Houlahan says it’s easier working with McCormick than Fetterman

Members of US Sen. John Fetterman’s own party continue to criticize him following his vote for Mullin as DHS secretary.

Hours after US Sen. John Fetterman (D-Pennsylvania) cast the deciding committee vote for President Donald Trump’s new Department of Homeland Security secretary, US House Rep. Chrissy Houlahan (D-Chester) admitted something in public that other Democratic lawmakers have been saying privately. 

“ We have this senator. We have two actually,” Houlahan said in front of a jeering town hall crowd on Thursday.  “And I have to be really honest with you. Of the two, I have more success working with the one on the ‘R side of the aisle’ than I do with the one on the ‘D side of the aisle.’

The Democrat senator she’s referring to is, of course, John Fetterman.

Frustrations with him have been bubbling up since Fetterman visited Trump at Mar-a-Lago following the 2024 election.  

Houlahan spoke at a town hall hosted by Moms Rising and other progressive groups in Cumberland County with US House Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-New York) and other members of the Democratic Women’s Caucus.

“ I just think that it’s important to ask people to do the thing that they were sent to Congress to do, or to the Senate,” Houlahan said in an interview. 

“I would say the same thing about anybody. I ask people to call and express their opinions to Senator Fetterman, and I don’t think there’s any magic to that.”

With her comments, Houlahan joined US House Rep. Brendan Boyle (D-Philadelphia) and others who have been willing to call out Fetterman publicly. Boyle, who is rumored to be considering a Senate primary run in 2028, has called Fetterman “Trump’s favorite Democrat” on multiple occasions. 

On Wednesday, Houlahan requested her followers and supporters on social media call Fetterman’s office and try to convince him to vote against US Sen. Markwayne Mullins’ nomination as DHS secretary. 

Fetterman did not heed the advice or requests of his constituents. Instead, he cast the deciding vote in favor of  Mullin’s confirmation even though US Sen. Rand Paul (R-Kentucky) sided with Democrats.  

While appearing in front of a contentious US Senate confirmation hearing, Mullin defended a border agent’s killing of Renee Good in Minnesota, but he walked back previous statements calling Alex Pretti “deranged.”

Both Good and Pretti were killed by federal immigration officials in Minneapolis earlier this year and their deaths sparked a wave of outcry against Trump’s immigration policies.

“ I don’t believe that [Mullin] is a good choice.” Houlahan said. “Had I had the vote, I would’ve voted no.”