Rep. Chris Deluzio is openly weighing a primary challenge against Sen. John Fetterman in 2028, adding fuel to a Democratic revolt driven by reports that Fetterman skipped meetings with paralyzed veterans to go on television.

Deluzio, a Pennsylvania Democrat, Iraq War veteran, and voting rights attorney, said he heard broad support for the idea at Pittsburgh's Labor Day Parade. Asked directly whether he would run, Deluzio told Newsmax, "I might, I haven't decided that." He did not hedge on his frustration with the senator he could soon try to replace.

The potential challenge comes after a Wall Street Journal investigation exposed a pattern of absenteeism that has turned Fetterman into a liability within his own party. Leaked text messages showed the senator was unwilling to meet with constituents, including representatives from Children's Hospital of Philadelphia who wanted to discuss Medicaid cuts. He reportedly called attending a three-hour funeral for three slain Pennsylvania police officers a "nonstarter." And published reports alleged he canceled constituent meetings with paralyzed veterans so he could appear on television instead.

For a senator elected in 2022 on a wave of progressive enthusiasm, the collapse has been swift and thorough.

Deluzio frames Fetterman as absent and unwanted

Deluzio has not been subtle. At the Pittsburgh parade and in subsequent public comments, he painted Fetterman as a senator who has abandoned the state.

"John Fetterman's nowhere to be seen on the campaign trail," Deluzio said. He went further in a separate statement reported by Fox News:

"He is not up for the high office he was elected to, and we in Pennsylvania will do something about it in 2028."

That language, "we in Pennsylvania", signals more than one congressman's ambition. It frames the challenge as a collective effort by state Democrats who believe Fetterman has checked out of the job.

Deluzio is not alone in that assessment. Rep. Brendan Boyle, also a Pennsylvania Democrat, offered an even blunter verdict: "John Fetterman is a disgrace. Our state deserves better than a lazy trust fund baby who is too lazy to do the job." Former Rep. Conor Lamb and others, including DNC Vice Chair Malcolm Kenyatta, have also been mentioned as potential 2028 contenders.

Fetterman's repeated breaks with his party on Israel, immigration, and other issues had already strained his relationship with the Democratic base long before the Wall Street Journal report landed.

Only 22 percent of Pennsylvania Democrats still approve

The numbers tell the story as clearly as the quotes. Only 22 percent of Pennsylvania Democrats approve of Fetterman's job performance, Just The News reported, compared to 73 percent of Republicans, a 108-point swing among Democrats since 2023. A Quinnipiac survey found that a majority of Pennsylvania Democratic voters disapprove of his job performance outright.

That inversion, popular with Republicans, abandoned by Democrats, captures the strange political limbo Fetterman now occupies. He aligned with Trump's position 28 percent of the time last year, more than any other Senate Democrat. He was the only Democrat to vote against a war powers resolution limiting Trump's military actions against Iran, which passed 50, 48.

Senate Republican leader John Thune has publicly said Republicans would welcome Fetterman into the GOP conference. Fetterman has rejected the idea, insisting he will not become a Republican.

But his own explanation for his political philosophy has done little to calm his party. At a town hall, Fetterman said, "I follows country, then party." That formulation might play well on a bumper sticker. It has not stopped Democrats from organizing against him.

Fetterman dismisses the threat, so far

The senator has shown no public sign of backing down. When Axios reported on the growing list of primary challengers, Fetterman fired back: "Enjoy your clickbait!"

That response fits a pattern. Fetterman has treated intraparty criticism as noise, waving off progressive anger over his positions on AI data centers, Israel, and immigration as the complaints of a party that has lost touch with working voters.

But dismissing a primary challenge from a decorated Iraq War veteran and union organizer who represents a western Pennsylvania district is a different proposition than ignoring angry tweets. Deluzio checks the boxes that Democratic primary voters in Pennsylvania tend to reward, military service, labor credentials, and a willingness to show up.

The Wall Street Journal report, with its leaked texts and specific allegations of skipped meetings, gave Deluzio and other potential challengers something concrete to run against. It is one thing for a senator to break with his party on policy. It is another to be accused of refusing to meet with paralyzed veterans because a television hit was more appealing.

Fetterman's vote with Trump on the Iran resolution gave his critics another data point. Boyle, who has voted with Trump nearly 14 percent of the time compared to Fetterman's six percent overall, has nonetheless positioned himself as the more reliable Democrat, an argument that only works because Fetterman has made himself so easy to outflank from the left.

Meanwhile, senior Democrats like Bernie Sanders have publicly called Fetterman "way out of touch," a sign that the friction extends well beyond Pennsylvania's borders.

2028 is still far off, but the field is forming early

Two years out from a primary, the list of potential challengers already includes Deluzio, Boyle, Lamb, former Rep. Susan Wild, and Rep. Summer Lee. That kind of early jockeying does not happen around a senator his party expects to hold the seat comfortably. It happens around a senator his party has decided to replace.

Whether Fetterman runs again, steps aside, or charts some other course remains an open question. He has given no indication he plans to leave. But his own colleagues are not waiting for an answer. They are building campaigns around the assumption that the seat will be contested, and that Fetterman's grip on it is weak.

The broader stakes for Democrats are real. The party's path to a Senate majority is already narrow, and a bruising Pennsylvania primary could make it narrower still, especially if the incumbent spends more time on cable news than in the state he was elected to serve.

When your own party starts recruiting a replacement two years early, the problem is not clickbait. The problem is the job you are not doing.