At 6-foot-8 and 270 pounds, John Fetterman is usually the biggest man in the room.
But that was not the case at freshman orientation for incoming members of Congress and their families in November 2022.
Wesley Britt, husband of U.S. Sen. Katie Britt, R-Ala., is as tall as Fetterman. But the former University of Alabama offensive lineman had at least 30 pounds on Pennsylvania’s now-senior Democratic senator.
Wesley Britt’s size sparked the unlikely friendship between Fetterman and Katie Britt in a political climate where bipartisanship is eschewed.
“I walk in and there was a guy bigger than me. Like, I felt petite,” Fetterman said while appearing last week with Katie Britt on C-SPAN’s “Ceasefire” with Dasha Burns. “He’s a gigantic man. And he’s just turned out to be the nicest guy.”
Katie Britt said their families instantly clicked.
“We walked into orientation and we immediately connected, both with Wesley and John and [Fetterman’s wife] Gisele and I. Even Wesley and Gisele during the spouse program at orientation,” she said.
Fetterman has a nickname for Wesley Britt: “The Big Unit.”
“John always puts it at a trademark” symbol in their group texts, Katie Britt explained.
“We have a text with Wesley and Gisele and John and I. He always trademarks it, John does, when he calls him ‘The Big Unit.’”
Of the Britts, Fetterman said, “truly, they’re both lovely people. And immediately, during the orientation, it just kind of clicked. And then it just kind of grew from there and there and there.”
Katie Britt visited Fetterman when the Pennsylvania Democrat was hospitalized at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center in 2023 for depression.
“We try to work together on the political thing, but on a personal level, it just reminds people that we don’t all hate each other,” Fetterman said.
Besides their personal connection, the senators, who both sit on the Senate Banking Committee, have also worked together on policy.
Earlier this year, Fetterman was one of two Democratic co-sponsor on Britt’s Laken Riley Act.
The legislation, signed by President Donald Trump, requires U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) to arrest undocumented immigrants charged with theft, burglary, larceny or shoplifting offenses and mandate those suspects be detained so they cannot reoffend.
“One of the best parts of being in the Senate is friendship with John and the work we’ve been able to do together,” Britt said.