John Fetterman doesn’t look like your typical U.S. Senator.

But as the Pennsylvania Democrat nears the halfway point of his first term he’s showing a caginess that is refreshing in the Senate, especially with the retirement of Sen. Joe Manchin of West Virginia. At a time when most Democrats are gearing up to oppose President Donald Trump, Fetterman took a meeting with the president before his inauguration at Mar-A-Lago. He was the first Senate Democrat to meet with Trump since the November election.

According to the Associated Press Fetterman has warmed to Trump so much that some in his party are quietly disavowing the man they supported in 2022, when Fetterman easily won a three-candidate primary, survived a stroke amid a high-pressure campaign to become the only Democrat to flip a Republican Senate seat that year.

We’re sure Fetterman won’t agree with Trump on much and, given Trump’s proclivity to woo supporters and then war with them, we’re not sure how long this political alliance will last. But Fetterman is in position to use his relationship with Trump to Pennsylvanians’ advantage. We hope he uses it while it lasts.

Governing isn’t always about winning the day for one’s party – it’s about finding areas of compromise that can help one’s constituents. Pennsylvania is a political wild card at this point, which means that if Fetterman wants to keep his seat, he needs to show he can work with whichever party is in control of the White House while appealing to enough Republican and Democrat voters to keep his seat.

Last month, appearing on ABC’s “This Week,” Fetterman said that he’s not leaving the Democratic Party, but that meeting Trump nominees and aligning with some GOP policy views is part of “representing the kind of state that we have in Pennsylvania.”

Fetterman doesn’t look like your typical U.S. Senator. Turns out, he doesn’t always act like one either – and that’s not a bad thing.