Moor's entry into the race sets up an early contest with Fetterman, a two-term incumbent and one of Congress's most vocal supporters of Israel. Moor said his decision to run was shaped in part by his experience as a parent to three daughters and by his view that Fetterman has not fought adequately for Pennsylvania families.

"Not a serious guy," Moor said of Fetterman. "This goes beyond policy disagreements, right? This is about whether the man's willing to do the job." He cited a Wall Street Journal report describing Fetterman's low interest in the Senate role. Fetterman's office did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Moor's political profile rests heavily on a lawsuit he joined in 2024. He and four other Palestinians and Palestinian Americans sued the federal government, accusing the State Department of violating the Leahy Act, which bars military aid to foreign nations credibly accused of human rights abuses. The suit cited what it described as "widespread unlawful killings" and "forcible displacement, starvation, persecution and knowing deprivation of items indispensable to the survival of civilian Palestinians in Gaza." The case is still winding through the courts and has now implicated two presidential administrations.

"Joe Biden and Donald Trump have violated American law ... in supporting Israel through the genocide," Moor said. "That's not okay. Our laws are meaningful. They count for something. So let's adhere to the law."

A return to the rule of law and constitutional norms is central to Moor's campaign, and he supports sanctions on Israel. He acknowledged that unseating Fetterman will be difficult. Apart from a 2022 election to the Philadelphia Democratic City Committee, Moor has not held or run for public office.

Moor's family immigrated to Philadelphia when he was 7 after his father took a job with the American Friends Service Committee. He graduated from Roxborough High School and the University of Pennsylvania with a degree in political science. He worked in finance in New York for three years, then moved to Beirut to report on politics, immigration and human rights. He later earned a master's degree in public policy from the Harvard Kennedy School and co-founded Liwwa, a peer-to-peer lending platform for small businesses in Jordan. About six years ago he returned to Philadelphia with his wife and children. Most recently he has analyzed American foreign policy as a fellow for the Foundation for Middle East Peace.

Moor argues that economic precarity undermines the freedoms the country promises. "Thomas Jefferson wrote life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness just a few miles away from where I live in Philly," he said. "What does it mean, what does liberty mean when you live in poverty? If you can't go to the dentist or take your kids to a baseball game, or you're overwhelmed by anxiety in thinking about what it's going to cost when you go to the store to feed your family, you're not really free."

He attributed rising costs in part to a war in Iran "that nobody in America wanted" and to what he called a related "corruption crisis" in the Trump administration.

Moor will hold his official campaign launch on Tuesday, Nov. 17, at Renata's Kitchen in University City. Over the next two years he plans to travel to all 67 Pennsylvania counties, presenting himself as a candidate for the whole state regardless of policy disagreements.

"America's a great place," he said. "Philly's a great place. People are friendly everywhere. Our politics are toxic."