John Fetterman has long been on a political island — and now his tendency to rebuff professional relationships is coming back to bite him.

Few fellow Democrats have rushed to Fetterman’s defense after an explosive article in New York magazine reported that current and former staffers are seriously concerned about his mental and physical health. The Pennsylvania senator, who has strongly denied claims that he is unfit to serve, is not doing traditional damage control, and most top Democrats aren’t going out of their way to do it for him.

Instead, private chatter about primary challenges to Fetterman has ramped up. And in recent days, some Pennsylvania Democrats have begun to quietly review the rules about what would happen if he stepped down and whispered about potential replacements. Fetterman has vowed to serve his full term, which ends in 2029.

Even some top Democrats in his state, who would normally be expected to be in contact with their legislative counterpart, aren’t speaking out in support of their party’s only senator.

“I have had no contact or conversation with him, so I have no way of weighing in on that,” said Rep. Chrissy Houlahan (D-Pa.), when asked to comment on the report. She added that “I couldn’t tell you” when she’d last talked to Fetterman.

Rep. Mary Gay Scanlon (D-Pa.) said she hadn’t spoken to Fetterman “recently” and didn’t know the “underlying facts” about Fetterman’s situation, but that the article “obviously raises questions.”

Rep. Summer Lee (D-Pa.), a progressive whose district includes the town where Fetterman lives, said she hadn‘t talked to him recently. Asked about the story, she responded pointedly that Pennsylvanians’ thoughts matter more than her own: “I hope they read it.”

The episode has illustrated Fetterman’s standing — or lack thereof — in a party where many who once embraced him as a potential model for the future have now ostracized him over his shifting political persona. The public defense of Fetterman has largely come from Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer and the few Democrats with whom Fetterman has existing relationships.

In a sign of evolving political allegiances, the home-state elected official offering the strongest defense of Fetterman is actually a Republican.

Sen. Dave McCormick (R-Pa.) told POLITICO that Fetterman “is authentic and a fighter, and these disgraceful attacks against him are not the John that I know and respect.” McCormick said he and Fetterman have a “great relationship, both professionally and personally.”

Fetterman declined to comment for this story. But in a Tuesday interview with CNN, he said the New York article is “a one-source hit piece, and it involved maybe two or three and anonymous disgruntled staffers saying just absolute false things.” He denied missing medical check-ups or doses of medication.

Fetterman has always had a go-it-alone attitude, and while progressives once adored him, he has never been a favorite of the Democratic establishment. In his 2022 Senate primary, only a handful of elected Democrats endorsed Fetterman. Going as far back as when he was mayor of Braddock, he ruffled feathers among Democrats.

So it’s no surprise to Fetterman’s current and former aides, at least, that he finds himself relatively alone at a perilous moment in his career.

“He’s never been somebody that has all these long-standing relationships with other elected officials,” said a Fetterman adviser who was granted anonymity to speak frankly. “That's been his whole career. So I don't think it's abnormal when it comes to him to not see an outpouring of defense or support for him.”

The adviser argued voters like “that he isn’t seen as his fellow colleagues’ best friend” and “he partly got elected for that reason.”

Recent Morning Consult polls have found Fetterman’s popularity on the rise in Pennsylvania, as Republican voters have increasingly given him a thumbs-up while Democratic voters have stood by him despite criticism from some on the left. Fifty percent of state voters approved of his job performance, while 35 percent disapproved. But a survey of adults across the nation painted a different picture, showing his approval rating underwater among Democrats and independents, but positive among Republicans.

Schumer told reporters that Fetterman is an “all-star” who is “doing a good job.” Peter Welch (D-Vt.), who joined the Senate in the same class as Fetterman, “recently had dinner with Senator Fetterman,” a spokesperson said. “He’s a friend and he’ll continue to support him.” Rep. Chris Deluzio (D-Pa.), a fellow western Pennsylvania Democrat, said Fetterman has been “up front in the past about his mental health treatment,” and “should get a chance to weigh in and address the reports here.”

Rep. Dwight Evans (D-Pa.), who has suffered his own health setbacks since having a stroke in 2024, said that he had “no” concerns about Fetterman’s fitness. But he also acknowledged that he has not talked with him recently, something he didn't read too much into and said was “par for the course.”

When Fetterman faced medical crises in the past, Democrats united around him in a tight battleground election while Republicans expressed concern.

After Fetterman suffered a stroke in his 2022 campaign, top Democrats, especially then-Sen. Bob Casey (D-Pa.), strongly vouched for him. Democrats also came to his defense when he checked himself into the Walter Reed National Military Medical Center for clinical depression in 2023. They hailed him as courageous for speaking out about his mental health struggles — a marked departure from past elected officials.

But Fetterman's personal and professional support has dwindled since then. Online progressives, once his social media army, now detest him over his hardline views on Israel and meeting with President Donald Trump. His congressional office has hemorrhaged staff. And Casey, who lost reelection last year, is no longer in the Senate.

The article in New York magazine reported that his former aides claim he has avoided doctor’s appointments, driven away people close to him and potentially not taken his medication.

The fallout has exacerbated existing party tensions. Even before the most recent accusations, Democrats had floated the prospect of primary challenges against Fetterman, including by current and former members of the congressional delegation.

Talk of a contested primary — an attempt to oust the party’s own swing-state incumbent — has also increased, years before the seat is up for election in 2028. Fetterman’s erstwhile primary rival, former Rep. Conor Lamb (D-Pa.), has drawn attention recently by criticizing Trump — and, now, Fetterman.

“I’ve seen politics be hard on people so I’m concerned for the Fettermans,” Lamb said. “I think I share the feeling of many that I don’t know his true condition, but if he is okay, as he says, I don’t understand why he’s rarely seen in our state and he doesn’t answer constituent questions on things like his vote for [Attorney General] Pam Bondi or his advocacy for war with Iran.”

Asked if he is weighing a challenge against Fetterman, Lamb said he is “not considering any campaign right now” and that his recent appearances at public demonstrations against Trump are aimed at “just trying to help others.”

Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp will not run for Senate in 2026, according to three people familiar with his decision.

Kemp, a popular Republican, looked like the most formidable potential challenger to Democratic Sen. Jon Ossoff, the first-term Democrat.

Without Kemp in the race, Republicans may face an unpredictable primary that could include divisive candidates like Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene.

Ossoff is still likely to face a difficult race in a historically conservative state that President Donald Trump carried last November.

Ruben Gallego is setting off to a key battleground state to speak with voters this week, a sign the Arizona senator may have higher ambitions as some Democrats float him as a potential 2028 presidential candidate.

Gallego will headline a May 10 town hall in Bucks County, Pennsylvania, a pivotal bellwether that President Donald Trump flipped in 2024, according to plans shared first with POLITICO.

“No one understands the struggles of working-class Americans like Ruben Gallego,” said Gallego’s chief of staff, Raphael Chavez-Fernandez. “He’s heading to Pennsylvania to speak directly to voters about what it means to fight for working-class families — because he’s lived their fight.”

Gallego is visiting the district held by Rep. Brian Fitzpatrick (R-Pa.), a perennial Democratic target, as part of an effort by the party to spotlight vulnerable Republicans over possible cuts to Medicaid and to pressure them to vote against Trump’s budget bill.

Gallego is the latest in a string of potential Democratic presidential candidates to hit the road in what is transforming into an all-out shadow primary years ahead of 2028. Former Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg is traveling to hold a town hall with a veterans group in Iowa this month, following his success in the presidential caucuses there in 2020. Maryland Gov. Wes Moore is headed to the early primary state of South Carolina to appear at a top Democratic dinner. Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker recently visited New Hampshire, another early primary state, to keynote a dinner.

Gallego is a rising star in the Democratic Party who won a state in 2024 that Trump carried in part by overperforming among Latino voters compared to former Vice President Kamala Harris. He previously told POLITICO that one reason for his victory is that “we rejected what people had assumed the Democratic position had been, which is a very loose, loose enforcement of the border.”

Gallego’s allies have also argued his success stems from his ability to talk about his humble beginnings at a time when Democrats are struggling to win over working-class voters. Gallego grew up poor with a single mother, eventually making it to Harvard, where he worked part-time as a janitor, and enlisted in the Marine Corps and served in the Iraq War.

In a statement, Democratic National Committee Chair Ken Martin called Gallego “a critical voice for the Democratic Party.”

The blast radius from the controversy surrounding Virginia’s Republican lieutenant governor candidate expanded this week, when a top political aide to Gov. Glenn Youngkin stepped down from his post.His departure was the latest event in a week of turmoil that has pitted Republican leaders in the state against the GOP’s grassroots, upending a party that was already confronting a difficult election year.

The conflict centers on the political future of lieutenant governor candidate John Reid, who resisted a week of pressure from some Virginia Republican Party leaders to step aside over allegations that he maintained a social media account with sexually explicit images of men. Reid, the first openly gay candidate for statewide office in Virginia, denied that he was connected to the photos, and has argued that efforts to remove him from the Republican ticket are rooted in discrimination against his sexual orientation.

When Republican Party leaders in Virginia became aware of the photos, some tried to force Reid out of the race. Youngkin asked Reid to drop out last week, confirmed by POLITICO. But the attempts to oust him backfired. Matt Moran, who ran Youngkin’s political operation, stepped aside as he was accused of pressuring Reid to remove himself from the GOP ticket — something Moran has denied publicly.

Moran did not respond to a request for comment. A representative for Youngkin pointed to comments from the governor on Friday where he declined to say if he would campaign on behalf of Reid, but said he will “support the nominees and their ticket. And at the end of the day, Republicans need to win. And that's the bottom line.”

The fallout has created a rift within the state party as it faces an uphill battle in November. President Donald Trump and tech billionaire Elon Musk's war on the federal workforce has hit hard in a state where more than 150,000 federal employees live. The controversy, Republicans conceded, could tarnish Youngkin’s efforts to position himself as a potential 2028 presidential candidate, and it is widely viewed as a misstep.

“If John Reid is conservative and he's being trashed by his own political party, you need to go out there and support him,” said Scott Pio, who chairs the Loudoun County GOP, which has started selling “In John Reid We Trust” mugs, with proceedings going toward Reid’s campaign. “You need to lean in and support the guy instead of run away from him.”

One Virginia Republican operative, who like others in this article was granted anonymity to speak freely, shrugged off the photos as “just a bunch of penises,” while another said of the episode, “This is insane.”

The second operative said the day before Moran’s departure became public, “The only winners here are Democrats and then a bunch of losers who are Republicans and starting with the governor and going on down to the rest of the ticket.”

Yet GOP consultant Rory Cooper dismissed the drama as a “purely Virginia thing” that has mainly captured the attention of political insiders, and likely won’t have any impact on an election six months away.

“Candidate choice matters, the party being united matters, and I think they’ll get this stuff behind them because they really have no choice,” Cooper said. “A fractured party is not going to be able to beat a moderate Democrat who has high favorables going into the general, and so they'll figure it out.”

That message of unity appears to be echoed by Reid’s campaign.

"John is proud to be the Republican nominee and he looks forward to campaigning across the state over the coming months," Reid's campaign said in a statement. "He has been very clear that he welcomes the support of the governor, full ticket, and all Virginians who are committed to unity around our ticket and a positive future for our home."

Fear that the controversy could weaken the GOP ticket is not limited to strategists inside the GOP. Winsome Earle-Sears, the presumptive GOP gubernatorial nominee, in a public statement Tuesday quoted from the Book of Matthew and called the focus on Reid a distraction from what she cast as a mission of uniting Virginians. “It is his race and his decision alone to move forward,” she said. Earle-Sears did not respond to questions.

Earle-Sears, who authored a Christian self-help book, holds socially conservative beliefs. In 2024, when fulfilling her duties as lieutenant governor to sign legislation, she hand wrote her personal objections to a bill that prohibits officials from denying marriage licenses based on sex, gender or race.

Reid held a solo rally in Henrico, Virginia, on Wednesday evening, after plans for Youngkin and the entire GOP ticket to appear together were scrapped. Facing a large crowd, Reid railed against the “Richmond swamp” that “does not like it when they encounter a different type of person who they can't control."

The fact that Reid is drawing fervent grassroots support in the GOP represents another marker in the ongoing populist transformation of a party that, for decades, made social conservatism and, in particular, opposition to same-sex marriage, a key part of its platform. This shift, embodied by the election of Trump, a thrice-married New York reality television star, has led to Republican primary voters focusing more on “fighting” than on “family values.”

The attempt to oust Reid, and the turmoil that followed, may in part be because the operative class has not quite caught up to the grassroots on this issue. A third Republican operative familiar with the situation said there was the sense that some Virginia Republicans were panicked that Reid’s sexual orientation would be an electoral drag and then used the social media account to work backwards and justify dropping him from the ticket.

U.S. Rep. Morgan Griffith, a Republican, said that having a diverse GOP ticket — a Black woman, an openly gay man as well Attorney General Jason Miyares, the son of a Cuban refugee — should help Republicans’ odds in November. “That's a good, feel good story, no matter what,” he said, referring to the candidates' backgrounds. “And that story should override, assuming that those pictures aren't a whole lot worse than it was depicted.”

On Thursday morning, Reid guest-hosted a four-hour conservative radio show, and a series of callers spent their morning bashing Youngkin and his allies. Reid, who said he had secured the guest spot before he was asked to leave the race, was filling in for host John Fredericks, who described Reid as "a friend."

“Everyone who is trying to come out against you really learned a lesson last night of what not to do,” said a Virginia caller named Casey. Another caller went straight after Youngkin, calling the governor “nothing more than a RINO.”

The backlash doesn't bode well for Youngkin, who is term-limited in the state and looking for his next opportunity. How he navigates this situation with his own state party could have major implications for his political future.

Reid’s only primary opponent, longtime Fairfax County Supervisor Pat Herrity, dropped out of the race late last month due to health concerns, locking in Reid as the nominee.

“If you were that worried about (me being gay), why didn’t you run a bunch of other people?” Reid said on the radio show Thursday morning.

But staying on the ticket is one thing. Winning in November is another.

Democratic U.S. Rep. Suhas Subramanyam, who represents part of Northern Virginia, said it doesn’t matter who the GOP nominates for lieutenant governor, because the Trump administration’s overhaul of the federal government has created a tough environment for down-ballot Republicans in a state where many federal employees live.

“Virginians are mad right now,” Subramanyam said. “Whoever the Republican nominee is in November is going to pay a price for what's going on in D.C. right now.”

Ally Mutnick contributed reporting.

Maryland Gov. Wes Moore is set to travel to the early primary state of South Carolina at the end of this month to headline the state party’s influential Blue Palmetto Dinner, according to plans shared first with POLITICO. He's delivering a commencement speech at the historically black Lincoln University on Sunday in Pennsylvania, a key swing state. And he's going on national shows like "The View" to bolster his profile as he heads into a reelection bid next year.

Still, in an interview, Moore insisted he isn't running for president in 2028.

“I am clear — I’m not running,” Moore told POLITICO on Thursday, something he also said on his national television appearance that day. “But what I am doing is running to make sure that Maryland really is going to have the most explosive decade that it’s had at any time in recent history.”

Moore, a Democratic rising star, has drawn praise from actor and Democratic megadonor George Clooney as many have widely seen him as a presidential contender. However, the governor framed his thinking about present-day challenges and not the 2028 calendar — still three years away.

“I think that anyone who is, you know, focusing their time and their efforts trying to audition for 2028, to me, what it says is, you're not taking 2025 very seriously,” he said, and maintained his focus is on winning a second term in Maryland next year.

Moore’s remarks came as other prospective Democrats are making not-so-subtle moves ahead of the 2028 campaign.

Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker traveled to New Hampshire this past weekend for a dinner where he railed against “do-nothing Democrats.” Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer, taking a more conciliatory approach to President Donald Trump, appeared alongside him at a rally in Michigan, claiming a victory in his announcement of a new F-15 fighter mission at Selfridge Air National Guard Base. Gina Raimondo told David Axelrod she is considering running for president, and former Vice President Kamala Harris, who is weighing a gubernatorial campaign in California against a potential presidential bid, rebuked Trump in a return to the national stage in San Francisco.

For his part, Moore’s visit to South Carolina will coincide with the party’s annual fish fry, a high-profile political gathering hosted by the influential Rep. Jim Clyburn, who shaped the 2020 race when he backed then-candidate Joe Biden in the primary.

“Mr. Clyburn was very insistent on me getting back down there,” Moore said, referring to his decision to skip the state party’s “First in the Nation Celebration Dinner” that then-President Joe Biden headlined last year.

Moore's excuse for not attending at the time: “My [Baltimore] Ravens were in the AFC championship, and you know, there's no way in hell is gonna miss that.”

The former nonprofit leader and author has been making the rounds on sports radio and podcasts, in a move widely seen as shoring up support with men. It's a demographic the party struggled with when Harris topped the ticket last year. But whatever his loyalties to his favored football team, he said he also knows his political obligations.

“I told him I would make it up for him,” Moore added. “And you know, you do not say no to Mr. Clyburn.”

South Carolina Democratic Party Chair Christale Spain, who confirmed Moore will headline the event on May 30, said the dinner has become a showcase for future presidential hopefuls. But she acknowledged: “We've had speakers who haven't run for president.”

She added of Moore, “we're appreciative that he would come.”

She also noted there’s still plenty of time for other potential candidates to ingratiate themselves with the party faithful in the state.

At the Blue Palmetto gala held last May, Sens. Cory Booker of New Jersey and Raphael Warnock of Georgia were headliners. Both are now being discussed as potential presidential candidates.

It was a wholesale rebuke of Donald Trump. But Republicans are shrugging off the Canadian election results — a race that favored conservatives until it became a referendum on the president — as a warning sign for their party.

The cementing of Prime Minister Mark Carney’s Liberal Party into power on Monday served as an expression of Canadians’ deeply felt anger about the president’s tariffs and annexation taunts. It was evidence of an electorate turning against conservatives in a neighboring country — one Trump has suggested should be the 51st state — when Trump became involved. But on this side of the border, GOP strategists, pollsters and party leaders said they were unbothered by the outcome and dismissed any trouble that may lie ahead for Republicans in the midterms.

“Not concerned. Change takes time,” said Alex Stroman, former executive director of the South Carolina Republican Party.

Or as Sen. Jim Justice (R-W.Va.), put it on Tuesday, “I wouldn't look at it so much as a backlash.”

Trump’s allies in the GOP have a long history of discounting reasons for concern about Trump’s political standing – sometimes accurately, as during legal proceedings that many observers predicted could derail him in the 2024 presidential primary, and sometimes inaccurately, as in the run-up to his loss in 2020.

Even as Republicans remain publicly confident, there are real signs of vulnerability for Trump today. Recent polling showed that the president has record low approval ratings 100 days after his second inauguration. And Trump’s tariffs — which have wreaked havoc on both financial markets and business' ability to plan for the future — have angered other longtime allies as he pursues an isolationist trade agenda, like the European Union.

Yet in Republican circles in Washington, the collective response was more akin to: “Eh?”

A GOP consultant, granted anonymity to speak freely, said the outcome was a “pretty specific result based on the tariffs and 51st state trolling.” But when it comes to the midterms, “other factors will come into play domestically,” like the potential for empty grocery shelves or a recession as a result of retaliatory tariffs imposed by U.S. trading partners.

When it comes to the Canadian election, Republicans dismissed it as a foreign country’s result. Or they minimized Trump’s involvement. Or they took comfort in the fact that the midterms are still more than a year off.

“I don't think you can draw any broad conclusions to the 2026 midterms other than that for Republicans to win a majority, they need to deliver on their promises,” said Adam Kincaid, who heads the National Republican Redistricting Trust.

He brushed off concerns about Trump’s perceived unforced errors, like the trolling of the former prime minister by referring to him as “Governor Trudeau” or repeatedly blaming fentanyl crossing the Canadian border as the impetus for imposing heavy tariffs, as minimal effects on domestic elections next year.

“My only concern with the midterms is Republicans not being motivated to turn out,” Kincaid said. “Passing President Trump’s ‘big beautiful bill’ is the best thing Republicans can do to deliver on the president’s promises and motivate our voters to vote in 2026.”

Some Republicans even speculated that Carney and Trump’s relationship may not end up being as hostile as anticipated, despite Carney declaring on election night that Canada will “fight back with everything we have” in negotiating economic and security deals with Trump.

For Republican strategist Alex Conant, there was just one takeaway from the election: “It’s a pretty good reminder of how bad it would be for Republicans if Canada was a state.”

Holly Otterbein contributed to this report.