one person standing in his way was the state's larger than life lieutenant governor john fedderman. the race to replace retiring republican senator pat toomey in 2022. and he has raised a million dollars already. fedderman sat down for a chat. >> you described as the anger translator. what do you mean by that? >> look at me. the contrast between myself and the governor is comical. you know, when we are standing next to each other. >> at 6'8", john fedderman, the lieutenant governor of pennsylvania looms tall in person and in politics. >> the senate will now come to order. >> the president can send a thousand lawyers to pennsylvania. >> reporter: the 51-year-old democrat gained national attention. >> the lieutenant governor is right. >> reporter: for his brash and cutting defense of pennsylvania's vote against false claims of fraud. >> all they have had is lies. they have had three weeks to come up with anything concrete. >> reporter: especially on twitter where he is more out spoken. >> getting on twitter every day is like starting the morning with a dog turd and motor oil smoothie.

already high profile gop retirements are up ending some races across the rust belt just today john feddermanuncing an early bid for the seat pat toomey won pi a hair. >> senator wears braddock on his sleeves. zip code tattooed on one arm and the dates of murders tattooed on the other. >> tim ryan said he will decide whether to flip the seat of rob portman. portman won the seat in 2016 by 21 points. president trump took ohio in the last two presidential races. democrats are looking across the battle ground even to states where trump eked out gains for opportunities to consolidate power. republicans are seeking to defend or claim seats joe biden won in november and trying to hold on to senator richard burr's seat in north carolina, a state donald trump won by 1.3 points a recent poll there shows mr. trump's daughter in law with a slight lead over the tar heels state's former governor. strategists say the former president still looms large. >> you can't rule out that his presence and involvement can be a pretty big deal moving forward. you can't rule that out completely of course, now talking a