Sen. John Fetterman, the Pennsylvania Democrat who broke with his party to confirm multiple Trump Cabinet picks, says he will not vote for attorney general nominee Todd Blanche, a decision that narrows an already tight path to confirmation.
Fetterman announced his opposition during an appearance on Jon Stewart's podcast, where the host pressed him on Democrats' failure to use the filibuster against Trump's nominees. Fetterman pushed back, noting he has voted to confirm roughly half of the president's Cabinet picks, a record no other Senate Democrat comes close to matching. But on Blanche, Fetterman told Stewart he had reached his limit.
"And if you're going to bring up Blanche, I'm not going to vote for him as well," Fetterman said. "There are some that I would vote for, and then there are many that I haven't because I just don't believe that's the right person for the job overall. I really try to call balls and strikes."
His opposition lands the same week Sen. Susan Collins, the Maine Republican, announced she too would vote against Blanche, creating a bipartisan problem for a nominee who already faced skepticism from within his own party's ranks. The Senate Judiciary Committee advanced Blanche's nomination to the full Senate on a strict 12, 10 party-line vote, but the floor math looks considerably harder.
With both Fetterman and Collins publicly opposed, Blanche is projected to receive at least two fewer votes than Pam Bondi, who cleared the Senate 54, 46 to become attorney general before Blanche replaced her. Fetterman was the sole Democrat to back Bondi. He was also the only Democrat to vote for Markwayne Mullin's confirmation as Homeland Security secretary, which passed 54, 37, and he cast the decisive 8, 7 vote to advance Mullin out of the Senate Homeland Security Committee.
That record makes Fetterman's refusal on Blanche more than a party-line gesture. He has shown a repeated willingness to cross the aisle when he believes the nominee deserves confirmation. His "no" here carries weight precisely because his "yes" votes elsewhere cost him standing with his own caucus.
Collins's opposition compounds the problem from the Republican side. She voted to confirm Blanche as assistant attorney general in March, but reversed course on the attorney general nomination. In a statement released Tuesday, Collins pointed to Blanche's conduct in the role he already holds.
"Mr. Blanche has taken several actions that have further eroded the department's independence, and that is the basis for my vote to oppose his confirmation."
Collins did not specify which actions she meant, but the remark suggests her concerns go beyond policy disagreement to questions about how Blanche has managed the Justice Department as acting attorney general.
Beyond Collins, Republican Sens. Bill Cassidy of Louisiana and Lisa Murkowski of Alaska remain publicly undecided, the Washington Examiner reported. If either joins Collins in opposition without a Democratic crossover to compensate, Blanche's confirmation becomes a genuine coin flip.
The nomination has already required management. Sens. John Cornyn of Texas and Thom Tillis of North Carolina initially opposed Blanche but flipped to support after he agreed to stop pursuing a planned anti-weaponization fund. That fund, a $1.776 billion initiative the Justice Department had proposed, drew criticism from both sides of the aisle. Fetterman himself called the fund "bizarre," according to the Washington Examiner's reporting.
Tillis, for his part, tied his support to a separate condition. He indicated his vote hinged on Blanche's stance regarding the prosecution of January 6 Capitol rioters, telling reporters, "The key for Todd or anybody going through the Judiciary Committee is being pretty tight on Jan. 6."
Cornyn and Tillis ultimately voted to advance Blanche in committee. But the concession Blanche had to make, abandoning a signature initiative, shows how little room for error the nomination carries even among Republicans.
Opposition to Blanche is not limited to moderates and Democrats. National Review's editors argued in June that Blanche "has been everything President Trump wants in an attorney general, and that's the problem." The conservative magazine contended that Blanche used his acting role to pursue politically motivated prosecutions rather than uphold impartial justice.
National Review pointed to the DOJ's "Weaponization Working Group," which pursued cases against figures including former FBI Director James Comey, New York Attorney General Letitia James, Rep. Adam Schiff, Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell, and former CIA Director John Brennan. The editors wrote that "professional ethics rules demand that Blanche, as the government's lawyer, represent the public interest," adding that he had instead "prioritized his continuing duty of fealty to Donald Trump, his former private client."
Blanche was originally confirmed as deputy attorney general in March 2025 on a strict party-line vote of 52, 46. Trump nominated him for the permanent attorney general post after Bondi's departure, following what National Review described as a "months-long audition" in the acting role.
Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer framed the opposition in sharper partisan terms. "Trump picked Blanche because he's loyal to the president alone, not the Constitution, not the rule of law, and certainly not to the American people," Schumer said.
Fetterman's voting record on Trump nominees makes him the most consequential Democratic senator in any close confirmation fight. A Fox News Digital review found he voted to confirm roughly half of the president's Cabinet picks, a striking number for a member of the minority party. He provided the only Democratic vote for both Bondi and Mullin, and his committee vote for Mullin proved decisive in advancing that nomination.
That pattern has drawn fire from progressives who view Fetterman as too accommodating to the Trump administration. But it also gives his opposition to Blanche a credibility that a reflexive party-line "no" would lack. Fetterman is not a senator who votes against every Trump nominee on principle. When he says a particular pick is not "the right person for the job," the statement carries the weight of someone who has repeatedly said yes.
The Judiciary Committee hearing took place at the Dirksen Senate Office Building on July 15, with Blanche facing questions from both Republican and Democratic members. Sen. Cory Booker, the New Jersey progressive, challenged Blanche's record and past actions during the proceedings. The committee's 12, 10 vote to advance the nomination fell along strict party lines, with no Republican defections and no Democratic crossovers.
Fox News Digital contacted the White House, the Department of Justice, and Fetterman's office for comment. No responses were reported.
The math facing Blanche on the Senate floor is straightforward and unforgiving. Bondi cleared confirmation with 54 votes. Fetterman's opposition removes the one Democratic vote she received. Collins's opposition removes a Republican vote. That puts Blanche at 52 before accounting for Cassidy and Murkowski, both of whom remain publicly uncommitted.
If either Cassidy or Murkowski votes no, Blanche would need a Democratic crossover vote to survive, and the senator most likely to provide one just said he won't.
The confirmation fight exposes a broader tension within the Republican majority. Blanche had to abandon the anti-weaponization fund to win over Cornyn and Tillis. Collins, who voted for him as assistant attorney general just months ago, reversed course over concerns about departmental independence. And the conservative commentariat, through outlets like National Review, has questioned whether Blanche's loyalty to the president serves the institution he would lead.
When a nominee loses a Republican senator who previously voted to confirm him, a conservative editorial board that usually backs the administration's picks, and the one Democrat who has consistently crossed the aisle, all for overlapping but distinct reasons, the problem is not partisan obstruction. The problem is the nominee.
