John Fetterman isn’t about to debate opponent Mehmet Oz, saying the GOP candidate’s campaign thinks “it is funny to mock” his recovery from a stroke.
“I’m eager to put my record and my values up against Dr. Oz’s any day of the week,” Fetterman, Pennsylvania’s lieutenant governor, said in a statement Tuesday night. “As I recover from this stroke and improve my auditory processing and speech, I look forward to continuing to meet with the people of Pennsylvania.”
The Oz campaign said it would “pay for any additional medical personnel” Fetterman might need to have on standby, in addition to permitting him bathroom breaks and allowing him to have all of his notes on hand, along with an earpiece to obtain answers from his staff.
Matt Rourke / AP Photo
Mehmet Oz, a Republican candidate for U.S. Senate in Pennsylvania, meets with an attendee during a visits to a car show in Carlisle, Pa., May 14, 2022.
Fetterman said that list of debate “concessions made it abundantly clear that they think it is funny to mock a stroke survivor.”
Fetterman suffered his stroke May 13, several days before the Democratic primary. He won that, then spent almost three months off the campaign trail before appearing several weeks ago at a rally in Erie. He initially spoke in clipped sentences and repeated some words as he gathered his thoughts, but he seemed to relax after a few minutes, according to a PennLive story written after the rally.
While Fetterman has been leading in the polls since the start of summer, there are those in the Republican Party who view Fetterman’s refusal to commit to debates as permission to raise his health issue. Both are running to assume the Senate seat held by Republican Pat Toomey.
Brittany Yanick, a spokesperson for Oz, responded to Fetterman’s decision not to debate by calling Fetterman “a liar, a liberal, and a coward,” according to NBC News.
“Ok, so when will he debate?” she said. “He won’t ever say — not even in his latest whiny statement.”
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