Senators John Fetterman and Dave McCormick: Bipartisanship, Money in DC, Datacenters, Graham Platner

Why does it matter? Because Pennsylvania's two senators are saying what their own parties won't — and they're both probably right

A Democrat publicly admits his entire party was dead wrong about the filibuster. The same man calls his party's data center moratorium a "China first policy." Across the aisle, a Republican reveals two-thirds of unionized tradespeople defied their national endorsements to vote for him. The bipartisan framing on display is real — what's underneath is sharper.

• The filibuster's most vocal new defenders are the Democrats who nearly destroyed it • Data center opposition isn't organic NIMBY — both senators say CCP-aligned groups are funding it • Welders in their early 20s are clearing $100K+ in Pennsylvania; the blue-collar AI boom is already real • Senate races hit $500M in 2024; both say 2028 will make that look quaint

Democrats tried to kill the filibuster — now Fetterman says it's a hill worth dying on

"The entire Democratic party, including myself, we were so wrong about the filibuster." In 2020, eliminating it was near-consensus among Democrats — they had the votes, the agenda, the mandate. "Thank God we had people that stood there, whether it's Senator Manchin or Senator Sinema. History has vindicated their wisdom."

What changed is position, not principle. The filibuster looks obstructionist when you hold the Senate. It looks indispensable the moment you don't. "Now if you turn the Senate into a smaller version of the House and majority majority now, that would have profound profound implications" — the last structural mechanism forcing cross-party negotiation would disappear. Fetterman now calls it a hill worth dying on. The party that nearly pulled the lever is now the one most grateful nobody did.

Data center opposition isn't NIMBY — McCormick says CCP-aligned groups are funding it

$92 billion in committed investment. A coal plant at Homer City converting to natural gas, 3.4 gigawatts going into a new data center complex. The AI buildout in Pennsylvania is underway — which makes the organized opposition worth examining carefully.

McCormick draws the contrast with shale directly: fracking's pushback was domestic environmentalism. Data centers carry a foreign-state-actor layer shale didn't. "I think that misinformation is largely being driven by China and outside forces," he says. Fetterman is more direct: "A lot of the opposition is funded by a lot of these groups that are aligned with CCP."

The US holds a six-to-eight-month lead on China in AI right now. A data center moratorium compresses it. "Do you think China doesn't love that?" Fetterman asks — about his own party's push. Neither senator does.

The most secure job in Pennsylvania right now is a seasoned welder — and it pays over $100K

"The most secure job in Pennsylvania right now is a seasoned welder," McCormick says. An electrician. Workers in their late teens and early 20s pulling more than $100,000 a year on data center sites. The trucking association estimates two logistics jobs for every single job inside a data center. These aren't projections.

"They can't hire quick enough," McCormick says of the trades. "They can't find enough people to meet the demand."

The economic activity runs in four waves: thousands of construction workers building the facility, hundreds running operations, a hardware refresh cycle every three to four years, then the hotels and restaurants that follow any large employer. Alongside all of this, 25 to 30% wage increases for construction workers broadly. The case for AI infrastructure is most defensible here — in trades and logistics, where the empirical record is already closed.

Democratic fundraising depends on Trump-hatred — and Fetterman says it's now overriding Iran policy

"If we despise Trump more than we are concerned about Iran becoming a nuclear power, that will have profound implications not just in that region but for a global stage." That's Fetterman — about his own party.

He's the only Democrat who voted with Trump on holding Iran accountable, a position every 2020 Democratic presidential candidate endorsed. The fundraising logic is transparent to him: "I know what pays the bills as a Democrat now. Literally what campaigns are based on Trump... it's constant rage bait. I refuse to engage in that." The result is a party whose positions function as the photographic negative of Trump's. "Our party is defined by the opposition of whatever he comes out for. Trump comes out for ice cream and lazy Sundays, we're going to hate that."

The data center moratorium is the live example. It's bad geopolitical strategy and good email fundraising, and Fetterman is arguing his party is choosing the latter.

Pennsylvania senate races hit $500M — and both senators say $300M of it just destroyed reputations

Fetterman's 2022 race hit $330 million — a record then, now the baseline. McCormick's 2024 race cost $500 million: $200 million on his side, $300 million from the opposition. Both men see where this ends. "Wait till 26, wait till 28," Fetterman says. "This is going to look quaint."

The frame that cuts through the scale: "Collectively, $300 million were spent to destroy our reputations. Think what $300 million could do for Pennsylvania or for people that was spent to destroy reputations." No clean solution emerges from either side — McCormick doesn't rank campaign finance in his top five priorities; Fetterman leans toward primary reform, arguing closed primaries systematically select for extremism and make the attack-ad economy inevitable. What they share is the blunt observation that two winning senators spent most of the money on destruction, and Pennsylvania voters elected them anyway.

Pennsylvania is assembling the 2028 coalition — and neither national party controls it

Two-thirds of union rank-and-file defied national endorsements to vote for McCormick — the same tradespeople who backed Fetterman. The highest African-American voter turnout in Pennsylvania in 30 years. Significant Latino crossover. Both senators are deliberately building around the same people: electricians, pipefitters, working families, energy workers. Not institutional party membership — economic identity.

The national parties can adapt to what Pennsylvania's voters are already showing them, or they can spend $600 million in 2028 trying to argue people out of their own economic interests.

Pennsylvania settled it first.

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Topics: bipartisanship, AI policy, data centers, energy, Pennsylvania politics, filibuster, campaign finance, labor realignment, China competition, Democratic Party, working class coalition