{"id":223665,"date":"2026-09-10T04:57:23","date_gmt":"2026-09-10T04:57:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/sen-john-fetterman-makes-a-surprise-cameo-praising-republicans-at-the-gop-convention-nbc-news\/"},"modified":"2026-09-10T04:57:23","modified_gmt":"2026-09-10T04:57:23","slug":"sen-john-fetterman-makes-a-surprise-cameo-praising-republicans-at-the-gop-convention-nbc-news","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/sen-john-fetterman-makes-a-surprise-cameo-praising-republicans-at-the-gop-convention-nbc-news\/","title":{"rendered":"Sen. John Fetterman makes a surprise cameo praising Republicans at the GOP convention – NBC News"},"content":{"rendered":"

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DALLAS \u2014 Just eight weeks out from the midterm elections, Sen. John Fetterman, D-Pa., gave Republicans a boost Wednesday night.
Fetterman appeared on video at the Republican midterm convention, praising Sen. Dave McCormick, R-Pa., and touting working with President Donald Trump.
\u201cYes, I\u2019m a Democrat. Why am I here talking to you today? Because, well, I\u2019m a commonsense Democrat,\u201d Fetterman said in the video message. \u201cI\u2019m always going to stand with America. I\u2019m always going to reject the extremes and socialism and the anti-American way of life. Dave McCormick is the kind of senator that gets the job done, and he\u2019s going to fight for Pennsylvania. I\u2019m proud to count him as my friend.\u201d
Fetterman also pointed to a U.S. Steel mill behind him, saying, \u201cThat\u2019s exactly the kind of thing that we\u2019ll work together, and we\u2019ll work with President Trump, to fight and defend the steel way of life, right here in the Steel Valley.\u201d
McCormick then thanked Fetterman for his \u201cfriendship\u201d and his \u201ccourage.\u201d
Reaction in the convention hall was muted, with only a few attendees cheering. The crowd did give loud applause when Fetterman concluded his message to introduce McCormick onstage.
Fetterman has built a close bipartisan relationship with McCormick<\/a>. The two even launched a joint fundraising committee together, which triggered a wave of Democratic criticism of Fetterman, who has toyed with leaving the party but has vowed not to.
In a statement, Fetterman noted that he \u201coverwhelmingly\u201d votes with his party and said that if Democrats regain control of the Senate after the midterm elections, \u201cI will still be the 51st vote that I ran on.\u201d
\u201cMy remarks introduced Dave McCormick as a great American and friend,\u201d he said. \u201cWe are in different parties, but we are both Team PA. We have delivered hundreds of millions of dollars back to Pennsylvania, fought for improved transportation and affordable housing, and the Steel Way of Life.\u201d
Former Fetterman aides who spoke with NBC News on Wednesday said his decision to appear at an event \u2014 nicknamed \u201cTrumpapalooza\u201d<\/a> \u2014 to boost Republicans ahead of the critical midterm elections was beyond the pale. A former aide described the appearance as \u201cpathetic\u201d and said McCormick is \u201cworking him like a dog.\u201d
\u201cHe is a troll, so this kind of behavior makes sense, but to see it executed at this scale is really stunning,\u201d said Tr\u00e8 Easton, a former legislative aide to Fetterman. \u201cAlso, in what world is bear-hugging Trump, who is sitting at 27% approval<\/a> in the state, smart for anyone? Obviously dumb for a Democrat to do it. But even if he\u2019s thinking of going independent or fully switching, I just don\u2019t think it redounds to his benefit long term.\u201d
A former top Fetterman aide, speaking on condition of anonymity to discuss the relationship, told NBC News<\/a> last month that Fetterman has referred to McCormick as \u201chis mentor\u201d and seeks his approval. This person said the pair often text each other and have dinner back in Pennsylvania. Both live in the Pittsburgh area.
The appearance followed a bombshell report in The Wall Street Journal<\/a> in which former aides to Fetterman provided texts and internal documents detailing his lack of interest in engaging with constituents.
After the article was published, McCormick came to Fetterman\u2019s aid.
\u201cThese stories are the latest example of outrageously disloyal staff and forces on the Left using anonymous leaks to cancel my friend John Fetterman,\u201d he wrote on X<\/a>. \u201cThey hate that he is an independent thinker who refuses to fall into line so they want to silence him.\u201d
Allan Smith is a political reporter for NBC News.
Garrett Haake is NBC News' chief White House correspondent.
© 2026 NBCUniversal Media, LLC<\/p>\n

source<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

news AlertsThere are no new alerts at this timeDALLAS \u2014 Just eight weeks out from the midterm elections, Sen. John Fetterman, D-Pa., gave Republicans a boost Wednesday night. Fetterman appeared on video at the Republican midterm convention, praising Sen. Dave McCormick, R-Pa., and touting working with President Donald Trump. \u201cYes, I\u2019m a Democrat. Why am […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":223666,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-223665","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-us","entry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/223665","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=223665"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/223665\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/223666"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=223665"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=223665"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=223665"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}