US Senate hopeful Fetterman aims to dispel health fears at a rally in Pennsylvania.

Pennsylvania Lt. Governor and U.S. Senate candidate John Fetterman speaks with U.S. President Joe Biden during the Labor Day celebration at the United Steelworkers of America Local Union 2227 in West Mifflin, Pennsylvania, U.S., September 5, 2022.

PHILADELPHIA, Sept. 11, 2011 (Reuters) – Democratic U.S. Senate candidate John Fetterman tries to shake off health concerns as he promotes his support for abortion rights at a Sunday rally outside Philadelphia after suffering a stroke earlier this year.

Fetterman, Pennsylvania’s lieutenant governor, was sidelined on the campaign trail in May after a stroke that nearly killed him. His Republican opponent, the well-known Mehmet Oz, seized the issue, which prevented Fetterman from carrying out his duties if elected.

Polls show Fetterman Oz leading in a race that could help decide whether President Joe Biden’s Democrats hold onto their razor-thin margin in the U.S. Senate. The race for the seat held by retiring Republican Pat Toomey is important because Biden and former President Donald Trump have traveled to the state in recent weeks to promote their parties’ candidates.

Five state Democratic Party officials interviewed over the past two weeks, speaking on the condition of anonymity, expressed concern about Fetterman’s health and the Republican attacks that are swaying voters.

“It’s important for people to see John Fetterman on the campaign trail and see for themselves that he’s OK. In a state where one (percentage) point can decide an election, it’s important,” said Joe Foster, a member of the Democratic Committee. From the suburbs of Philadelphia.

Fetterman held his first public event since his stroke in August and has held a handful of campaign events since then, including at a Labor Day rally in Pittsburgh. His speech stopped at times and the campaign confirmed that he relied on closed captioning to conduct interviews due to hearing impairment. He said the symptoms are temporary.

Joe Cavello, Fetterman’s campaign spokesman, said it was up to him.

“John marched in the rain in the Pittsburgh Labor Day parade for over two hours and then spoke at two other events,” Cavello told Reuters on Friday. “Anyone who’s seen John speak knows he’s more capable of fighting for Papa than Dr. Oz while he’s still recovering.

Fetterman will be meeting with Planned Parenthood, an abortion rights group in the greater Philadelphia area, where it is seeking to turn away female voters concerned about ending abortion rights that the US Supreme Court ruled in June.

The stakes are high in Pennsylvania, where the governor’s race will determine whether women decide to continue to have abortions. Fetterman has pledged to help protect that access, and Oz says he’s “100% in favor” but supports exceptions if it’s rape or kinship or the mother’s life is at risk.

Christopher Borick, a political science professor at Muhlenberg University in Pennsylvania, said bread-and-butter campaign events like Sunday’s take on more meaning after the polls.

“He doesn’t have to be John Fetterman in the early stages, but people have to see that he has talent,” Boric said.

Oz used Fetterman’s initial refusal to argue that the challenger was afraid of him or was hiding the extent of the damage from the stroke.

“John Fetterman is either sane and canceling the debate because he doesn’t want to answer to their radical leftist positions, or he’s too sick to participate,” Oz told reporters last week, according to media reports.

Fetterman has now agreed to debate in October, but is looking at the possibility of using a closed-caption display for the event so he doesn’t miss a word as his campaign continues to recover from the stroke.

“Let’s be clear, this has never really been an argument for Dr. Oz,” Fetterman said in a statement. “All this while Dr. Oz and his team mocked me for having a stroke because they didn’t have anything else.”

Reporting by Jarrett Renshaw; Editing by Scott Malone and Daniel Wallis

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