Democratic candidate for the U.S. Senate from Pennsylvania John Fetterman has consented to a televised debate next month after receiving criticism from his Republican opponent Mehmet Oz for “ducking” and “dodging” forums. The event will take place on October 25, precisely two weeks before the day of the general election on November 8, in Harrisburg, the state capital of Pennsylvania, and will be organized by Nexstar Television. The discussion will be broadcast live across the state.
Following a stroke that occurred immediately before the Democratic primary in May, Fetterman is still making progress. Since securing the Democratic nomination, the lieutenant governor of Pennsylvania has made few public appearances. Oz has criticized him, and recent editorials in the Washington Post, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, and Philadelphia Inquirer have questioned his health.
Fetterman agreed to debate Oz last week, but he did not specify a time. The first of Oz’s five suggested discussions would have happened last week. The forum on October 25 takes place after early voting has begun. Prior to the start of early voting in September, Oz urged that the first debate take place.
Senior campaign advisor Rebecca Katz for Fetterman stated in a statement, “We indicated from the beginning that we’d conduct a debate, which John confirmed very explicitly again last week. Enough with the diversion; let’s get to the point.
Katz continued, “While John and Dr. Oz will be having a debate next month, Dr. Oz doesn’t need to wait that long to tell Pennsylvania voters where he actually stands on abortion. “Doctor, I have a quick question: Would you support or oppose the Republicans’ national ban on abortion?”
On September 11, Fetterman said to the crowd, “My name is John Fetterwoman!” while standing at a platform wearing a Carhartt hoodie and holding out a pink T-shirt with a “Fetterwoman” emblem on the front. One of the rare public appearances Fetterman has made since having a stroke just before the Democratic primary in May was the address he gave at a “Women for Fetterman” gathering in suburban Philadelphia. “Women are the key to our success! Women are the key to our success! Further, Fetterman.
Throughout his speech, Fetterman constantly alluded to women, stressed his campaign promise to back legislation that would make abortion legal everywhere, and blasted Mehmet Oz for remarks he made during a campaign appearance before to the Republican primary.
“Why do you care what age the heart starts beating at if life begins at conception?” Oz spoke on the heartbeat measures that ban abortion at six weeks.
If you kill a child, whether or not their heart is beating, it is still murder, you know.
Should Dr. Oz decide on the right to an abortion? Fetterman posed this question to the crowd. Or should I go to a lady and a legitimate doctor?” Oz considers abortion to be murder. He repeated what he had stated. Rape or incest are both prohibited, Fetterman continued. If every abortion is a murder, Dr. Oz must see every woman who had to make the decision to have an abortion as a murderer. Considering that
Oz stated to Politico this week that he is “pro-life” and supports making an exception for rape, incest, and situations in which the mother’s life is in danger. Oz continued to criticize Fetterman at a rally last weekend in Bucks County, north of Philadelphia, for refusing to commit to a precise date, time, and place for a debate. According to Oz, John Fetterman has been avoiding these discussions, which is disrespectful to Pennsylvania citizens.
He must take responsibility for his motivations for wanting to avoid a discussion with me. He claims to be in good condition, so either he’s telling the truth about his health or he doesn’t want to answer for his extreme prior utterances.
Because absentee ballots will be shipped out in the next two to three weeks, Oz said, “Either way, the citizens of Pennsylvania deserve a response, and I think they need that answer relatively promptly.”
Over the past week, editorials in the Washington Post, Pittsburgh-Post Gazette, and Philadelphia Inquirer have raised concerns about Fetterman’s health.
“If Mr. Fetterman is not well enough to debate his opponent, it raises significant issues about his ability to serve as a United States senator,” the Post-Gazette editorial board stated.
In a contest that might determine which party controls the Senate in January 2023, the Washington Post editorial board issued an Op-Ed this week urging Fetterman to provide all of his medical records and consent to a debate with Oz before early voting starts this month.
According to a Sept. 13 editorial piece in the Inquirer, “Fetterman has been forced—recovered or not—to return on the road with the opening of the campaign season.” While he could heal fully in the future, it is clear from his statements that he has not yet.
With the extensive use of mail-in ballots in Pennsylvania, every day that goes by without a thorough explanation of how Fetterman’s stroke affected him is a day when Pennsylvanians will make a decision without having as much knowledge as they should regarding the Democratic nominee’s health.
Replacing retiring Republican Sen. Pat Toomey, who joined Oz at a press conference on September 6 in Philadelphia, is a race between Oz and Fetterman.
“Dr. Oz, one of the candidates in this race, wants to have a vigorous discussion about the differences, while the other candidate spends the entire day at home on social media. He seldom attends public events and refuses to speak to the media, according to Toomey.
As a senator who has been in the US Senate for over 12 years, Toomey continued, “I have a pretty strong grasp of how the place operates.”
If John Fetterman were elected to the Senate and he is unable to speak, interact with the press, or interact with his colleagues, he will be unable to perform his duties. Simply said, it’s impossible. Fetterman said that discussions are “an essential aspect” of the Democratic Senate race in a tweet dated February. A few months before to his stroke, Fetterman stated, “We believe voters deserve no less than three network broadcast debates—including all candidates who make the ballot—before major media markets throughout Pa.
This post originally appeared on WayneDupree.com.