Wednesday 7 September 2022 11:02 PM Democrat John Fetterman says he WILL debate Dr Oz with his stroke recovery ... trends now
Democrat John Fetterman agreed to debate Republican Mehmet Oz on Wednesday, with less than two months until Pennsylvania voters head to the polls to decide which candidate to send to the US Senate.
Fetterman's health has been under intensifying scrutiny since he suffered a stroke in mid-May just days before the Pennsylvania primary elections.
His first major public event since then took place on August 12.
Oz, who made a national name for himself as a celebrity TV doctor, has thus far accused Fetterman of avoiding an on-stage debate because of an unwillingness to defend his record and issues with his health.
'We’re absolutely going to debate Dr. Oz, and that was really always our intent to do that,' Fetterman told Politico.
He said Oz's attacks were a 'faux narrative from a very desperate campaign.'
However, he admitted that the springtime medical emergency did drive the delay.
'It was just simply only ever been about addressing some of the lingering issues of the stroke, the auditory processing, and we’re going to be able to work that out,' Fetterman told the outlet.
He also accused Oz's campaign of trying to 'capitalize' on his stroke - and warned the Republican that the strategy could backfire at the ballot box.
Democrat Pennsylvania Senate candidate John Fetterman (left) told Politico exclusively that he would debate Republican Dr. Mehmet Oz (right) in the latter half of October. Oz's campaign has accused Fetterman of ducking debates, using their lack of a face-to-face to raise questions about Fetterman's health after he had a stroke in mid-May
'Dr. Oz is taking a very, very big bet on mocking somebody that’s dealing with a major health challenge...because there’s a lot of people all across Pennsylvania that whether they have themselves, or they have loved ones in their lives, that have real kind of challenges,' Fetterman said.
The Braddock, Pennsylvania mayor anticipated the face-to-face will be hosted by a 'major television station' in the Keystone State. He said it would likely take place in the latter half of October.
Fetterman defended his fitness for the verbal sparring session but said his team was 'exploring' the possibility of using closed captions to help him with lingering auditory issues.
'I have every ability to talk about all of these issues and have a full debate,' he said.
'And that’s really just the one lingering issue of the stroke - that some of my hearing was damaged a little bit, but it’s continuing to get better and better and better every day.'
He also fired back at retiring GOP Senator Pat Toomey, whose seat he and Oz are vying for, after the Republican
