Fetterman, facing health questions, boosts public agenda in Pennsylvania Senate bid

Mr. Fetterman is scheduled to appear at a campaign rally in Scranton in the state’s northeast on Saturday. It will be the latest of a 10-game campaign that the club have said they have played since mid-August when he returned to action after three months recovering from a stroke.

The race is one. A lot of competitive races That would determine control of the Senate only because each party now holds 50 seats and Vice President Kamala Harris, whose Democrats lead the chamber, could break a tie. Losing control of one or both chambers would make it difficult for Democrats to control the agenda in Washington, approve President Biden’s judicial nominees, and enact the party’s preferred legislation.

Mr. Fetterman has consistently led in opinion polls, with several recent polls showing him with a single-digit lead in a closely divided state. Biden won by 1.2 percentage points in 2020. The competition He spent tens of millions. Notice on both sides.

Many polls offer debate about the number and timing of arguments. But Mr. Fetterman said the stroke left him with communication problems — but no cognitive impairment, the campaign says — raising questions about how many Pennsylvania voters need to see him undiagnosed to judge his ability.

The two campaigns agreed to allow Mr. Fetterman to see moderators during the debate. He helps them navigate the questions and answers he says he occasionally has problems with language processing. “The only thing that lingers is, every now and then, I have hearing loss. [problems] And every now and then I miss a word, or I might say two words together,” Mr. Fetterman said of his health on MSNBC this month. “He said he was told he would make a full recovery in the next several months.

According to the Oz campaign, given the closed statement agreement and other accommodations, Mr. Fetterman will have to agree to several arguments, some before Sept. 19, when state legislation begins early voting. Mr. Oz also said the October debate should last 90 minutes instead of the 60 minutes the lieutenant governor wants.

“It’s a complete insult to voters to make a debate,” said Barney Keller, Mr. Oz’s campaign strategist. “It certainly raises questions about how ill he is and whether he can serve in the Senate.”

Fetterman’s campaign says that in Pennsylvania, Senate debates will be held between mid-October and mid-October, and 83% will vote after Oct. 25 in the 2020 election.

A The latest CBS News/YouGov poll Fifty-nine percent of Pennsylvania voters believed Mr. Fetterman was fit to serve in the Senate, while 41% said he was not.

Mr. Fetterman, 53, died in 2011. On May 13, he suffered a stroke four days before the Democratic primary, which he won by a landslide. He watched the results from a hospital room and was off the campaign trail for three months. He has appeared in about 10 public events by the campaign’s count since mid-August, and recently began speaking to the media on a one-on-one basis via closed-caption video.

But Mr. Fetterman did not hold a press conference. He sometimes stumbles over words when appearing, as recently when he called on Mr. Oz to join him in his push to raise the federal minimum wage to 7.25.

“We have to make sure we talk about an offensive minimum wage, and now you have 10 candidates for the Senate, and you’re not willing to raise the minimum wage above $7 and $25 an hour,” Mr. Fetterman said. He said on MSNBC..

Oz campaign spokeswoman Brittany Yannick said the Republican “supports a higher minimum wage when job and economic conditions warrant an increase in the minimum wage.”

Lorette Spielvogel, the Democratic commissioner of Lawrence County, which is largely Republican in the western part of the state, said she was confident Mr. Fetterman was healthy after seeing her speak at a recent campaign stop. “He didn’t stop talking,” she said.

Ms. Spielvogel understood that undecided voters wanted more than one chance to see Mr. Fetterman on the debate stage. “Maybe two would be better,” she said.

Bill Bretz, a Republican state committeeman and county commissioner in Westmoreland County, near Pittsburgh, said Mr. Fetterman’s health was a legitimate issue, but not the most important one.

Mr. Fetterman said his progressive agenda was inappropriate for his Republican-leaning county, and Mr. Bretz said, “I think the big question is still about his background and his personal beliefs.” “I don’t care if it’s a Navy SEAL,” he added. It still doesn’t have the philosophy I’m looking for.

Health issues that lead to absences can have major implications in the Senate. Democratic Sens. Ben Ray Lujan of New Mexico and Chris Van Hollen of Maryland both suffered strokes this year but returned to work several weeks later. In previous years, Sens. Tim Johnson, a Democrat from South Dakota, and Sens. Mark Kirk, a Republican from Illinois, have had strokes that have led to extended absences.

Mr. Fetterman’s campaign said he suffered a stroke in which a blood clot or other particle blocks blood vessels to the brain, possibly depriving cells of oxygen. The campaign said he was treated with a procedure called thrombectomy. Doctors, if the procedure is done quickly after a stroke, it can lead to full recovery.

Mr. Fetterman’s team said he walked several miles every day, and pointed to normal results on two tests used to test for cognitive delays.

Shahid Nimje, MD, director of the Stroke Center at The Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center, said that while these tests are useful, they are not typically used to evaluate someone recovering from a stroke.

Speech impairment can be caused by a number of problems associated with stroke, including muscle weakness or damage to parts of the brain responsible for understanding and expressing speech. Each of these problems can be prevented before they are fully cured, he said.

“I don’t think there’s any temptation to say, ‘Yeah, it’s good to go,'” Dr. Nimje said.

Seema Boni, MD, founder and medical director of the Center for Antiaging and Longevity in Philadelphia, says some of the more subtle effects of stroke may go undetected on some cognitive tests. Looking for personality changes or impaired judgment may require a thorough cognitive evaluation with a neurologist, she says.

“It’s not like breaking a leg. You may not be the same person after that,” said Dr. Boni.

Mr. Fetterman said in his campaign that strokes are caused by a heart condition called cardiomyopathy, which causes the heart to beat irregularly and cause blood to pool and clot. A pacemaker and defibrillator were implanted to prevent further complications.

People with cardiomyopathy can live a long life without any symptoms, doctors said.

The Oz campaign is taking other steps to change public sentiment by pairing Mr. Fetterman with an unconventional demeanor — he favors hats and shorts over traditional business suits — to become a popular figure on liberal cable shows and on social media. .

The Oz camp and its foreign allies focus on Mr. Fetterman’s work as chairman of the state parole board, which has sometimes voted to release inmates convicted of violent crimes. In cities like Philadelphia, they believe the case may be more severe.

Mr. Fetterman, who chairs the board in his role as lieutenant governor, said he has “fought hard to give Pennsylvanians the second chances they deserve and to free the wrongly convicted.” The campaign has recently moved to focus on abortion policy, with Mr Oz saying he would further restrict the legalization of abortion if elected.

Ms. Yannick said Mr. Oz is “pro-life with three exceptions: the life of the mother, rape and the next of kin” and does not want the federal government to interfere with abortion.

Until recently, Mr. Fetterman was spared the barrage of negative publicity that Mr. Oz had to navigate during the difficult Republican primary and damaged his public image.

A recent CBS poll, for example, found that two-thirds of Republicans surveyed said they wished their party had nominated another nominee, while 77% of Democrats said they were glad Mr. Fetterman was the nominee.

Each Senate campaign and its affiliates have spent at least $18 million on ads since Aug. 1, according to ad tracking firm AdImpact. Democrats booked an additional $37 million in advertising and Republicans $28 million on Election Day.

Write Aaron Zeitner b aaron.zitner@wsj.com and Julie Wernau at Julie.Wernau@wsj.com