A first look at the ‘FetterTeam’: John Fetterman’s endorsements for November

Braddock’s John Fetterman may not have come out on top in the Senate primary last month, but he is not done fighting for progressive causes both in Pennsylvania and throughout the country.

Feterman recently released a list of six progressive candidates (the ‘FetterTeam’) to help push the revolution forward. He is encouraging his followers to give through ActBlue to help elect five candidates for the U.S. House and one candidate for state Attorney General.

Four of the six are candidates right here in the Keystone State. Lucy Flores (NV-4) (*Flores has since lost her primary race) and Tim Canova (FL-23) are both excellent progressive candidates, but for today I am going to be focusing on the four candidates from Pennsylvania: Josh Shapiro (PA Attorney General), Steve Santarsierio (PA-8), Erin McClelland (PA-12), and Christina Hartman (PA-16). Below is a short look at each candidate.

Josh Shapiro — Pennsylvania Attorney General (Statewide office)

Shapiro has long been seen as a rising star in the Democratic party in PA. He served as a state representative for the 153rd district between 2005 and 2012, and as Deputy Speaker from 2008–2010. In 2012, he ran for and won the position as Chairman of the Montgomery County Board of Commissioners and since that time has frequently been discussed as a candidate for the Governor’s mansion or the U.S. Senate, but has never run for either.

Some Sanders and Fetterman supporters may be leery of a man so closely connected to the party, but as Attorney General, Shapiro aims to enact a number of progressive reforms, including more aggressive prosecution of frackers who violate environmental laws, shifting emphasis to drug addiction as a medical rather than criminal issue, and instituting a comprehensive gift ban and standing ethics committee.

Were he running for legislative office, Shapiro’s somewhat centrist economic policy would hardly make him a progressive, but as AG Josh Shapiro would represent a large step in the right direction.

Steve Santarsierio- PA 8th District (Bucks County, parts of Montgomery)

Santarsierio is a current state rep (SD 31) who has earned his progressive bona fides by turning down many of the perks associated with the job including his per diem payment and state funded cars. On the legislative side, Steve has been focused on securing money to invest in infrastructure and education, and has done quite well for his district on this front. He strongly emphasizes building on this success were he to win in November.

His website highlights small and medium sized businesses as the backbone of the economy. His calls for expanded tax credits for smaller businesses and expanded line of credits are certainly preferable to corporate tax breaks for massive companies, but without any real mentions of workers or the issues that affect them, this emphasis raises some red flags. Specific proposals about the minimum wage, labor laws, etc. might more clearly show where Santarsierio stands on economic issues important to progressives.

All in all, Steve is certainly preferable to his opponent (Brian Fitzpatrick), but it remains to be seen just how much his views align with those of the progressive movement.

Erin McClelland- PA 12th District (Cambria, Somerset, Westmoreland, Allegheny and Beaver)

Erin McClelland is one of two candidates (Hartman is the other) on the FetterTeam without previous elected experience. Despite this, McClelland could hardly be called inexperienced. Her career in behavioral health has given her years of experience in management, process improvement, and policy design.

In a state suffering from an epidemic of opioid abuse, McClelland’s experience combating addiction is priceless. She worked on the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy’s 25 Cities Initiative and is intimately familiar with what is needed to solve this crisis both in PA and at a national level.

On economic policy, her website is somewhat somewhat more vague, stating simply “As your Representative, I’ll fight to make sure our region has stable, well-paying jobs and successful small businesses that support that [sic] middle class.” Where she stands on the Federal minimum wage or the struggle of unions to fight back against decades of eroded rights is left to our imaginations. Like Santarsierio, the emphasis on business combined with the absence of specific language on workers’ issues or the working class raises red flags and suggest a more centrist and standard issue Democratic economic platform than Fetterman himself ran on.

Christina Hartman- PA 16th District (Chester, Lancaster and Berks)

Hartmann comes from a background in community advocacy and international relations. To quote her campaign website:

I took on some of the world’s toughest dictatorships, leading numerous high-profile organizations and advocating for freedom and democracy in those countries and in Washington. From South Sudan to Afghanistan, I helped organizations strengthen their countries’ democracies through civic education, elections, and youth leadership development…. I worked with the Joyful Heart Foundation, a national organization pursuing justice for sexual assault and domestic violence survivors. Today, I bring my expertise to organizations in Lancaster such as Church World Service, the Non-Profit Resource Network at Millersville University, and the Parish Resource Center, providing leadership in strategic planning, fundraising, and communications to enhance the services that these organizations provide to the county and beyond.

Her passion and commitment to a number of noble causes, as well as the political experience she has gained from them, does a great deal to recommend her as a representative who will fight for ordinary Americans against entrenched interests.

Like the others, however, absent from her issues page are any mentions of the minimum wage. She does support ending corporate tax breaks and shifting them toward small businesses that create jobs locally, a policy that is certainly a step in the right direction.

None of these candidates are John Fetterman… but maybe that’s okay.

I for one would have been much more enthusiastic if I saw a slate of Pennsylvania candidates who loudly and proudly declared a commitment to progressive values: reforming voting access to ensure that the fundamental right to vote is not further eroded, ending Citizens United and working more generally to decrease the influence of wealthy lobbyists in Washington and in State Houses across the country. Not a single one of the candidates makes any clear show of support for a $15 minimum wage or even any increase whatsoever. That’s not to say that none of them do support a higher minimum, but it speaks volumes to their priorities that none even address the issue on their websites.

The two other candidates that Fetterman named (Flores and Canova) are staunchly progressive candidates that would serve their districts proudly. Unfortunately, neither of them are from Pennsylvania. It would be nice if Fetterman had endorsed more progressives within the state, and while there aren’t many, Mary Ellen Balchunis (PA-7) is a through and through progressive in a district that should be very winnable for Democrats. Hopefully, Balchunis and others will find their way onto the FetterTeam in the coming weeks and months.

Despite my misgivings, I am cautiously optimistic about each of the candidates above. I offer no endorsement of any of them, but I believe that each of the four candidates would be the better choice over their opponents, and each of them hold some positions that would help to push the state and the country into a more progressive direction.

For more news, insight and analysis on progressive politics in Pennsylvania and across the nation, follow my blog PA Progress. Like us on Facebook. And tweet @StevenBelskie to let me know your thoughts.