Democrats found themselves responding to a member of their own party as much as the Republicans on the first night of the GOP’s midterm convention Wednesday night, as a surprise video appearance from Sen. John Fetterman (D-PA) upstaged what was otherwise an amped up political rally for President Trump’s party.
Fetterman introduced Sen. Dave McCormick (R-PA) during Wednesday night’s proceedings, praising McCormick’s work in the Senate and calling him a friend.
“Yes, I'm Senator John Fetterman, Pennsylvania. Yes I’m a Democrat. Why am I here talking to you today? Because well I’m a common sense Democrat. I’m always going to stand with America. I’m always going to reject the extremes and socialism and that anti-American way of life. Dave McCormick is the kind of senator that gets the job done and he’s going to fight for Pennsylvania. I’m proud to count him as my friend,” Fetterman said in the video played to convention goers.
Fetterman’s appearance immediately drew praise from the White House, with their rapid response account calling him “Based John Fetterman.” Though the response from elected Democrats was fairly muted, probably given Fetterman’s increasingly strained relationship with his party, Rep. Sarah McBride (D-DE) responded shortly after Fetterman’s video aired.
“Being a Democratic politician who decides to speak at Trump’s midterm convention is like boarding the Titanic after it hit the iceberg,” McBride said.
While other Senate Democrats elected not to pay much attention to the video, Fetterman’s one-time primary opponent, Connor Lamb, told Politico that he’s believed Fetterman would become a Republican for close to a year.
“I don’t think anything I say, or anyone who is a Democrat says, affects him all that much,” Lamb said. “The fact that the Senate Democratic leadership thinks they can keep them on their team by saying a few nice things about him in public just shows that they haven’t learned who they are dealing with.”
Other Democratic figures like Neera Tanden, the president of the Center for American Progress, chimed in, blaming the party’s left flank for Fetterman’s rise.
Fetterman himself put out a statement as the video went viral online, seemingly trying to tamp down speculation that he might switch parties after the election. “I’m a lifelong Democrat who votes overwhelmingly with my party — and should the Senate flip in November, I will still be the 51st vote that I ran on,” he wrote. That obviously left the door open to what he would do in a 50/50 Senate.
Fetterman’s surprise cameo at the event overshadowed most of the rest of the night, except perhaps Trump’s promise to give every American $5,000 if the GOP wins the midterms. The event largely shaped up to be five hours of by-the-numbers Republican stump speeches, focusing heavily on transgender participation in sports and the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, passed last year. For much of the event the American Airlines Center in Dallas was only partially full.
Texas State Rep. James Talarico, the Democratic nominee for Senate, was another frequent topic for Republicans. A strategist for the Talarico campaign told The Caucus that the frequency with which he was mentioned showed that “We live rent free in their head.”
Still, Democrats staged a response, though mostly at the level of individual candidates and their campaigns.
Dr. Amish Shah, a Democratic candidate in Arizona’s First Congressional District, for example attacked his opponent for attending the convention while simultaneously highlighting his platform on healthcare costs.
“While my opponent is pledging his loyalty to Donald Trump in Dallas, I’m in the ER taking care of Arizonans,” Shah said.
Other Democrats like Rep. Jason Crow (D-Co.) hit the GOP for its fundraising tactics at the event.
“$25,000 a ticket. $88,600 for a photo-op. $250,000 for a meet-and-greet. As working folks struggle to get by, Republicans are partying with the billionaire Epstein class in Dallas. They’re out of touch, corrupt, and failing to make life better for you,” Crow said.
Rep. Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY) expressed a similar sentiment, with the Democratic Leader in the House saying in a statement ahead of the event that “House Republicans are partying with their billionaire donors in Dallas. Meanwhile. The cost of living crisis continues to drown everyday Americans. Enough.”
The Democrats have further events planned for Thursday, including an interfaith service of moral resistance at Paul Quinn College, which Reps. Frederick Haynes III (D-Texas) and Jasmine Crockett (D-Texas) are slated to attend, as well as an afternoon news conference with state and local officials and a march from Pike Park in Dallas to the American Airlines Center, hosted by the Dallas Against the Trump Agenda Coalition.
Groups aligned with the Democratic Party, like the American Bridge PAC, responded as well, with the organization putting up a website touting itself as “The Real* RNC 2026 Midterm Convention” giving their take on the GOP agenda.
“The Real RNC Midterm Convention offers an action-packed agenda teaching you how to gaslight voters about the rising costs, corruption, and chaos inflicted by the policies you’re running to rubber-stamp,” the site reads.
Democrats’ approach to the GOP’s convention might also be rooted in the event’s dubious political usefulness for the GOP. While it’s being called a convention, there are no nominations occurring there and no platform being debated. Rather, the event is serving as a way for Republicans to try and recreate the turnout boon that they’ve enjoyed when Trump is on the ballot.
In the current midterm environment, however, it's not even clear that highlighting Trump’s domination of the party is even advantageous, and many GOP candidates, even in competitive races, chose not to attend.