Green New Deal isn’t a specific piece of legislation. What I am in support of is acknowledging that the climate crisis is absolutely real.”
Filibuster
He supports ending the filibuster in the U.S. Senate. Fetterman has also stated that Democrats need to be more ruthless, like Republicans, so as to pass legislative priorities.
Foreign policy
The Patriot-News described him as a ”skeptic of free trade”, in 2015 given his opposition to the Trans-Pacific Partnership, and a non-interventionist. He has said that the United States should not ”be considered the world’s police officers”.
Gun policy
John supports greater restrictions on gun purchases.
Healthcare
He has described himself as a supporter of Medicare for All. He says that healthcare is a ”fundamental human need and right”. His website states that ”Healthcare is a fundamental human right.” It also states that he would ”support whatever path” is necessary to expand healthcare accessibility consisting of Obamacare. In debate, Fetterman reaffirmed he would vote for Medicare for All.
Marijuana
He is a proponent of legalizing marijuana, calling the issue a ”political bazooka and that leaving the issue alone is giving an opportunity for another party to gain political support for a pro-marijuana legalization agenda. Fetterman argued that if conservative South Dakota voters were willing to approve a ballot measure legalizing recreational marijuana, Pennsylvania should legalize it too. He also supports expunging criminal convictions related to marijuana.
Minimum wage
Fetterman supports raising the minimum wage to $15 an hour.
Policing
He has described himself as pro-policing. Fetterman opposes defunding the police, calling the movement absurd. But supports the Black Lives Matter movement. Following Derek Chauvin, a police officer who murdered an unarmed black man, George Floyd, was convicted of second-degree murder, Fetterman tweeted his support for the verdict, stating that Chauvin was “clearly guilty.”
As lieutenant governor, Fetterman supported legislation that would allow the police to use deadly force only in situations where officers or others nearby face an imminent threat of death or serious injury.
Taxation
Fetterman supports implementing a wealth tax in the United States. He has stated “you know it when you see it…” and has said those “who have yachts” could be used as a potential benchmark.
Unions
He is a supporter of labor unions, saying “The union way of life is sacred”. Fetterman is a supporter of the PRO Act.
Health
His feet suddenly began to swell and he was subsequently hospitalized for testing in 2017. At that time, he was diagnosed by cardiologist Ramesh Chandra with atrial fibrillation, an irregular heart rhythm. Along with a decreased heart pump, although this diagnosis was not known publicly until his stroke in May 2022.
Fetterman spoke publicly about his substantial weight loss in 2018. He who is 6 feet 9 inches tall (2.06 m), had weighed more than 400 pounds (180 kg) before losing approximately 150 pounds (70 kg).
Fetterman suffered an ischemic stroke and was hospitalized on May 13, 2022. The stroke was caused by a clot caused by atrial fibrillation (irregular heart rhythm). Because Fetterman also had cardiomyopathy, his doctors implanted a pacemaker and defibrillator. He was discharged from the hospital on May 22, 2022.
His primary care physician said that he spoke intelligently without cognitive deficits during the examination and had significantly improved communication compared to his 1st with the doctor in October 2022. His stroke left him with symptoms of an auditory processing disorder. And he uses close captioning as an aid to reading speech in real-time. The physician note that hin regularly joined speech therapy, and routinely exercise. Take appropriate heart medications and has no work restrictions and can work full duty in public office.
John Fetterman’s Net Worth
American Democratic politician, has been active from 2019 to date. His net worth is estimated to be $800,000 as of 2022
