“I just want to be in a room full of love,” he has told people.

At the same time, Mr. Fetterman has shed staff. And he has grown more isolated from his Democratic colleagues. (Mr. Fetterman detests the word “isolated,” which he thinks is just code for mental health issues.)

Despite attempts from his friends in Congress to draw him out, Mr. Fetterman still does not attend the weekly Democratic caucus lunch in the Capitol. He quit the caucus group chat, he said, because he couldn’t figure out how to turn off the notifications and most of the conversation was insignificant senatorial chitchat.

“It’s not like we were on a chain planning to bomb Yemen,” he said, referring jokingly to leaked Signal chats among top Trump officials. “It’s mostly just happy birthdays. Some days, it’s just emojis.”

Pennsylvania voters who elected Mr. Fetterman in 2022 knew that he was a gruff guy; it was part of his political brand. But his absence has raised questions about whether he is doing the job for which he was sent to Washington. Some constituents have complained that they cannot reach him or his office.

And it has prompted alarm among his Democratic colleagues.

“This is very stressful,” Senator Peter Welch, the Vermont Democrat who is Mr. Fetterman’s closest friend in the caucus, said in an interview. Mr. Welch had dinner this month with Mr. Fetterman and Senator Katie Britt, Republican of Alabama. He conceded that the scrutiny about his colleague’s behavior has been difficult for Mr. Fetterman.

“John is hanging in,” he said. “It’s fair to say this is pretty stressful. This is a hard thing.”

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=5797568&forum_id=2#49428404)