ERIE, PA — With two large American flags stretched across the wall behind him, Pennsylvania Lt. Gov. John Fetterman took to the podium Friday night for his first rally of his 2022 Senate bid, and the his first public campaign stop since suffering a stroke in May.
But amid attacks from his Republican opponent Mehmet Oz on his absence from the court, and insistence that Fetterman has holed up in a basement during the summer months during his stroke recovery, Fetterman did not shy away of the issue while speaking to the crowd Friday night.
In fact, he led with it.
Introduced by his wife, Gisele, who had cheering fans of her own, she called him a “stroke survivor” and thanked the crowd for welcoming her husband to the track. Barely missing a beat, Fetterman stepped up to the microphone and tackled Oz’s line of rhetoric head on.
“Are we in Erie or did I fit 1,400 people in my basement?” he joked. According to the campaign, the final attendance count was 1,355.
The Senate hopeful recapped his stroke experience, visibly moved as he told the story of his wife who caught wind of his stroke before it was too late. “Gisele saved my life,” he said, adding that he was grateful she happened to be near a well-equipped health facility, in an apparent nod to her stance on approving the access to quality health care throughout the country.
“I’m very grateful. And I’m very lucky. So thank you for being here tonight,” he said.
Fetterman’s return to the campaign marks a major turning point in the race. In what is expected to be one of the most competitive races this cycle, Democrats need every advantage they can get in Pennsylvania, including valuable face time with voters. Pennsylvania is also being targeted by national Democrats as one of their top pick-up opportunities, which could boost their numbers in the Senate or simply prevent Democrats from losing their majority.
While Fetterman faced some backlash for not being fully transparent about the nature of his bump early on, he didn’t seem to have lost any love with his base Friday.
“He’s been extremely outspoken and open … Things happen to human bodies. Things happen to both of us, and we’re coming in here,” Erie resident Jane Asher told The Daily Beast while gesturing to the your partner
The crowd, which lined the block to get in, was filled with Fetterman’s black-and-white campaign posters on card stock. Campaign staff provided rally-goers with yellow and black towels printed with the name “Fetterman” to wave in the air, like the Pittsburgh Steelers’ signature “Terrible Towels.” Classic rock blasted over the speakers at the Bayfront Convention Center, a location on the shores of Lake Erie.
Looking exactly like he did when he left the campaign trial three months ago, Fetterman wore his hoodie and baggy pants.
The Democratic Senate hopeful didn’t mince words to explain why Erie County was his choice for his first campaign rally of the Senate cycle. Erie, a longtime Pennsylvania political advocate, is an encapsulation of everything Fetterman’s campaign hopes to highlight this cycle.
It’s a working-class, blue-collar part of the state that doesn’t vote Democrat by default. It fits perfectly with his “every county, every vote” model, a phrase he’s used to argue that Democrats should target votes in deep red areas as much as they do in their metropolitan havens.
“If you can’t win Erie County, you can’t win Pennsylvania,” Fetterman told the crowd.
Spending only about 10 minutes on stage before going to shake hands and take selfies, Fetterman had another important topic on the agenda: Oz.
Much like his Twitter feed, which has become a steady stream of trashy posts about the Republican hopeful, Fetterman made some comments about the TV doctor, asking the crowd: “Do you think Could Dr. Oz fill a room like this?”
The crowd resoundingly responded by shouting “No”.
Asked for comment, Oz’s campaign said Fetterman “refuses to be honest with Pennsylvanians or the press about his radical policies and his history of not showing up for the Commonwealth.”
“Meanwhile, Dr. Mehmet Oz is campaigning across the Commonwealth, listening and sharing the concerns of the people he knows, and running for Pennsylvanians unlike John Fetterman. Pennsylvanians deserve answers now from Fetterman. It’s been too long.” , said Brittany Yanick, director of communications for Oz.
Fetterman also called out the press and suggested they should run a check on how many mansions Oz has. (It’s hard to discern exactly how many mansions Oz owns, but Oz reported $100 million in assets in his campaign filing.)
John Whaley, another Erie resident, told The Daily Beast that he is voting for Fetterman rather than simply voting against Oz. But Whaley added that he suspects some people are voting “just to keep Oz out”.
“And MAGA and ultra MAGA maniacs,” Whaley added, “we don’t need any of that.”
Mike Kurutz, another Erie Democrat, told The Daily Beast that he doesn’t think politics needs another “entertainer” and wondered if someone like Carrot Top might come next.
Oz’s campaign did not immediately respond to a request for comment about Fetterman’s appearance Friday night, and Fetterman did not take questions from reporters during the event.