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The Senate campaign of Pennsylvania Democrat John Fetterman said Wednesday that his recovery from a stroke, which has complicated his ability to engage in verbal conversations, could affect his plans for debates with Republican candidate Mehmet Oz in a of the races with the most bets this fall.
“We’re working to figure out what a fair debate would look like given the lingering impacts of auditory processing,” said Fetterman campaign strategist Rebecca Katz. “To be absolutely clear, the occasional problems he has with auditory processing have nothing to do with his ability to do the job of senator. John is healthy and fully capable of showing up and doing the job.”
Counselors say Fetterman can participate in one-on-one conversations, but struggles with more chaotic listening environments, a common condition for stroke survivors that doctors say may improve over time.
Fetterman, who returned to the campaign trail on Aug. 12, has yet to accept a debate despite assurances from his advisers that he plans to meet Oz, a celebrity cardiologist, on stage. He announced Tuesday that he would not attend a proposed Sept. 6 debate, after Oz’s campaign released a statement that, Fetterman said, showed “they think it’s funny to make fun of a stroke survivor.” .
The Oz campaign, which is pushing for five debates, including two next week, promised in a tongue-in-cheek statement Tuesday to “pay for any additional medical staff” Fetterman may need at the debates, allow Fetterman to use notes or a headset and allow Fetterman to take breaks in the bathroom as needed. The National Republican Senatorial Committee, which supports Oz, maintained the line of attack Wednesday, calling Fetterman “a whiny coward” who is “too weak and feeble” to debate.
“If you’re too sick to debate, you’re not too sick to serve in the United States Senate, where it can be 10 times more intense,” said an unsigned NRSC statement.
The rising tensions highlight an extraordinary dynamic unfolding in a race seen as central to deciding which party will control the Senate next year. Republicans are trying to make Fetterman’s health and his campaign’s explanation a liability this fall after Fetterman suffered a stroke in mid-May and only later revealed a fuller picture of his medical history.
Fetterman and his allies, seeking to prove he can serve a demanding job despite facing a difficult recovery, have jumped into the fight with equal aggression, calling the bands embarrassing attacks from a rival in difficulties
Since returning to in-person events, Fetterman’s speeches have been limited to about 10 minutes and sometimes pause. He has mostly avoided public interactions with reporters and voters, beyond working the ropes. He has done two one-on-one Zoom interviews with local news media that were conducted with real-time closed captioning to avoid gaps in the conversation. In both interviews, he revealed his ongoing struggles with both listening and speaking.
“I’ll miss a word, or maybe put two words together at some point in a conversation. But that’s really the only problem and it’s getting better and better,” Fetterman told KDKA in Pittsburgh.
Fetterman’s campaign announced he would have his first national television interview since his stroke, on MSNBC Wednesday night. Oz and Republicans have accused Fetterman of not being able to handle reporters’ questions.
Democrats and Fetterman’s campaign said they see Republican attacks on him as a sign of desperation that could backfire in Oz, which has been trailing Fetterman in early polls. Democratic focus groups in August found little concern among swing voters about Fetterman’s health, with substantial sympathy for his continued recovery, according to a Democratic pollster who spoke on condition of anonymity to describe the private investigation
At the hearings, Democrats showed swing voters videos of Fetterman speaking before and after the stroke to test concerns. Voters responded by saying they knew people who had a stroke and that it “takes time” and expressed confidence that it would continue to improve, the survey said.
Fetterman’s campaign hit back at Oz on Wednesday with a video clip from a weekend campaign appearance, where he marveled at Oz’s campaign approach.
“Can you imagine if you had a doctor who was making fun of your illness or ridiculing it?” Mercer County, a rural part of the state, Fetterman said. He continued: “Here we are right now. I’d like to think Dr. Oz might have lost his way if you make fun of someone who’s had a stroke.
Oz has avoided engaging in the attacks himself, and on Tuesday distanced himself from his own campaign to mock Fetterman for not eating enough vegetables before the stroke.
“I can only talk about what I’m talking about,” Oz said in a radio interview.
The new attacks come as Fetterman continues to recover from a life-threatening clot that temporarily limited blood flow to his brain. His campaign waited nearly two days after the stroke to tell the public he was in the hospital, then revealed weeks later that Fetterman had been diagnosed in 2017 with cardiomyopathy, a separate condition that decreases the amount of blood that your heart can pump.
After the stroke, he was implanted with a pacemaker and defibrillator to treat cardiomyopathy, and Fetterman released a public statement pledging to take the medication he had stopped taking after his 2017 diagnosis.
Fetterman’s aides say he has become fully involved in his campaign and regularly walks several miles a day. After Oz distanced himself from his own campaign’s statements, Fetterman personally drafted a meme that circulated on Twitter that used images of musician Drake to poke fun at those who disapprove of “making fun of strokes” but approve that “others mock the strokes.” to a person familiar with the events.
Joseph Schindler, clinical director of the Yale New Haven Comprehensive Stroke Center, said that without one a good clinical exam and an MRI of the brain, it is difficult to know what kind of impairment any stroke survivor has. But he said the inability to filter out external stimuli, including background noise, is a common complaint of people who have had a stroke. It can get better over time, but it doesn’t always, he said.
Schindler offered as an example a person sitting on a bench. When the person first sits down, the person feels the bench, but over time the brain filters out this stimulus as it focuses on other things. But after a stroke, a person may be unable to do this or ignore nearby conversation or background music, Schindler said.
“My experience is that it’s very variable and recovery often depends on the injury to the brain and the location of where that injury is,” Schindler said.
The tenor of the campaign between Fetterman and Oz has soured throughout the summer, with Fetterman mocking Oz as an out-of-touch celebrity “in Gucci loafers” who has long lived in New Jersey and owns multiple properties worldwide. Oz has responded by calling Fetterman a closeted liberal with crime hiding in his basement.
“The Fetterman campaign is completely insulting the intelligence of the voters of Pennsylvania,” Oz adviser Barney Keller said Wednesday. “It can only be for one of two reasons: He’s lying about his ability to debate or he’s lying about his willingness to debate. He can’t have both at the same time.”
Despite Oz’s own hesitations, the Republican’s campaign has shown no remorse for its aggressive attacks on Fetterman’s health.
“Our staff told him to eat his vegetables, and his staff employs two convicted murderers,” said an Oz adviser who spoke on condition of anonymity to more openly describe the approach. “We’ll let Pennsylvania decide.”
Fetterman, who had embraced criminal justice overhauls including the legalization of recreational marijuana, employs Dennis and Lee Horton, brothers who spent 30 years in prison for a robbery and murder they say they did not commit. They were recommended for clemency by the state Board of Pardons in 2020 and later released from life sentences with the support of Fetterman and Pennsylvania Attorney General Josh Shapiro, who is running as a Democrat for governor this year.
Fetterman has called his pitch “the pinnacle of my career”.
“These brothers will not die in prison for a crime they did not commit,” he said on Twitter in October.
Senator Robert P. Casey Jr. (D-Pa.) spent several hours Saturday with Fetterman at Demstock, an annual festival for rural Democrats. Casey said there were no problems with Fetterman’s ability to hear and respond during his interactions in a cavernous room, although his recovery was still evident.
“It sounded really good and really loud,” Casey said. “It’s not there yet, it takes time. I think most people understand that.”
State Democrats aren’t “worried at all,” Casey said. “Obviously, he’s had a long journey from the stroke just before the primary to where he is today, and he’s made remarkable progress in a relatively short time.”
TJ Rooney, former chairman of the state Democratic Party, hosted a virtual fundraiser for Fetterman a few weeks ago, where the candidate spoke and then there was a Q&A with questions people submitted in advance that be read by the donor himself at the call.
“His speech was definitely off, but he absolutely listened and understood the questions,” Rooney said. “His answers were confused, some words were mixed up, but he clearly knew what was being asked of him.”