Fetterman Campaign Bleeds Money

The campaign of Sen. John Fetterman, D-Pa., is bleeding small-dollar donors, according to filings filed today with the Federal Election Commission.

“Good luck winning in a swing state with numbers like this.”

Fetterman’s campaign brought in $380,000 last quarter, a relatively small haul — and less than 40 percent of what he raised in the previous quarter. Contributions under $200 are also down, from more than $640,000 to $130,000 last quarter. 

The steep fall-off in contributions came as Fetterman has increasingly taken positions aligned with President Donald Trump and Republicans in Congress. 

“This is what happens when you kiss the ring at Mar-a-Lago and vote for Trump’s most controversial nominees like Pam Bondi,” a former Fetterman campaign staffer told The Intercept. “Small-dollar donors dry up and you end up with an embarrassing haul for a sitting senator. Good luck winning in a swing state with numbers like this.”

The numbers don’t appear to be sustainable: The campaign spent more in the last quarter than it brought in, according to the latest filings. (Fetterman’s campaign did not immediately respond to a request for comment.)

The plummeting totals track with other distressing campaign fundraising issues for Fetterman. Small-dollar donors have been asking Fetterman’s campaign for refunds over his embrace of conservative stances on issues from immigration and Israel, The Intercept reported earlier this month. 

The campaign’s most recent haul represents a significant drop-off from previous quarters. Fetterman’s campaign raised an average of $890,000 a quarter across the last five quarters. His biggest total — more than $1 million in contributions — came in the last quarter of 2024, which included a month of election fundraising, although Fetterman himself was not up for reelection.

In the past five quarters, he also brought in an average of $480,000 contributions under $200.

Fetterman’s office has also suffered staffing chaos: Six staffers have left his office since 2023. Fetterman’s office had three communications directors in the span of just over two years. 

Fetterman has also taken a far-right turn in foreign policy. With a near-constant focus on Israel, he has become cozy with right-wing Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu — even receiving a gold pager from the prime minister to commemorate a surprise Israeli attack in Lebanon that experts said might constitute a war crime. 

The Intercept reported that several of the staffers who left Fetterman’s office over the past 16 months objected to his turn toward the singular focus on Israel.

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