Widely regarded as a political maverick, U.S. Sen. John Fetterman, a first-term Democrat from Pennsylvania who overcame serious health issues to reach Capitol Hill, spoke Wednesday evening in Filene Auditorium on a wide range of topics dividing American voters.
“The world is going to change in 10 days,” he told an audience of 200 and another 100 watching via livestream. He did not predict election results, because, he said, “It’s a coin toss.”
Fetterman was the fifth presenter in Dartmouth’s 2024 Election Speaker Series, co-sponsored by the Nelson A. Rockefeller Center for Public Policy and Dartmouth Dialogues. The former mayor of Braddock, Pa. became lieutenant governor in 2018, advocating for marijuana legalization, urban revitalization, economic justice, equal protection for the LGBTQ+ community, and criminal justice reform. In 2022, despite a serious stroke from which he has since recovered, he defeated Mehmet Oz, the Trump-endorsed celebrity doctor, in a hotly contested Senate race.
The frank and freewheeling conversation was moderated by Tuck professor Charles Wheelan ’88; Alexander Azar III ’25, president of the Dartmouth Conservatives; and Bea Reichman ’27, secretary of the Dartmouth Democrats.
Acknowledging his own struggles with depression, Fetterman called for more open discussion about the link between mental illness and gun violence, especially suicide. He lamented the outsized role money plays in elections, including his own. He warned of the power of social media to poison public discourse. He compared former President Donald Trump to a “black hole” that “just absorbs things as it develops stronger gravity.”
About 15 minutes into the presentation, Fetterman began explaining his pro-Israel stance on the war in the Middle East.
“Hamas shouldn’t be allowed to survive, because Gaza has to be rebuilt,” he said. “And if Hamas is still functioning, the billions required to rebuild Gaza are going to be funneled right through Hamas, and that’s allowed them to purchase all of the weapons and those tunnels and create the kinds of massacre that happened on October 7th. That’s where we are.”
During his talk, he was interrupted twice by protesters, about six minutes apart.
A Dartmouth open expression facilitator engaged the individuals in each instance, asking them multiple times to either stop the interruption and remain at the event, or leave so that it could continue.
The first three did so and left.
The two protesters in the second disruption, who were yelling such things as “John Fetterman, you have blood on your hands, shame on you. You can’t hide. We charge you with genocide. There are no two sides to genocide,” were also asked to leave, but continued to shout at Fetterman.
When attempts to resolve the situation and allow the speaker to continue were unsuccessful, the Hanover Police Department—which was already on site for the event with a sitting U.S. senator—decided to remove the two individuals, and they were arrested and charged with disorderly conduct, according to Hanover police.
Unruffled by the protests, Fetterman responded, “It’s ironic to say ‘you can’t hide,’ I’m here in lights, and I have a microphone. I’m not hiding. I’m here and saying let’s have a conversation.”
The audience responded with applause.
He added, “You may not believe this or even care, but I’m very pro-Palestinian, no different than you in some sense. And I grieve the tragedy and the death and the misery.” He placed primary responsibility for the conflict on Hamas “and ultimately Iran and Russia that have created these kinds of proxies in the Middle East that are committed to destroying Israel.”
Fetterman’s talk turned to the subject of free speech, including campus protests in May. Fetterman praised President Sian Leah Beilock for how Dartmouth has responded, and her emphasis on teaching students how to have conversations with people they might not agree with.
“I’m full-on for free speech,” Fetterman said. “But free speech does not give you the right to terrorize people or say things that are openly calling for violence or creating a level of discomfort or fear in a community that’s already been traumatized. And I salute how your president has handled that here.”
About the neck-and-neck battle for the White House, Fetterman, who wore his signature hoodie and shorts, was reluctant to offer tips on political strategy. “I only give advice on fashion,” he joked, but vowed to spend the remainder of the campaign courting votes in Pennsylvania’s rural GOP strongholds.
“It all matters,” he said. “That’s how we win. And that’s also how we jam it up, stopping Republicans from winning statewide.” Fetterman made a bold prediction about what he called a bellwether county: “Whoever wins Erie wins Pennsylvania, and that’s who will be president.”
In conclusion, Fetterman urged the audience to “read things that you don’t agree with. You might even be offended or whatever, but it’s better to put that in front of you and read and continually challenge your own views. It’s impossible that the other side is 100% wrong. It’s not true. There are valid points on both sides, and bipartisanship is difficult.”
After the event, Fetterman lingered to talk with audience members, even chatting by phone with the mother of a student.
Evan Gerson ’27 posed a question about an issue he cares about. “Hanover has a housing crisis,” Gerson said. “He dug into his own experience. He was able to explain things in such a good way. And he’s currently speaking to people from both sides of the aisle.”
Gerson’s friend, Anderson Ijie ’28, said he “follows politics deeply,” and admires Fetterman’s even-handed approach to those who disagree with him, including the protesters who interrupted him.
“I’m not someone who agrees with the Democrats 100%, but it was the way to handle that situation. It was just a mature reaction to something that’s common, and that’s something that we need more and more in Washington,” he said.
Earlier in the day, Fetterman met with President Beilock, toured campus with some family members, and lunched with faculty and students, including Emelia Malhotra ’27, who is enrolled in a government and public policy course, The 2024 Election, taught by Russell Muirhead, the Robert Clements Professor of Democracy and Politics; Herschel Nachlis, associate director and senior policy fellow at the Rockefeller Center and a research assistant professor of government; and William Wohlforth, the Daniel Webster Professor of Government.
Malhotra, a Pennsylvanian, said she was thrilled to be in the same room with her own senator.
“I think it can be eye-opening to hear from the horse’s mouth about how things go down,” she said. “To be able to hear thoughts and reasoning from an individual who is just as much a person as any of us—I found that to be really valuable.”
Next up in the Election Speaker Series: Vice President Mike Pence, who speaks on Oct. 31 about conservatism and the future of the GOP, and Jeannie Suk Gerson, the John H. Watson, Jr. Professor of Law at Harvard Law School, discusses on Nov. 12 the Supreme Court and the post-election future of American democracy.