{"id":128806,"date":"2022-08-12T17:27:01","date_gmt":"2022-08-12T17:27:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/fin2me.com\/?p=128806"},"modified":"2022-08-12T17:27:01","modified_gmt":"2022-08-12T17:27:01","slug":"fetterman-prepares-return-to-senate-campaign-trail-in-pennsylvania","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/fin2me.com\/politics\/fetterman-prepares-return-to-senate-campaign-trail-in-pennsylvania\/","title":{"rendered":"Fetterman Prepares Return to Senate Campaign Trail in Pennsylvania"},"content":{"rendered":"
Lt. Gov. John Fetterman, who had a stroke in mid-May, will hold his first major public event of the general election. For weeks, he has run a mainly digital Senate campaign against Dr. Mehmet Oz.<\/p>\n
Send any friend a story<\/strong><\/p>\n As a subscriber, you have 10 gift articles<\/strong> to give each month. Anyone can read what you share.<\/p>\n This article is part of our Midterms 2022 Daily Briefing<\/p>\n By <\/span>Katie Glueck<\/span><\/p>\n Lt. Gov. John Fetterman, the Democratic nominee for Senate in Pennsylvania, is expected to return to the campaign trail on Friday evening for his first major public event since he suffered a stroke in mid-May.<\/p>\n The rally in Erie, Pa. \u2014 in a swing county in what is perhaps the nation\u2019s ultimate swing state \u2014 will be an important moment in a race that could determine control of the Senate. It will be Mr. Fetterman\u2019s first official in-person campaign event of the general election as he runs against Dr. Mehmet Oz, the celebrity physician who squeaked through the Republican primary with the endorsement of former President Donald J. Trump.<\/p>\n \u201cThere\u2019s a reason we\u2019re here and we\u2019re not in Philadelphia or Pittsburgh,\u201d said Joe Calvello, a spokesman for Mr. Fetterman, who he said was \u201cnever a planned remarks guy.\u201d Mr. Calvello said the candidate would \u201ctalk about the importance of competing in Erie, how it is this bellwether place.\u201d<\/p>\n He will also, Mr. Calvello said, discuss \u201chow grateful he is\u201d for the opportunity \u201cto be back on the campaign trail.\u201d<\/p>\n Mr. Fetterman\u2019s stroke occurred days before the Democratic primary in May, and in early June, his doctor said he also had a serious heart condition. The candidate, who said he had \u201calmost died,\u201d pledged to devote time to recovery. The public initially heard little from him, except in brief video clips.<\/p>\n In recent weeks, Mr. Fetterman has started to emerge, greeting volunteers, granting a few local interviews and attending fund-raisers and events, including with senators and other Senate hopefuls. Democrats in the state are anxious to see him return to making more public appearances. Mr. Calvello said the \u201cpace will be picking up\u201d as Mr. Fetterman continues to raise money and plans events like meet-and-greets this month.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019ll miss a word sometimes, or I might mush two words together sometimes in a conversation, but that\u2019s really the only issue, and it\u2019s getting better and better every day,\u201d Mr. Fetterman told KDKA-TV, the CBS station in Pittsburgh, in his first television interview since the stroke.<\/p>\n Several people who have spoken with him or heard him speak in recent weeks described him as energetic and eager to return to the campaign trail, though in interviews last month, some said it was also evident when he was reaching for a word, a challenge he has acknowledged.<\/p>\n Public polling has shown him with a strong lead over Dr. Oz, and he has far outpaced the Republican nominee in fund-raising, though outside spending from both parties is expected to be significant and many strategists expect a close race in a narrowly divided state.<\/p>\n Despite his absence from the campaign trail, Mr. Fetterman and his team have pressed a relentless case that Dr. Oz is, essentially, a carpetbagger, casting the Republican as more comfortable in New Jersey \u2014 which had been his longtime principal residence \u2014 than in Pennsylvania, where he says he now lives in a Philadelphia suburb.<\/p>\n In a series of attention-grabbing moves, Mr. Fetterman\u2019s campaign deployed Nicole Polizzi of \u201cJersey Shore\u201d fame \u2014 better known as Snooki \u2014 to record a video for Dr. Oz, pledging that \u201cJersey will not forget you.\u201d And Steven Van Zandt, a musician and actor who has reached legend status in New Jersey, recorded a direct-to-camera message to Dr. Oz urging him to \u201ccome on back to Jersey where you belong.\u201d<\/p>\n For his part, Dr. Oz, who has faced some challenges consolidating his base, has criticized Mr. Fetterman over his absence from the campaign trail. Dr. Oz, a heart surgeon, unveiled a site calling Mr. Fetterman a \u201cbasement bum,\u201d and has challenged his rival to commit to debates. Mr. Calvello did not commit to a specific number of debates but said Mr. Fetterman planned on debating Oz.<\/p>\n Dr. Oz has also tried to link Mr. Fetterman to President Biden, who has struggled with anemic approval ratings, and to Senator Bernie Sanders, whom Mr. Fetterman backed in the 2016 presidential primary.<\/p>\n In the lead-up to the Friday evening event, Mr. Fetterman\u2019s campaign introduced an \u201cofficial rally poster.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cBefore the 2020 election, I said that if I could know one single fact about the results, I could tell you who was going to win Pennsylvania,\u201d Mr. Fetterman said in a statement before the event. \u201cWhoever wins Erie County will win Pennsylvania.\u201d<\/p>\n
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