Fetterman Calls Democratic Stars Socialist or Communist in Party's Fringe Push

Sen. John Fetterman, D-Pa., labeled several rising Democratic figures socialist or communist Wednesday as the party caters to its fringe base.

"I think the extremism is driving it without a doubt," Fetterman said in a Reason interview. "Look at the primaries, you know, all across in the Senate and in the House and look at the kinds of people that have already been elected."

He pointed to Seattle Mayor Katie Wilson as an example. "Like, for example, the mayor in Seattle, she's an absolute socialist, if not more, how people [go] 'hey, I'm leaving' and she's like, ‘bye’ and just describe that kind of thing."

Wilson last month dismissed concerns about millionaires leaving Washington state over her support for a progressive tax. "I think the claims that millionaires are going to leave our state are, like, super overblown. And if — the ones that leave, like, bye," she told an audience at Seattle University.

Fetterman next criticized New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani, who proposed a "pied-à-terre" tax on luxury second homes owned by wealthy residents. "Then, of course New York, that's its own situation, too. And I thought [Florida Gov. Ron] DeSantis had a great line saying, you know, Mamdani is my favorite real estate agent now. And it's driving people away. People can move, and they can just vote, you know, with their feet. That explains why Florida continues to flourish. But a lot of these states like New York and other blue states, we've read that $2 trillion dollars have migrated out of these states too," Fetterman said.

He also cited Maine U.S. Senate candidate Graham Platner as evidence Democrats now back communism. "I mean in Maine, for example, Graham Platner, he's an avowed communist. He described himself as a communist. Antifa, that's not a slur from me. That's not GOP kinds of hit. That's his own words, how he described that," Fetterman said.

Fetterman, who calls himself a "pro-capitalist Democrat," accused party extremists of repelling billionaires and millionaires even as Democrats accept funding from such donors for progressive causes. "I don't think those are the kind of people that are the problem now. And if you make billionaires...they love the billionaires that fund those kinds of causes and those kind of organizations that are actually driving a lot of the protesting and that's where that energy is as well," he said.

Fox News Digital sought comment from Wilson's and Mamdani's offices and from Platner's campaign.