Braddock mayor to run for Senate
BRADDOCK — With a theme of fighting economic inequality and an outsize reputation for unconventional methods, the mayor of a small hardscrabble steel town near Pittsburgh said Monday that he will join Pennsylvania’s race for U.S. Senate.
John Fetterman announced his candidacy in tiny Braddock for the Democratic nomination to challenge Republican U.S. Sen. Pat Toomey, who is running for a second term with a unified GOP behind him, the backing of influential conservative groups and millions of dollars in his campaign account.
Fetterman first must face two experienced candidates vying for the Democratic nomination.
Wearing a black short-sleeve work shirt, gray cargo shorts and black high-top shoes, Fetterman addressed a crowd of supporters from the rooftop of his home, a restored car dealership.
Driving his candidacy, he said, is the same issue that drove him to be mayor: inequality in things like opportunity, health care and “the air that we breathe.”
He said he could not, however, promise that he alone “could fundamentally change Washington, D.C., any more than I could bring back the 14 furniture stores that Braddock once had.” But, he said, he would fight for “Braddock values” in Washington.
Winning the April 26 primary election could cost millions of dollars and Fetterman, who comes from a well-to-do background in southern Pennsylvania, acknowledged that.
This is his first campaign for higher office after arriving in Braddock in 2001 as an AmeriCorps volunteer and winning his first mayoral election in 2005.
The Harvard University-educated 46-year-old has gained national attention for his unconventional efforts to reinvigorate Braddock, from starting youth programs to attracting artists and edgy new businesses to vacant buildings.
