While Pennsylvania Senate candidate John Fetterman will finally attend an event with President Joe Biden next week, he nonetheless took the opportunity to highlight a major policy difference between the two ahead of the visit.
Fetterman, who is trying to flip a seat for Democrats in what’s expected to be a strong Republican year, publicly challenged Biden to legalize marijuana federally on the same day he announced the pair would participate in Pittsburgh’s Labor Day parade.
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“The president needs to use his executive authority to begin de-scheduling marijuana. I would love to see him do this prior to his visit to Pittsburgh,” Fetterman said. “This is just common sense, and Pennsylvanians overwhelmingly support decriminalizing marijuana.”
The White House shot down the idea of de-scheduling the drug on such short notice, with press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre saying, “I don’t have anything right now to announce,” but the rift highlights the tension some swing state Democratic candidates still have about their relationship with the incumbent president.
Biden’s approval ratings have begun ticking up, from a low of 36% up to 42%, according to the RealClearPolitics average, which has led candidates such as Fetterman and Ohio Senate candidate Tim Ryan to make appearances with him on the campaign trail. Fetterman skipped town when Biden visited Pittsburgh in January and also missed out on a joint appearance when Biden visited Wilkes-Barre on Tuesday.
Such focus on which politicians show up when Biden is in town is unwarranted, according to former Pennsylvania Democratic Party Chairman T.J. Rooney.
“I don’t think it should be interpreted as [Fetterman] trying to duck the event or the president,” he said. “He supports the president and the president supports him. And that’s not going to change.”
To outsiders, making a public demand about marijuana policy before meeting with the president may seem like an odd move. To those who know Fetterman, it’s very much in character.
Fetterman is a big supporter of marijuana advocacy — so much so that he ran afoul of Pennsylvania Republicans for flying a cannabis flag outside of his office in the state capitol. The legislature later made such an act illegal, but Fetterman persisted anyway.
Biden, by contrast, is a long-standing opponent of marijuana use, a stance that has only softened somewhat in recent years. This makes him something of an outlier within his own party, as a Gallup poll from late 2020 found that 83% of Democrats support widespread marijuana legalization.
As such, Fetterman may see Biden coming to town as the perfect opportunity to promote one of his core causes, according to Penn State public policy professor Daniel Mallinson.
“Fetterman barnstormed the state as lieutenant governor about legalizing marijuana,” said Mallinson, who studies Pennsylvania politics and marijuana law. “He went to every county in the state and wrote up a report about it, and he’s been driving that issue here ever since.”
Having a candidate highlight a difference with the president ahead of a joint meeting also shows just how different Biden is from his predecessor, Mallinson added.
“When you have a candidate appearing with Donald Trump, often they’re trying to really get his help and his followers,” he said. “Fetterman wants to be seen with [Biden], but he’s more progressive than the president, so he’s also there on his own.”
Where Biden and Fetterman very much align is on pro-union labor policies, which will be underscored by their joint appearance at Monday’s Labor Day parade. The event itself is an important one locally and takes place in a city known for its history of manufacturing and labor drives.
“[The Pittsburgh Labor Day parade] is one of those sacrosanct political events in Pennsylvania,” said Rooney. “It’s one of the bigger ones in America. It’s a really big deal, especially if you’re a Democrat running statewide.”
Biden is no stranger to Pennsylvania, a place where he spent much of his childhood. Monday’s visit will be his third to the state in less than a week, and in total, he’s visited the Quaker State more than any other save for Virginia and his home state of Delaware since taking office.
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Aside from his personal ties, Pennsylvania is one of the states that flipped from former President Donald Trump to Biden in 2020 and helped Biden secure the presidency. He’ll want to do anything he can to stay in the good graces of Pennsylvania voters both in 2022 and 2024.
“Biden sees the need to win Pennsylvania again,” said Mallinson. “It’s electorally important, and he has a narrative that he uses and tells about his dad and about labor and his working-class roots. He can’t do that in states like Georgia or Arizona.”
