Sen. John Fetterman insisted he is still a Democrat while refusing to say how he would cast a decisive 51st Senate vote after the midterms, then slipped and called himself a lifelong Republican.

At the closing keynote of the Texas Tribune Festival in Austin on Saturday, the Pennsylvania Democrat told CBS News chief Washington correspondent Major Garrett that Democratic control of the Senate was entirely possible. He would not say what he would do with the leverage that comes with a deciding vote.

“Let’s revisit after the midterms, and let’s see what happens,” Fetterman said.

That answer keeps alive weeks of talk about whether the first-term senator might break with his party. Democrats already seethe over his record. He has repeatedly broken with the caucus on arms sales to Israel. On Thursday he was again the lone Democrat to vote against a Senate war powers resolution on the U.S. war in Iran, a pattern that has left colleagues furious and voters watching.

RNC video and Capitol Hill pushback

Earlier this month Fetterman appeared in a prerecorded video at the Republican National Committee’s midterm convention in Dallas. He introduced home-state GOP Sen. Dave McCormick as a “great friend” and pledged to work with President Donald Trump on Pennsylvania’s steel industry.

Anger among Democrat colleagues escalated. Days later, reporters on Capitol Hill pressed him on defection. He snapped back.

“I’m not going to be a Republican,” he said, urging them to wait until the midterms. The same refusal to close the door showed up again in Austin, where he repeated that he has “no path as a Republican.”

That history of pressure matches earlier moments when Fetterman lost patience with reporters chasing the same switch rumors.

The slip that will get clipped

Later Saturday an audience member asked why he had not simply registered as an independent. Fetterman answered, “Because I’m a lifelong Republican.”

Garrett prompted a quick correction. Fetterman laughed and said he was “a lifelong Democrat though.”

Fox News reported he immediately recognized the mistake and added, “I guarantee you that will break through. That will get clipped.” He also said of joining Republicans, “I don’t have a reason to,” while noting Democrats could expel him.

The New York Post captured the same moment and the larger pattern. Fetterman has kept the switch talk alive, saying he would be a terrible Republican who still votes with Democrats and leaving open a change if Democrats turn anti-Israel. He told reporters, “Why can’t you guys just wait till the midterms? And if I turn Republican, then I’ll be a liar.... Chill.”

The Post noted he also predicted the slip would go viral: “I guarantee you, that’s gonna break through.”

Breaks with the caucus keep stacking up

The Iran war powers vote was not a one-off. Fetterman has stood apart from Democratic leadership on Israel arms sales again and again. That record is why Republicans have welcomed his recent appearances and why some Democrats treat him as a problem inside their own tent.

His solo stance when the Senate killed an Iran war powers curb only sharpened the split.

Pennsylvania Democrats have already turned on him in public fights at home. The same friction that produced the Austin exchange has produced open frustration inside the state party.

That local backlash tracks earlier coverage of how Pennsylvania Democrats turned on Fetterman over constituent and loyalty fights.

Midterms as the only deadline he will give

Fetterman will not say what a 51st vote would mean if Democrats retake the majority in November. He will not rule out future moves beyond the midterms. He will not give colleagues the clean reassurance they want.

He frames every question the same way: wait. The RNC video, the steel-industry pledge with Trump, the Iran vote, and the Austin slip all sit on the table while he tells everyone to hold their questions until after Election Day.

Veteran Democratic voices have already voiced certainty about where this ends. That includes recent comments in which James Carville said he has no doubt Fetterman will leave the party.

Internal strain has followed him as well, including fights with former staff. Those battles surfaced when Fetterman blamed “disgruntled staffers” as ex-aides promised more revelations.

None of that has produced a clear answer on the one point that matters for Senate math. If Democrats need him as the 51st vote, they still do not know what they would get.

Voters and colleagues can watch the votes and the videos. The senator who says he is a lifelong Democrat keeps leaving the next chapter for after the midterms, and keeps giving his party reasons to wonder whether that chapter still includes them.