John Fetterman

John Fetterman, a Democratic candidate for US Senate, meets with the PennLive Editorial Board. Joe Hermitt, PennLive

(JOE HERMITT)

In an unconventional year, filled with unconventional candidates, even John Fetterman stands out.

Standing at an imposing 6-foot-8, the Harvard-educated mayor of Braddock, Pa., a recovering steel town outside of Pittsburgh, is immediately recognizable, not just for his height, gray beard and bald head, but for the unique vision he offers Pennsylvania voters in a critically important contest.

Fetterman, 46, is one of three Democratic candidates seeking the party's nomination in next Tuesday's primary election. The winner goes on to face incumbent Republican Sen. Pat Toomey, of Lehigh County, in a general election fight that could determine control of the United States Senate.

It is a race with clear choices. And with the future of such issues as the composition of the United States Supreme Court and the fate of President Barack Obama's signature healthcare law on the line, political parties and outside issues groups are pouring money into the race.

It is an atmosphere that will require both mental toughness and an unorthodox way of thinking to navigate effectively.

And as the the rise of Bernie Sanders on the left and Donald Trump on the right have so vividly demonstrated, voters of all stripes have tired of conventional candidates and are hungry for new and authentic voices.

That makes John Fetterman the best choice for Democratic voters in search of an aggressive advocate who will not only safeguard their interests, but pose a credible challenge to Toomey.

True, one of Fetterman's rivals, Katie McGinty of Chester County, boasts establishment support, a truckload of labor and special interest endorsements (and the geysers of campaign cash that come with it) from former Gov. Ed Rendell, current Gov. Tom Wolf as well as President Barack Obama and Vice President Joe Biden.

Another, former Delaware County Congressman Joe Sestak, can rightfully claim that he came the closest to defeating Toomey during a closely fought campaign in 2010. The statewide walkabout that accompanied the former Navy admiral's candidacy announcement last year was testament to his zeal and durability.

But both, while perfectly capable, seem relics of an old way of doing things.

With her ties to the Clinton White House and the energy industry, McGinty, herself a former Wolf administration senior aide, has tried to cast herself as the race's outsider, arguing to the PennLive/Patriot-News Editorial Board that her gender confers that status upon her.

While it would be desirable to see a Pennsylvania woman finally shatter the state's political glass ceiling, we do not find that compelling enough an argument.

Our reservations about Sestak are the same ones that prompted state Democrats to spend the early months of the campaign casting about for an alternative candidate: If you're looking for a winner in a high-stakes contest, you don't go to the guy who lost the last time.

Fetterman, who wears his heart on his sleeve, or more appropriately, on the tattooed forearms that feature both his hometown's zip code and the nine dates that document every homicide since he took office, stands apart both in the originality of his vision and the strength of his conviction.

Based on his own experience in Braddock, where the local economy was decimated by the shuttering of steel mills in the 1980s, Fetterman has become a passionate advocate for fighting inequality of all kinds.

That includes righting the balance in LGBT rights, raising the minimum wage to $15 an hour, and expanding access to housing and other opportunities. Like Sanders, he is skeptical of such global trade deals as the Trans-Pacific Partnership. And, like Gov. Tom Wolf, he supports a severance tax on natural gas drillers.

In conversation with the PennLive Editorial Board, Fetterman spoke passionately of his efforts to revive his hometown, efforts that began with his stint teaching GED classes and eventually extended to his first mayoral bid a decade ago.

Under Pennsylvania's system of municipal government, borough mayors have few official duties beyond overseeing the local police department.

This gave Fetterman the flexibility to act as a cheerleader for the community of 2,000 people. It occasionally put him at odds with the borough council. But he earned the respect of local leaders nonetheless.

When the PennLive Editorial Board asked Fetterman for specifics on how he put that vision into action in Washington or what legislative initiatives he would pursue, he bristled under repeated questioning.

"What I would advocate for are the things I've advocated for and championed in my community," he said, adding later, "I've been talking about these things for eight months, I'm sorry we've reached an impasse."

That display of temper makes us wonder how Fetterman might fare in the knives-out atmosphere of Capitol Hill, where he will face much sharper criticism from Republican members of the Senate.

But it also gives us hope: It is a display of authenticity and human emotion in a business where responses to even the most basic of questions are focused grouped and parsed to within an inch of their lives.

And in a year of unconventional candidates, the very unconventional John Fetterman is the advocate Pennsylvanians need and deserve.