Wednesday 9 November 2022 09:49 AM Pennsylvania Senate election results: John Fetterman beats Dr. Mehmet Oz trends now
Democratic Senate hopeful John Fetterman beat Dr. Oz in the must-win Pennsylvania Senate race in the early hours of Wednesday morning as top Republicans admitted the red wave hadn't materialized.
In what polls suggested would be a dominant night for the GOP with President Joe Biden's low approval ratings serving as a drag, the Democrats won crucial House seats on the East Coast and held onto the endangered Senate seat in New Hampshire.
Trump-backed Republican J.D. Vance was victorious in Ohio and Ron DeSantis won a landslide to be re-elected as Florida Governor, but the GOP victory party was put on ice because of Democratic wins in swing states.
The Senate is still on a knife-edge, with all eyes on the results in Georgia, Arizona, Nevada and Wisconsin to determine who will take the majority. Republicans are still favored to retake the House, but it will likely be by a slim margin.
'We launched this campaign almost two years ago - and we had our slogan - and it's on every one of those signs right now: every county, every vote,' Fetterman said to a rowdy crowd still gathered at Stage AE in Pittsburgh. 'And that's exactly what happened - we jammed them up. We held the line.'
'I never expected that we would turn these red counties blue, but we did what we needed to do,' he continued. 'And that's why tonight I'll be the next U.S. senator from Pennsylvania,' Fetterman added.
A short time later, the White House said President Joe Biden texted Fetterman congratulations.
On a gripping midterms election night, the other developments included:
GOP leader Kevin McCarthy declared that the Republicans will take the House when all the votes are counted. Herschel Walker and Raphael Warnock were expected to head to a December run-off in their Senate race Republican Brian Kemp won his rematch with Democrat Stacey Abrams for Georgia Governor Kathy Hochul held on to be reelected New York governor, after a late surge from Republican Lee Zeldin
Democratic Senate hopeful John Fetterman defeated Republican Dr. Mehmet Oz in Pennsylvania, wrapping up one of the most closely watched races of the midterms just before 1 a.m. Wednesday morning
As he walked onstage, Fetterman admitted surprise - as the count was expected to take several days
John Fetterman's win gave Democrats their first and only gain of the 2022 midterms as the party tries to hold onto control of the upper chamber
'I'm not really sure what to say right now, oh my goodness,' he said, looking out over his supporters and family members. A man shouted back: 'Just say you're a winner!'
Lt. Gov. John Fetterman tweeted that he won his U.S. Senate race before declaring victory at his election night party
Democrat John Fetterman was leading Republican Dr. Mehmet Oz by 2.4 points in the hours after the election was called
Fetterman's crowd exploded in cheers as the lieutenant governor's win was predicted by NBC and Fox News, and by the Associated Press a short time later.
As he walked onstage, Fetterman admitted surprise - as the count was expected to take several days.
'I'm not really sure what to say right now, oh my goodness,' he said, looking out over his supporters and family members. A man shouted back: 'Just say you're a winner!'
'I'm so humbled, thank you so much, really,' Fetterman said. A defiant Oz insisted around midnight said that he would win the race.
'When all the ballots are counted, we believe we will win this race,' he said at his watch party in Newtown, Pennsylvania. 'We've been closing the gap all night, and we have a lot more ballots to go.'
Early returns showed Fetterman way out ahead of Oz, as votes from the blue, urban areas poured in first. Votes from Allegheny County, which includes Pittsburgh and Braddock - where Fetterman served as mayor - and Philadelphia swung the race heavily toward the Democrat.
More conventional red counties, which are less populated, tilted toward Oz and were slower to report.
By midnight about a point separated the two candidates.
'I have told you many, many times that I believe in you - traveled all over the Commonwealth to make that message clear - tonight you have told me that you believe in me,' Oz told his crowd. 'Bless you for that.'
'Together we will heal Pennsylvania and we will heal America, God bless you,' the Republican added.
In the other top Pennsylvania race, for governor, Democratic Attorney General Josh Shapiro beat Republican state Sen. Doug Mastriano by an even wider margin - indicating that some voters split their ticket and selected Shapiro and Oz.
A defiant Republican Dr. Mehmet Oz insisted just after midnight Wednesday that he would win his tight Pennsylvania Senate race against John Fetterman, despite the Democrat leading him all night
Supporters of Democratic Senate hopeful John Fetterman cheer as results showed him ahead during the candidate's election night party at Stage AE in Pittsburgh
Pittsburgh's Democratic Mayor Ed Gainey spoke early in the night at Lt. Gov. John Fetterman's election night shindig at Stage AE on the North Shore
The race to replace retiring Republican Sen. Pat Toomey has been one of the most dramatic.
Former President Donald Trump endorsed fellow TV personality Oz over a more conventional conservative, David McCormick, leading to a nail-biter of a GOP primary.
Fetterman's Democratic primary was a cake walk, but he suffered from a stroke just days before, taking him off the campaign trail for most of the summer and leaving him with continued 'auditory processing' issues.
He had to use closed captioning for his debate with Oz and still can't answer reporters' questions in an impromptu manner.
Exit polls out of the Keystone State held glimmers of good news for both parties.
For Democrats they could be buoyed by the fact that he No. 1 issue for Pennsylvania voters was abortion, with 36 percent saying so.
The second-largest percentage, 28 percent, said inflation, followed by 11 percrent who said crime.
Fetterman and Shapiro have both championed a woman's right to choose after the June demise of Roe v. Wade. While Oz has hammered Fetterman on crime and has benefited from Democrats being in control of all three branches of government as inflation soared.
Pennsylvania exit polls also found that a super-majority said they didn't want to see Biden run for president again. Sixty-nine percent said no, to just 28 percent who said yes.
Democratic Senate hopeful John Fetterman (left), wearing his trademark gym shorts and a blue puffer jacket, pulled up in a pick-up truck to his polling place in Braddock, outside of Pittsburgh, and cast his ballot alongside his wife Gisele (right)
Republican U.S. Senate candidate Dr. Mehmet Oz and his wife Lisa cast their votes at Bryn Athyn Borough Hall, Huntingdon Valley, Pennsylvania
Fetterman greeted a voter as he emerged from the polling station on Tuesday. He trails Oz by 0.1 percent in the Real Clear Politics polling average
Fetterman and his wife Gisele walk back to their car after casting their ballots on Tuesday morning in Braddock, Pennsylvania
There's already a legal battle raging over mail-in ballots in Pennsylvania, but Election Day voters in Luzerne County will have two extra hours to vote Tuesday after polling places had a paper shorage.
Luzerne County judge Lesa S. Gelb ordered the extension saying voters 'through no fault of their own, were disenfranchised and denied the fundamental right to vote.'
In the rest of the state, voters have to be in line by 8 p.m. to cast a ballot.
Former President Donald Trump won Luzerne County in both 2016 and
