Braddock mayor jumps into Democratic primary race for U.S. Senate

John Fetterman stood on the rooftop of his home, a former car dealership, surrounded by Braddock residents, friends and family. He looked around, at Andrew Carnegie's first steel mill across the street and a panoramic view of the distressed borough.

“Wow ... I already feel like I won,” the popular mayor said as he declared his bid Monday for the Democratic nomination for U.S. Senate, vowing to take Braddock's work ethic, values and fight to Washington if he's elected.

“I do not look like a typical politician,” said the 6-foot, 8-inch tattooed Harvard University grad, wearing a black short-sleeved work shirt, cargo shorts and high-tops.

“Good!” exclaimed someone in the crowd.

“I don't even look like a normal person,” Fetterman admitted to the attendees, who were greeted by a Pittsburgh Taco Truck in his driveway and ushered up ramps to his rooftop to the tunes of the reggae band Truth & Right.

“I would never pander to you by saying that I alone can fundamentally change Washington, D.C., any more than I could bring back the 14 furniture stores Braddock once had,” Fetterman told the crowd. “What I can promise you is that I will fight in a principled, collaborative way that my 14 years of service here in Braddock demonstrates.”

Fetterman, who grew up in York, told the Tribune-Review that he is in the race to win and, once in Washington, would fight for equality and combat the unfairness of the random lottery of birth.

Fetterman will challenge former Congressman Joe Sestak, 63, of Delaware County and Katie McGinty, 52, of suburban Philadelphia, who was Gov. Tom Wolf's first chief of staff, for the Democratic nomination.

The winner will be up against Republican Sen. Pat Toomey, 53, of Lehigh Valley.

Toomey has no primary opponent but could encounter a significant Democrat advantage with the presidential election next year. He beat Sestak by just 2 percentage points in 2010, during a good year for Republican candidates.

“Fundraising will probably be his biggest challenge,” Rep. Paul Costa, D-Wilkins, said. “But I think he'll just do fine in that arena. He is the kind of candidate who can do well raising cash, with grassroots Democrats who are not satisfied with either McGinty or Sestak.”

Fetterman, 46, would not say how much money he has raised; the campaign said donations are being accepted on his website, www.johnfetterman.com.

Sestak's campaign reported having $2.2 million in July; McGinty started from scratch but has the backing of Emily's List, which donated more than $4.5 million to Democratic races in 2014.

Costa, who has a district office on Braddock Avenue two blocks from Fetterman's home, said Sestak stands to suffer more from Fetterman's entry into the race: “He probably loses the most votes to Fetterman, who will be very popular in the western part of the state where Sestak previously did well.”

Sestak outperformed 2010 Democratic gubernatorial candidate Dan Onorato in Allegheny County, the county's former executive, in the general election; both men lost to Republicans.

Asa Foster and Matt Katase, 25-year-old Carnegie Mellon University grads who opened The Brew Gentlemen Beer Co. last spring in Braddock, said they're pumped to see Fetterman take his pragmatic — and sometimes disruptive — style to the next level.

“It's the same thing you see across the county on the presidential level: people want establishment types out and fresh in,” said Foster, who grew up in Boston but bought a home in Braddock a block from the brewery.

Katase, a native of Hawaii, said Fetterman “could not have picked a better time to engage in the political process. People are hungry for leaders who have a list of accomplishments and setbacks, that can take those qualities to Washington.”

Since he was elected by one vote in a crowded 2005 primary contest, Fetterman has flourished, determined to remake the rundown steel town. Braddock declined from 20,000 residents at its peak in 1920 to just under 3,000 residents, one-third of whom live in poverty. Sixty-six percent are black. Twenty-eight percent of Braddock's housing stock is vacant, census figures show.

Fetterman has encouraged young people and artists to transform spaces in Braddock's downtown, his website points out. Braddock now has a community center, urban gardens and a free store run by Fetterman's wife, Gisele. In addition to the brewery, Braddock has attracted small businesses such as Ink Division printing and Fossil Free Fuel, one of the first alternative fuel companies in the region.

Yet a major setback occurred during Fetterman's tenure when UPMC closed its full-service Braddock hospital in 2010, a decision that sparked demonstrations and a group, Save Our Community Hospital. Rival Allegheny Health Network this year opened an urgent care center in the town.

Fetterman, who moved to Braddock in 2001 as an AmeriCorps worker, has gained national attention through profiles in the New York Times, Wall Street Journal and other publications. He pushed the town for a Levi's commercial, and convinced Pittsburgh chef Kevin Sousa to open his restaurant Superior Motors across from the steel mill.

Daren Berringer, a Democratic strategist from Montgomery County, said Fetterman “has a record of taking on difficult situations and turning them around for the better. He has a healthy dose of pragmatism and rock star status, and that kind of profile resonates statewide.”

In August 2013, Fetterman defied state law at the time to perform Allegheny County's first gay marriage, saying “It was a no-brainer.”

Six months earlier, he'd pulled a 20-gauge shotgun to apprehend a man he thought was running away from a shooting on the streets of Braddock. Police found no weapons on the man, who claimed simply to be a jogger. Fetterman said, “I did what I thought was appropriate at the time. I don't have any regrets now.”

Democratic strategist Joe Trippi in Washington said Fetterman could emerge as a force in the Senate race, given the search for authenticity among the electorate.

“Establishment candidates are floundering, and the candidates who are outside of the box are gaining traction,” Trippi said.

National Democrats in Washington and some state party officials, disaffected with Sestak, struggled for nearly a year to find an alternative candidate. They approached McGinty in July when Allentown Mayor Ed Pawlowski suspended his bid because FBI agents searched City Hall and questioned officials in connection with a grand jury investigation. Pawlowski since has been implicated in a campaign finance scheme.

McGinty resigned her post as Wolf's chief aide and announced her bid in early August. She quickly got the endorsement of establishment Democrats across the state, including former Gov. Ed Rendell, who became her campaign chairman.

Newly elected state Democratic Party Chairman Marcel Groen said everyone has a right to compete in the race, but “I hope at some point we get down to just one candidate. The state party should not be in the business of primaries but should focus on general election wins,” he said.

Salena Zito is a Trib Total Media staff writer. Reach her at szito@tribweb.com.