Democrat John Fetterman won Pennsylvania’s pivotal U.S. Senate race, flipping a Republican-held seat as he recovered from a stroke on the campaign trail and giving Democrats hope they can retain control of the closely divided chamber for to bolster President Joe Biden’s agenda for two more years. Fetterman, the towering and unassuming lieutenant governor of Pennsylvania who became a progressive hero as mayor of a blighted steel town, defeated Dr. Mehmet Oz, the smooth and wealthy heart surgeon-turned-television celebrity who had just moved to the presidential battleground state to run for the Senate. Fetterman credited his “every county, every vote” campaign strategy, in which the tattooed, hoodie-wearing candidate sought to bring the Democratic Party back to predominantly white working-class districts that increasingly rejected him even as he ran in a progressive platform. . “And that’s exactly what happened,” Fetterman, 53, told a cheering crowd early Wednesday at a concert venue in Pittsburgh. “We blocked them. We held the line. I never expected that we would turn those red counties blue, but we did what we had to do and had that conversation in every one of those counties.” Fetterman spent much of the campaign fending off Oz’s attacks questioning whether he was being honest about the effects of the stroke and whether he was fit to serve. He vowed to be the Democrats’ “51st vote” to pass landmark legislation protecting abortion rights, health care, same-sex marriage, unions and voting, as well as raising the minimum wage. Fetterman likened his May 13 stroke — which left him unable to speak fluently and quickly process spoken conversation into meaning, a common effect called auditory processing disorder — to being knocked down and adopted it as a campaign mission. He ran for “anyone who’s ever been knocked down and got back up,” he told the crowd. “This fight is for the future of every community across Pennsylvania, for every small town or person who felt left behind, for every job lost, for every factory that ever closed, and for every person who worked hard but never got ahead. . .” Fetterman spoke smoothly early Wednesday but required closed captioning during media interviews and, two weeks ago, during the men’s lone conversation. He turned in a difficult performance in which he struggled to complete sentences, garbled words and fueled concern within his party that he had doomed the race. To underscore the importance of the race, Biden has campaigned in Pennsylvania for Fetterman three times in the past three weeks, while former President Donald Trump also came to rally for Oz, his running mate. In brief remarks to his election night party crowd at a gym in suburban Philadelphia, Oz thanked his supporters and exuded optimism. “When all the ballots are counted, we think we’re going to win this race,” Oz told the jubilant crowd late Tuesday. He had not conceded by early Wednesday morning. Oz was carrying heavy baggage, including having just moved out of his New Jersey mansion and having just won an explosive primary in which opponents labeled him an unknown Hollywood liberal. All along, Oz — a novice politician with no roots in Pennsylvania politics — struggled to connect with some Republican voters, including those who thought he was too close to Trump, too liberal or too authentic. Fetterman won despite national political adversity for Democrats, such as rising inflation. He will succeed the retirement of the second Republican senator, Pat Tomei. Fetterman sought to capitalize on the furor over the Supreme Court’s abortion decision and vowed to vote to repeal the filibuster. Polls showed a close race, with the economy and abortion rights weighing heavily on voters. About half of the state’s voters say the economy and jobs are the most important issue facing the country, according to the AP VoteCast, an extensive survey of more than 3,100 voters in the state. Among that group of voters, Oz had a lead over Fetterman. The Supreme Court’s decision to overturn Roe v. Wade also played a role in most voters’ decisions, with about 8 in 10 citing it as a factor. About a quarter rated him as the most important factor, with more of those voters voting for Fetterman. About half said they were confident Fetterman is healthy enough to serve effectively, and half said they had reservations, according to the survey. More voters said they weren’t sure Oz was familiar enough with Pennsylvania to serve effectively as a senator than those who expressed confidence, according to the poll. Fetterman characterized Oz’s vote as a vote to ban abortion — mocking Oz’s comment during the debate that he wants “women, doctors, local political leaders” to decide the fate of abortion — and painted Oz as a soulless TV salesman who made junk health supplements for money and would say or do anything to get elected. Fetterman was forced to explain progressive stances to a swing state electorate, including a flip-flop on natural gas drilling and pardons for state inmates convicted of murder. Eventually, Fetterman’s everyman appeal earned Oz stardom as host of the daytime television show “The Dr. Oz Show’. In the final days of the race, Oprah Winfrey—who launched Oz’s television career—endorsed Fetterman. Fetterman is irreverent, swears casually on social media and looks more like an aging professional wrestler. At 6-foot-8, he’s tattooed, goatee-like and bright, with a clean-shaven head and casual dress that often includes shorts — even in winter. Democrats saw him as someone who could normalize the party with disillusioned voters in the Trump era. He revolutionized the use of social media in campaigns, bringing in a flood of small-dollar donations and mercilessly trolling Oz’s gaffes, wealth and status as a recent transplant. Oz was caught between a primary in which he tried to fend off attacks that he was secretly liberal, and a general election showdown against Fetterman in which he tried to appeal to moderate and black voters. Even with Trump’s support, she won the primary by just 900 votes in a contest that went to a statewide recount. Trump was a longtime friend and fellow entertainer whom Oz had met through New York’s social and philanthropic fundraising circles. The election was the most expensive for a US Senate seat this election cycle, topping US$300 million. Money from the national teams poured in, and Oz spent more than $25 million of his own fortune on the race. Much of the Republicans’ TV ad money has been on crime, suggesting that Democrats have failed to protect people from violence and drugs and aiming to undermine one of Fetterman’s avenues of appeal to black voters: his efforts as lieutenant governor to free the over-incarcerated, rehabilitated or innocent. Fetterman, the former mayor for 13 years of tiny, impoverished Braddock, near Pittsburgh, used his time there to build credentials with the black community in the majority-black city, fight gun violence and keep a hospital in criminally damaged community. He has Braddock’s zip code — 15104 — tattooed on one arm and, while he was mayor, the date of every murder in the city as he worked to prevent crime.
Associated Press reporter Matt Rourke in Newtown, Pennsylvania contributed to this report. Follow Marc Levy on Twitter: twitter.com/timelywriter.
