John Fetterman is determinedly resetting the narrative of Pennsylvania’s Senate race after a debate in which he admits he struggled. The traditional media immediately piled on Fetterman exactly how you’d expect: Axios called it “painful,” and Politico, of course, found some Democrats who are “fretting” in private. Seriously, Democrats, stop running to goddamned Politico, of all places. They are not your friends.
But the lasting story for the people who matter—voters in Pennsylvania—is not going to be Fetterman’s verbal stumbles. It’s going to be what Republican Mehmet Oz said smoothly and clearly: Decisions about abortion should be up to local officials. He meant to say that.
Pennsylvania voters are also seeing that Fetterman is tackling his challenge head-on.
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In his rally Wednesday night, Fetterman took on Oz over that abortion stance. “You know. For, for some of the focus on some of the words that I miss, you know, he really has to say that he had the worst line of that night.” He went on, “Dr. Oz has never let me ever forget having a stroke. […] Yeah, and I guarantee you, there’s people, you know, at least one person here, wanting to film this and to get more words that I miss. It’s quite an inspiring campaign to run on that kind of idea.”
“And let me ask you,” he went on, “what kind of doctor that has somebody that was sick, wants to stay sick?” What kind of doctor, indeed. The kind that would gladly accept the interference of local political officials in the decision he’s making with his patients? Probably. Oz has failed to demonstrate thus far in his public career that he still abides by the Hippocratic oath he took.
Oz’s “awful answer,” his “appalling position” on abortion is making headlines, too, and is likely to be the thing that voters keep hearing in their heads. Even if they didn’t watch the debate, there’s going to be no escaping what he said. His contortions to try to find a way to sound both pro-choice and pro-forced birth simultaneously—the decision is between “women, doctors, [and] local political leaders”—failed as those words left his mouth.
Oz was pushed three times in the debate to answer how he’d vote on Sen. Lindsey Graham’s (R-SC) national 15-week abortion ban and finally sort of said he’d vote “no,” because that would be federal interference. He wants to leave that decision, presumably, up to his fellow Republicans on the ticket. Like Doug Mastriano, the candidate for governor, who has said on the record that women who have abortions should be charged with murder.
“What I feel strongly about,” Oz went on after finally saying local officials should have the decision, “is that women in Pennsylvania understand what I’m saying.” That’s probably a safe bet, but not in the way he thinks it is. A USA Today/Suffolk University - poll taken at the end of September gave Fetterman a 13-point edge over Oz, 48-35. Oz’s new policy of having your state representative hanging out with you in the doctor’s exam room isn’t likely to close that gap.
Fetterman smartly—and by all appearances genuinely—used Tuesday’s debate in his rally Wednesday night to highlight one of his greatest strengths, relatability. “How many one of you, perhaps any one of you, had your own personal major health challenge? And please, and please keep your hands up.”
He went on: “Okay. What about maybe your parents? Okay. What about perhaps a grandparent and, God forbid, even, even a child?” Then the shiv: “I hope that when you had those challenges with your loved ones, I hope you didn’t have a doctor in your life making fun of it or ridiculing that.”
“By January, I’m going to be feeling even better. But he will still be a fraud.”
The 2022 midterms are just around the corner, and you sent us a ton of fantastic questions for The Downballot mailbag episode we promised this week, so we brought on Daily Kos Elections contributing editor Steve Singiser to help us answer them. Among the many topics we cover: which states are likely to report results slowly—and how will those results change over time; the House districts that look like key bellwethers for how the night might go, and which might offer surprises; why and how Democrats make the hard decisions on which races to triage; the top legislative chambers to keep an eye on; and plenty more!