Pennsylvania's two U.S. senators, one a Democrat, one a Republican, have filed paperwork with the Federal Election Commission to launch a joint bipartisan fundraising operation called Common Ground PA, a move that would have been unthinkable in Washington just a few years ago. The Washington Examiner reported that Sens. John Fetterman and Dave McCormick filed the PAC this week, with contributions set to be split between both senators' campaign committees and leadership PACs.
The filing arrives at a moment when Fetterman's standing among his own party's voters has cratered to levels that would alarm any incumbent. Two separate polls, one statewide, one focused on Philadelphia, paint a picture of a Democrat who has effectively traded his base for a new one.
And that trade is now being formalized on paper at the FEC.
A Quinnipiac University poll from February found that 62 percent of Pennsylvania Democrats disapproved of the way Fetterman is handling his job. Among Pennsylvania Republicans, 73 percent approved. His overall approval sat at 46 percent, with 40 percent disapproving, a split that tells you exactly where his support now lives.
A more recent Philadelphia Inquirer, Suffolk University survey of 500 Philadelphia voters drove the point even harder. Just 17 percent of Democrats viewed Fetterman favorably. Republicans? Sixty percent held a favorable view. His overall favorability among all respondents in that sample landed at 24 percent.
Those are not the numbers of a senator losing a few progressives on the margins. Those are the numbers of a man whose party has all but disowned him, and whose political survival now depends on voters who pulled the lever for the other side.
McCormick campaign spokesman Mike DeVanney framed the PAC in pragmatic terms on Thursday.
"This is a donor driven effort. This group of donors value the collaboration exhibited by Senators McCormick and Fetterman for Pennsylvania and want to support both of them."
The structure of Common Ground PA routes money through two different fundraising groups tied to the senators' respective campaign committees and leadership PACs. The identities of the donors behind the effort were not disclosed in the filing or DeVanney's statement. The Washington Examiner contacted Fetterman's campaign for comment but noted no response.
Fetterman's willingness to attach his name and fundraising apparatus to a Republican colleague's reelection infrastructure is not a casual gesture. McCormick faces voters again in 2030. Fetterman is expected to seek reelection in 2028. A joint PAC means shared donor lists, shared events, and a shared political brand, the kind of arrangement that typically exists between allies, not across party lines.
The PAC did not materialize out of nowhere. Fetterman has repeatedly sided with Republicans on Senate votes, including support for certain of President Trump's nominees. McCormick and Fetterman became acquainted after McCormick began his Senate service last year, and the two have built a working relationship that has drawn praise from unexpected corners.
The Pennsylvania Republican Party posted on X thanking both senators for their work on the Great American State Fair, a 16-day event wrapping up on Friday. The state party's statement took direct aim at Democratic Gov. Josh Shapiro, who had pulled Pennsylvania out of the fair.
"Pennsylvania is the birthplace of America. It's where our Founding Fathers signed the documents that created the greatest nation in the history of the world. But Josh Shapiro couldn't care less."
The GOP's post continued, noting that Shapiro had told reporters Pennsylvania businesses had no interest in participating because of the president. But within 48 hours, McCormick and Fetterman had secured a Pennsylvania booth filled with items from dozens of state businesses.
The booth featured a life-sized replica of the Liberty Bell, 14 rare antique American flags, coal mining exhibits, and Pennsylvania staples like Middleswarth and Utz potato chips, all backed by more than 50 private sponsors. No state taxpayer money was spent. The event was tied to America's 250th birthday celebration, branded as the Freedom 250 fair.
Gov. Shapiro's decision to withdraw Pennsylvania from the fair, and his stated rationale that businesses wanted no part of it because of the president, looks worse in hindsight. Two senators from opposite parties filled the void in under two days and found more than 50 willing sponsors. The Pennsylvania Republican Party made sure to note the contrast.
Fetterman has shown a pattern of breaking publicly with his party's leadership and its ideological direction. He has warned Jewish voters about what he described as a bleak future inside the Democratic Party, a statement that put him squarely at odds with the progressive wing's posture on Israel and related issues.
He has also gone further, publicly criticizing his own party as it has shifted leftward. Fetterman has accused the Democratic Party of being overtaken by extreme views as socialist-aligned candidates have racked up primary wins across the country.
Those public breaks have not been one-off moments of frustration. They have been sustained, escalating, and increasingly backed by concrete action, from votes on the Senate floor to this week's FEC filing.
Despite the trajectory, Fetterman has reportedly signaled he has no intention of switching parties ahead of his likely 2028 reelection campaign. That declaration sits awkwardly next to the reality of a senator who now polls better with the opposing party's voters than with his own, raises money alongside a Republican, and has drawn reported interest from President Trump himself in facilitating a party switch.
Whether Fetterman stays a Democrat in name may matter less than what he does in practice. A joint fundraising PAC with a Republican colleague is not a symbolic gesture. It is infrastructure. It signals to donors, operatives, and voters in both parties that Fetterman's political future is not tethered to the Democratic brand.
McCormick, for his part, gains a bipartisan shield and access to a donor network that crosses party lines, useful armor for a Republican senator in a purple state heading into 2030.
The Quinnipiac and Philadelphia Inquirer, Suffolk numbers create a stark electoral math problem for Fetterman if he runs as a Democrat in 2028. A senator with 17 percent favorability among his own party's voters in the state's largest city cannot win a Democratic primary without a dramatic reversal, or without the kind of crossover support that primaries are not designed to deliver.
Fetterman's overall 46 percent approval statewide suggests he remains viable in a general election, particularly if he can hold Republican goodwill. But surviving a primary with 62 percent of his own party's voters disapproving of his performance is another matter entirely.
The Common Ground PA filing may be the clearest signal yet that Fetterman is building a political identity that does not depend on Democratic primary voters to sustain it. Whether that means an independent run, a party switch, or simply a senator who governs without regard for his party's base remains an open question.
Fetterman has ripped his own party after socialist candidates swept Democratic primaries, and the party has responded by abandoning him in the polls. The relationship is mutual at this point.
What Common Ground PA represents is less about bipartisanship as a feel-good concept and more about political survival and honest alignment. Fetterman votes with Republicans, raises money with a Republican, and polls like a Republican among Pennsylvania voters. The only thing still Democratic about his political profile is the letter next to his name.
Democrats can keep pretending that letter means something. The FEC filing suggests Fetterman has stopped pretending.
