For more than the past year, Sen. John Fetterman (D-PA) has missed among the most votes of any senator, rarely attended committee hearings, and become increasingly isolated from his colleagues amid reports of lingering mental health troubles.
The first-term Pennsylvania Democrat has missed 30 floor votes this year and had the third-worst attendance in 2024. It’s a record that’s under the spotlight due to concerns from current and former staffers laid out in media reports of Fetterman’s struggles with depression stemming from health complications after a 2022 stroke.
Senate Minority Whip Dick Durbin (D-IL), the chief vote-counter for Democrats, was unaware of Fetterman’s voting record. He described having a “limited relationship” with Fetterman that does not extend far beyond cordial hallway greetings, an unusual dynamic between a party whip and his members.
Durbin noted Fetterman infrequently attends daily caucus lunches and rarely goes onto the floor because he declines to don proper attire. Fetterman typically wears his distinctive casual get-up of gym shorts, a hoodie, and sneakers, aside from rare occasions last year when he sported a suit and tie to preside over the floor when Democrats held the majority.
“John doesn’t spend much time on the floor, for obvious reasons. He’s chosen to dress in a manner that is inconsistent with Senate rules and [has made] limited appearances within the caucus,” Durbin said. “I’ve not developed a relationship with him, which I usually do.”
Fetterman missed 58 votes in 2024, about 21%, according to Congress-tracking site GovTrack. From the beginning of 2024 through last week, he missed 88 of 579, about 16%.
Of those who served the full 118th Congress from 2023 to 2025, only two senators missed more votes. Those were then-Sen. JD Vance (R-OH) and Sen. Tim Scott (R-SC), both of whom either ran for president or were on the presidential ticket. Some of the votes Fetterman was absent for were due to a six-week hospital stay in 2023 to treat clinical depression.
A closer look at Fetterman’s absences this year shows he most often skips votes held on Monday evenings. This is when senators return to Washington, D.C., for the start of the legislative week that typically ends Thursday afternoon. Fetterman has so far attended just six Monday vote sessions.
Durbin said he and Fetterman have not spoken recently and that Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) is the main point of contact for Fetterman.
“I have talked to Schumer on many occasions, and he has talked about reaching out to him for a vote or a position he’s taking. So I know that they have an ongoing conversation,” Durbin said. “In terms of being part of the social scene of the Senate, I think it’s valuable. Others look at it differently. So I’m not saying that that’s a requirement. For me, it was an important part of the job.”
Fetterman’s office did not respond to a request for comment regarding his attendance record.
He and his office have downplayed or criticized recent media reports, including a damning profile from New York Magazine with allegations from his former chief of staff and an Associated Press story detailing a recent outburst while meeting with teachers union officials that resulted in a staffer crying.
“It’s a one-source story with a couple of anonymous sources. A hit piece from a very left publication,” Fetterman told NBC of the New Yorker profile, in which his former chief, Adam Jentleson, said the senator stopped taking his medications. “There’s really nothing more to say about that.”
Few of Fetterman’s Senate Democratic colleagues are willing to talk openly about his current condition to reporters. Rep. Ritchie Torres (D-NY), who, like Fetterman, is a vocal supporter of Israel, blamed a stream of critical stories about the senator on a “coordinated campaign” against him due to his “unapologetic pro-Israel politics.”
“Let’s call it what it is,” Torries wrote on social media. “As someone who has struggled with depression my whole adult life, I can tell you that if you truly care about someone’s mental health, leaking hit pieces against them is a strange way of showing it.”
Amid the stream of allegations and scrutiny in the press, Senate Republicans are among the few in Washington coming to the senator’s defense. Having found a common adversary in the media, several Republicans blasted news reports of his apparent health struggles.
Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-IA) posted that the media “ought to lay off Senator Fetterman.”
Fetterman’s fellow home state colleague, Sen. Dave McCormick (R-PA), urged to “put politics aside and stop these vicious, personal attacks against Senator Fetterman, his wife, and his health.”
“While we have many differences, we are both committed to working together to achieve results for the people of Pennsylvania and make their lives better,” McCormick said.
JOHN FETTERMAN WAVES OFF ‘HIT PIECE’ QUESTIONING HIS MENTAL FITNESS
Senate Republican Conference Chairman Tom Cotton (R-AR) also credited the media reports to Fetterman’s defense of Israel.
“John Fetterman and I have our differences, but he’s a decent and genuine guy,” Cotton posted. “The radical left is smearing him with dishonest, vicious attacks because he’s pro-Israel and they only want reliable anti-Israel politicians. Disgraceful.”
