Gaza-born writer Ahmed Moor launches Pennsylvania Senate primary challenge to Fetterman

Ahmed Moor, a Gaza-born writer raised in Philadelphia, announced his campaign for the Pennsylvania Senate seat in an interview with the Philadelphia Inquirer. He is the first Democrat to launch a primary challenge against Senator John Fetterman ahead of the 2028 election.

Moor writes for left-wing, anti-Israel outlets such as Electronic Intifada and Mondoweiss and co-edited the book "After Zionism: One State for Israel and Palestine." He serves on the advisory board of a boycott Israel group with ties to Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad.

“Any normal person would look and say, of course these people have a right to resist.”

In campaign materials, Moor said he is running to "end the war in Iran" and call for "accountability for genocide." He described Gaza as having been turned to rubble in a genocide funded by U.S. tax dollars.

Fetterman has not yet said whether he will seek re-election in 2028. He is considered one of the strongest pro-Israel voices in the Democratic Party and the only Senate Democrat to oppose war powers resolutions limiting President Donald Trump's authority to take military action against Iran.

Polls show Fetterman's approval among Pennsylvania Democrats is underwater, while he holds a strongly favorable rating among Republicans in the state. Those polls have fueled speculation that he might switch parties or face a primary challenge from the left.

Moor is a dues-paying member of the Philadelphia chapter of the Democratic Socialists of America. In 2009, at age 24, he wrote for Electronic Intifada that "Zionist Israel" does not have the right to exist and described Zionism as racism.