Donald Trump on Saturday openly encouraged Democratic senator John Fetterman to switch parties, weeks before federal midterm elections in which the john fetterman party switch question has become a live political issue. Speaking to reporters as he returned to Washington, Trump said he would be glad to count the Pennsylvania senator on his side of the aisle.

Trump's invitation at Joint Base Andrews

Trump made the remarks at Joint Base Andrews while flying back to Washington DC from a rally in Tennessee. He said that, in his view, Fetterman performs better as a Republican than as a Democrat, and that he would welcome seeing him make that change.

Why one senator matters to the Senate majority

The overture carries weight because the GOP could lose its Senate majority in November's midterms. Democrats would need to pick up four seats to retake the chamber, a task that remains challenging. Headwinds for Republicans have grown with Trump's unpopularity and the economic fallout from the Iran war, leaving Democrats more bullish about Senate control.

Fetterman's breaks with his party

Fetterman arrived in the Senate in 2022 as a Democratic star with an everyman appeal, but in Washington he has split with his party on issues from immigration to Israel, feeding speculation about a switch. Signals have mounted in recent months:

• •In May, Fetterman wrote in the Washington Post that he would be a "terrible Republican who still votes overwhelmingly with Democrats".
• •In September, he recorded a video for the Republican midterm convention praising fellow Pennsylvania senator Dave McCormick and suggesting there were extremists in his own party.
• •Also in September, at the Texas Tribune festival fireside chat in Austin, he described himself seemingly inadvertently as a "lifelong Republican".

In that convention video, Fetterman cast himself as standing with America and pledged to reject what he called extremes, socialism and an anti-American way of life. A representative for Fetterman did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

What a switch could change

Trump suggested Fetterman's flirtations with the Republican party could make winning the Democratic nomination for another Senate term extremely difficult. But a Democratic 51-seat majority could put Fetterman in an influential position, reducing his incentive to leave the party. Party switches have moved chamber control before: Vermont's Jim Jeffords left the GOP in 2001, handing Democrats a narrow majority, and Pennsylvania's Arlen Specter abandoned the Republicans in 2009, helping Democrats reach a supermajority.