Josh Shapiro: Fetterman is best judge of his own health, ability to do his job

Gov. Josh Shapiro briefly responded to reported concerns about Sen. John Fetterman’s health on Thursday, deferring to the senator and his family on the matter.

“I’ll just say this: I think the best judge of Sen. Fetterman’s health is Sen. Fetterman and his family, and I’ll leave it to them to discuss that,” Shapiro said of his fellow Pennsylvania Democrat.

He said questions about whether Fetterman is doing the job effectively are for “Sen. Fetterman, his family, and the people of Pennsylvania.”

Fetterman has faced scrutiny in recent days after former staffers said they worried about his mental health and whether he was carrying out the duties of a U.S. senator.

Former Fetterman staffers pointed to missed meetings, sporadic committee hearing attendance, and an outburst with a group of teachers last week, along with an inconsistent voting attendance record and few public appearances in Pennsylvania, to question his effectiveness as a representative for the state.

A memo obtained by The Inquirer and first reported on in New York magazine outlined concerns from Fetterman’s former chief of staff, Adam Jentleson, to Fetterman’s doctor. Jentleson worried in the memo that Fetterman was not taking necessary medication, was behaving erratically, and had isolated himself from friends and colleagues.

Shapiro and Fetterman, both ultra-ambitious Democrats with markedly different styles sharing a politically crucial state, have had a famously chilly relationship.

They occasionally campaigned together cordially in 2022 when Shapiro was running for governor and Fetterman for Senate, but since then they have had few public interactions.

When Shapiro was in the running to be former Vice President Kamala Harris’ running mate in 2024, reports surfaced that Fetterman advisers had shared with Harris’ campaign that Fetterman had concerns about picking Shapiro.

His reservation, according to a report in Politico, was that Shapiro was too focused on his own personal ambition.

Shapiro is widely regarded as a possible Democratic candidate for president in 2028, and former Fetterman staffers have said their former boss is also mulling a run.

While Fetterman heavily traversed Pennsylvania when he was running for Senate, he has done few appearances in the state since taking office.

State Sen. Anthony Hardy Williams criticized Fetterman’s absence from Philadelphia in an interview with The Inquirer on Thursday.

“This is outrageous. The biggest city in Pennsylvania — a driver of the economy — we’re in the middle of this assault on a variety of institutions, and he’s nowhere to be seen,” said Williams, a Philadelphia Democrat.

Williams said he went to Washington last week with residents from Eastwick to advocate for federal dollars to address flooding in the historically neglected neighborhood but was told Fetterman was unable to meet him in person.

Williams noted that Pennsylvania’s Republican senator, Dave McCormick, met with the group for nearly half an hour.

“I am empathetic to people who have mental health issues,” Williams said. “I am not empathetic to people who take positions of responsibility and don’t do right by it.”

Williams, who has been critical of Fetterman in the past, is one of the few Democrats in the state who have spoken out against him.

Several Democrats defended the senator or opted not to weigh in Thursday.

State. Sen. Nikil Saval, a Democrat who represents parts of Center City and South Philadelphia, worked with Fetterman to bring a housing repair program Saval piloted in Harrisburg to Congress. Saval said he has found Fetterman and his staff very responsive.

He said he could not speak to the concerns voiced by former staffers but shared the governor’s sentiment.

“I think it’s a question for his family,” Saval said.

Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D., N.Y.) praised Fetterman amid the scrutiny, calling him an “all star.” Other Democrats have not rushed to his defense but few have been outwardly critical.

U.S. Rep. Madeleine Dean, a Democrat who represents Montgomery County, has been a friend of Fetterman’s since the two ran for lieutenant governor in 2018 before Dean dropped out of the race to pursue a congressional seat.

Dean said she was “proud of him” and “care[s] only about his well-being.”

While she says she continues to work with Fetterman, she couldn’t say whether he’s effectively doing his job day to day.

“I don’t have the ability to say that. He’s not in my office, able to judge whether or not I’m doing the job appropriately. I’m not in his, able to judge whether or not he’s doing the job appropriately.”

Staff writer Katie Bernard contributed to this article.