Aligning himself with Joe Manchin was probably a smart move when Conor Lamb was running in a Trump +20 district that bordered West Virginia, but I imagine that hurt him in a Dem primary in 2022.
Fetterman got tons of air time mocking Republicans while the votes were being counted in PA in 2020, which took the better part of a week. I don't think Lamb was ever able to introduce himself to voters.
Anyway, Fetterman's not perfect, but certainly better than Lamb. Hopefully his campaign is able to successfully tag his opponent with the fact that he moved (or pretended to move) to the state to run for Senate.