Fetterman: What’s Wrong With Requiring ID to Vote?

Good question. Three out of every four voters want to know the answer. Somewhere between 60-75% of Democrat voters would like to know the answer, depending on which poll one trusts. And now, even Senate Democrat John Fetterman would like an answer to it from his fellow caucus members. 

At this point, though, this is not the question that needs an answer. We’ll get to that in a moment, but Fetterman appeared yesterday to reiterate that requiring an ID to vote does not equate to “Jim Crow 2.0,” no matter what his fellow Democrats screech these days:

🚨JUST IN: Democrat Sen. John Fetterman breaks ranks and says voter ID is not radical.

“You have ID to vote — many states already do that.”

Even Democrats know this is common sense.

Will the rest of the party finally admit it? 🇺🇸 pic.twitter.com/XixUFoOkI8

— ᴺᵉʷˢEric Trump (@EricTrump_News) February 14, 2026

This, by the way, is not a new position for Fetterman. He’s been on record for at least a week supporting voter-ID requirements in principle, although – as he alluded in his Fox interview yesterday – he’s still not sold on the SAVE Act. An ABC affiliate in Pennsylvania reported Fetterman’s mainstream position last week:

U.S. Senator John Fetterman (D-PA) broke with his party again this weekend by backing a Republican-led effort to require identification when voting in federal elections. …

Democrats largely oppose voter ID laws because they argue that they would disenfranchise voters. Fetterman rebuffed those worries in a weekend appearance on Fox News.

“It’s not a radical idea for regular Americans to show your ID to vote, and absolutely those things are not Jim Crow or anything,” Fetterman said. “Of course, that’s part of an awful, awful legacy of our nation.”

A few days later, Fetterman clarified his position on the SAVE Act:

Host Dasha Burns noted on the Politico show that Fetterman has deviated from much of his party by not opposing voter ID and explained that the SAVE Act would require proof of citizenship to vote in federal elections. However, the Democrat clarified that although he did not oppose voter ID, he would not vote for the legislation. …

Burns repeated her question about whether Fetterman would vote in support of the SAVE Act.

“No. No, I won’t. But even if I loved it and I vote for it, I’ll be the only Democrat and that doesn’t matter because we won’t come anywhere close to hitting 60 [votes],” the senator said referring to the threshold to break the filibuster.

While Fetterman did not explain why he opposed the law during the Politico interview, he told the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette that changes to mail-in voter registration were “a non-starter” for him.

Republicans might get Fetterman if they just narrowed the legislation to a voter-ID requirement for federal elections. The problem with that strategy, though, is that they would only get Fetterman. Despite two-thirds of Democrat voters favoring voter-ID requirements, only one in 47 Democrat elites would support it. 

And that brings us to the real question, which isn’t what’s wrong with voter-ID requirements. It’s what’s wrong with elected Democrats, who are so disconnected from their own voters on this issue that they can hardly claim to either represent them or democracy at this point. And that leads to another real question: What is it about voter-ID requirements that frightens Democrats? 

I think we all know the answer to that question. John Fetterman certainly does. 

Editor’s Note: Every single day, here at Hot Air, we will stand up and FIGHT, FIGHT, FIGHT against the radical left and deliver the conservative reporting our readers deserve. 

Help us continue to expose the radical nature of progressive elites. Join Hot Air VIP and use promo code FIGHT to get 60% off your membership!