Politics

ERIE, Pa.— The Lavery brewery here fills up with people in their 20s, 30s, 40’s, 50s and beyond every weekend where they enjoy the home-made brew and some giant burgers, fries, soft pretzels and other fare that complement the famous house beers. The owners and staff make a point of catering to the needs of the working-class crowd that keeps their business going.

The makeup of the crowd at Lavery presents Pennsylvania’s U.S. Senator, John Fetterman, with a dilemma he faces regarding his re-election prospects in 2027. The brewery restaurant has, in the past, hosted Democratic hopefuls for office on both the local and statewide levels. Fetterman came to Erie when he made his original run for the Senate.

The customers here reflect the makeup of Erie as both a manufacturing and agricultural center. Among the brewery-restaurant patrons are workers in the plastics industry which boasts the production of 10 percent of the nation’s plastic products. Among the customers here are skilled workers who turn out important industrial components. Still other workers here produce things ranging from aerospace dampeners and biofuels to metal parts for a variety of other machinery. Grape production for jelly and wines has long been an important part of the agricultural production in Erie.

At one table of six last weekend at the Lavery brewery, workers from several of these industries were seated. After they heard about Sen. Fetterman’s reaction to the shooting at the White House Correspondents’ Dinner, when he said the solution was to quickly build President Trump’s new ballroom, a few of them responded. Two of four workers who said they had voted for both Trump and Fetterman said they were switching to the Democrats now on the presidential level but were looking for someone other than Fetterman to back for Senate.

“They have broken promises to us,” a machinist at one table said about both Trump and Fetterman. “Trump has done nothing about high prices and Fetterman is not winning any points with me by kissing up to Trump,” the customer said as others at his table laughed.