This combination of file photos shows Democratic Senate candidate, Pennsylvania Lt. Gov. John Fetterman, left, and Republican Senate candidate Dr. Mehmet Oz in 2022 photos.
AP Photos
Pennsylvania Senate Democratic hopeful John Fetterman and his Republican rival Dr. Mehmet Oz came out of the gate swinging Tuesday night in their only debate just two weeks before Election Day.
Fetterman, the state’s lieutenant governor, in his opening statement said that if Oz “is on TV, he’s lying,” calling it “the Oz rule.” The Democrat is recovering from a stroke he suffered in May and used closed-captioning during the debate.
Oz hit back, calling Fetterman “extreme” and accusing him of being soft on crime.
The race to clinch the seat being vacated by retiring GOP Sen. Pat Toomey is widely viewed as one of the most important of the midterms cycle.
Democrats see the contest in the key swing state, where President Joe Biden beat former President Donald Trump in 2020, as one of their best chances to flip a Republican-held seat and cling to their razor-thin Senate majority. Republicans view Toomey’s seat as a must-win piece of their plan to retake control of the upper chamber of Congress.
The hourlong debate in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, comes as Oz, the celebrity doctor endorsed by Trump, has closed his polling deficit with Fetterman in the final weeks of the race.
The two candidates now appear to be in a virtual dead heat, according to averages of recent polls compiled by RealClearPolitics and FiveThirtyEight.
Oz’s gains came as Fetterman recovered from a debilitating stroke in May that took him off the campaign trail for three months.
The Oz campaign, aided by tens of millions of dollars from Senate GOP Leader Mitch McConnell’s PAC, has bombarded Fetterman with ads accusing him of being soft on crime and too far left for Pennsylvania. Earlier Tuesday, two other GOP groups linked to that PAC poured an additional $6.2 million into ads that will run in Pennsylvania through Election Day.
Fetterman’s campaign has blasted Oz, a wealthy TV star, as an out-of-touch carpetbagger from New Jersey who got rich by promoting sometimes-dubious health information to his audiences.
Oz’s campaign has also launched attacks on Fetterman’s health, openly questioning whether he is physically fit for office. Fetterman’s primary care physician wrote last week that the candidate “has no work restrictions and can work full duty in public office,” while noting he is experiencing lingering auditory processing issues.
Fetterman in recent interviews has used a closed-captioning system in order to read live transcriptions of questions as they are asked of him. His campaign warned Monday that the use of closed-captioning during the debate could lead to some awkward pauses and some transcription errors.
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