Fetterman calls Trump's support in Pennsylvania 'astonishing': 'You can see the intensity'

Pennsylvania Democratic Sen. John Fetterman opened up about the state of the presidential race in his key battleground state and called former President Trump’s support there “astonishing” while predicting that Elon Musk’s endorsement is “going to really matter.”

“There’s a difference between not understanding, but also acknowledging that it exists,” Fetterman told the New York Times in an interview published Saturday morning when asked about enthusiasm for Trump in Pennsylvania. “And anybody who spends time driving around, and you can see the intensity. It’s astonishing.”

Fetterman continued, “I was doing an event in Indiana County. Very, very red. And there was a superstore of Trump stuff, and it was a hundred feet long. [There were] dozens of T-shirts and hats and bumper stickers and all kinds of, I mean, it’s like, Where does this all come from? It’s the kind of thing that has taken on its own life. And it’s like something very special exists there. And that doesn’t mean that I admire it. It’s just — it’s real.”

Fetterman said he believes Musk, who endorsed Trump and appeared with him at a rally at the site of the first assassination attempt on Trump in Butler, will be appealing to voters in Pennsylvania.

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“And now [Elon] Musk is joining him,” Fetterman said. “I mean, to a lot of people, that’s Tony Stark. That’s the world’s richest guy. And he’s obviously, and undeniably, a brilliant guy, and he’s saying, Hey, that’s my guy for president. That’s going to really matter.”

Fetterman said he was “alarmed” when Musk began showing up on the campaign trail for Trump and said he’s a “bigger star than Trump” in “some sense.”

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WASHINGTON – MAY 15: Sen. John Fetterman, D-Pa., walks through the Senate subway in the Capitol after a vote on Wednesday, May 15, 2024. (Bill Clark/CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images)

“Endorsements, they’re really not meaningful often, but this one is, I think,” Fetterman said. “That has me concerned.”

Fetterman told the New York Times that he does not believe the 2024 election will come down to “a certain policy” but will instead come down to the “stark choice” between Harris and Trump. 

“It’s visceral,” Fetterman said. “And that’s why the people that are left that haven’t made up their decision are going, you know, what do I want for the next four years? And I do believe enough people will choose Harris. But it’s going to be much, much closer than anyone would want.”

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Tesla CEO Elon Musk (R) jumps on stage as he joins former US President and Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump during a campaign rally at site of his first assassination attempt in Butler, Pennsylvania on October 5, 2024. (JIM WATSON/AFP via Getty Images)

The Real Clear Politics average of polling in Pennsylvania shows Trump narrowly leading Harris by less than a percentage point.

Political eyes are locked on Pennsylvania as the state that will likely determine the outcome of the election. Trump and Harris have both repeatedly zigzagged the state campaigning in recent weeks, while voter registration for the state released this week shows sizable shifts benefiting the GOP in the final stretch of the election cycle. 

Fox News Digital’s Emma Colton contributed to this report