“I dress like he campaigns”

Sen. John Fetterman hit back with a mocking jab after Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis took issue with his casual dress sense.

Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer this week asked the Sergeant at Arms to no longer enforce the chamber’s dress code. The code has, over the decades, been an unwritten rule in the Senate, with members typically wearing suits and general evening wear, maintained in force by the Sergeant at Arms. The new change will only apply to senators, not their staff.

“Senators can choose what they wear in the Senate. I will continue to wear a suit,” Schumer said.

The precise details of what is and is not acceptable in the Senate are unknown at this time, as are Schumer’s reasons for changing enforcement policy. Despite this lack of information, many Republicans chose to attribute the change to Fetterman, the young progressive senator from Pennsylvania elected in the midterms last year. Although Fetterman often wore a suit and tie at the Capitol, he also frequently wore hooded sweatshirts and basketball shorts, a look he was well known for before his election to the Senate.

On Monday, DeSantis, currently a candidate for the 2024 Republican presidential nomination, added his voice to the GOP chorus attacking Fetterman’s dressing habits at a campaign event.

“The United States Senate just eliminated its dress code because there’s this guy from Pennsylvania (Fetterman) – who has a lot of problems… he wears sweatshirts, hoodies and shorts,” declared the governor. “We need to raise our standards in this country, not lower them.”

In response to DeSantis’ comments, Fetterman took to X, the platform formerly known as Twitter, with a mocking response, comparing his own dress sense to the governor’s flagging electoral prospects.

“I dress like he’s campaigning,” Fetterman wrote.

News week contacted Fetterman’s office via email for additional comment.

While DeSantis was seen by many as the future of the Republican Party following his decisive midterm re-election in 2022, his campaign’s prospects have plummeted in the months since he officially entered the race. Although he has consistently been ahead of every other candidate in a crowded field, he has also consistently ranked far behind former President Donald Trump.

According to the FiveThirtyEight national polling average, Trump currently has about 55 percent support from likely Republican voters, while DeSantis only gets about 14 percent. The governor’s poll performance has also declined gradually since peaking around 40% in early January, when he was neck and neck with Trump.