The U.S. Senate campaign for Pennsylvania Democrat John Fetterman has removed a Black Lives Matter reference from its website’s “Issues” page.
A version of the webpage that was archived on July 15 touted Fetterman’s support for Black Lives Matter under a sub-heading entitled “What John believes.”
“Black Lives Matter. John served as mayor of a city that’s more than 80% Black, and has championed the idea that Black lives matter since long before it became a hashtag,” it read.
The reference to Black Lives Matter has since been removed, as Fox News Digital’s Thomas Catenacci and Kyle Morris first reported on Wednesday. In a statement, the campaign’s communications director, Joe Calvello, noted that the website still makes a reference to Black Lives Matter through a “personalized video” from Fetterman that was added to the site in April. Archives indicate the now-missing reference was on the page as early as February 2021.
“The one section you seem to be referencing was removed when we updated and greatly expanded our issues page weeks ago,” Calvello told the outlet. “Voters deserve to know where we stand, and we’re proud that we spell out our platform clearly on our website.”
Fetterman, who serves as the Keystone State’s lieutenant governor, has come under fire for his past comments about voter ID requirements and how he believes such measures would disenfranchise “poorer” and minority voters in Pennsylvania.
A completely racist comment. Sadly, it’s unsurprising from Democrat John Fetterman— the same guy who pulled a shotgun on an unarmed and innocent black jogger. https://t.co/lwPiEVcXc1
— Ted Cruz (@tedcruz) August 29, 2022
Fetterman’s remarks came during an interview with Brian Tyler Cohen in December 2021 that gained attention in a Fox News article last month:
In my own state, they are going to pass, attempt to pass, a constitutional amendment making sure that universal voting ID for every time you vote, not just when you sign up to vote, but every time you vote, because they understand at any given time there’s tens of thousands of Pennsylvanians who typically are on the poorer side and are people of color that are less likely to have their ID at any one given time. They understand that that could shave up to anywhere between 70,000-90,000 votes.
Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) blasted Fetterman’s comments as “completely racist” after the clip went viral.
As Breitbart News’s John Binder wrote, there is no evidence to back up the claim that “voter ID laws suppress voter turnout among black Americans.”
