Since 2023, John Fetterman, a Democratic Party member, has been in office as the junior United States senator from Pennsylvania. Prior to this role, he held the position of mayor in Braddock, Pennsylvania, spanning from 2006 to 2019, and subsequently served as the 34th lieutenant governor of Pennsylvania from 2019 to 2023.
In 2021, Fetterman declared his candidacy for the 2022 U.S. Senate election in Pennsylvania. Winning the Democratic nomination with 59% of the vote, he went on to defeat Republican nominee Mehmet Oz in the general election. Fetterman officially resigned as lieutenant governor upon his swearing-in as a senator on January 3, 2023.
John Fetterman Parents: Susan Fetterman, Karl Fetterman
Born at Reading Hospital in West Reading, Pennsylvania, John Fetterman grew up in York, Pennsylvania, after his family relocated there. His parents, Karl and Susan Fetterman, were conservative Republicans, and his father became a partner at an insurance firm in York.
Fetterman had a privileged upbringing in an affluent York suburb, where he initially followed a path to eventually take over his father’s business. He played football for four years in college, graduating from Albright College in 1991 with a bachelor’s degree in finance, which was also his father’s alma mater.
He furthered his education by earning a Master of Business Administration (MBA) from the University of Connecticut (UConn) in 1993 and worked as a risk-management underwriter for Chubb in Pittsburgh for two years.
A turning point in Fetterman’s life occurred during his time at UConn when his best friend died in a car accident. This tragedy led Fetterman to join Big Brothers Big Sisters of America, where he became a mentor to an eight-year-old boy in New Haven, Connecticut, who had lost his father to AIDS, and whose mother was also battling the disease.
Fetterman, deeply affected by this experience, pledged to look after the boy even after his mother’s passing, becoming acutely aware of the concept of the random lottery of birth.
In 1995, Fetterman joined AmeriCorps and was assigned to teach GED courses to students in Pittsburgh. Motivated by a desire to make a positive impact, he later pursued a Master of Public Policy degree at Harvard Kennedy School, graduating in 1999.
Fetterman initially entered the corporate world, working at an insurance firm. However, in 2001, he moved to Braddock to initiate an Out-of-School-Youth Program, assisting local youth in obtaining their GEDs. This commitment to community service led him to permanently relocate to Braddock in 2004.