Pennsylvania Lt. Gov. John Fetterman and his team set out Wednesday to stop the political bleeding after his “hard to watch” debate performance against Republican Mehmet Oz in their marquee Senate race.
Mr. Fetterman, who suffered a stroke in May, struggled on the debate stage to give coherent responses, verbalize his thoughts and complete his sentences. He sometimes resorted to repeating his lines.
Fetterman supporters blamed those broken-record moments on debate organizers and a faulty closed captioning system. Meanwhile, they tried to shift attention to Mr. Oz’s comments on abortion and reassure Pennsylvania voters that his recovery is on track.
Others rallying behind Mr. Fetterman said he has never shined on the debate stage, he remains on the correct side of issues and voters will sympathize with his situation.
None of it was enough to overcome the general sentiment that Mr. Fetterman walked onto the stage as the Democrats’ best hope of flipping a Republican seat in the Nov. 8 midterm elections and stepped off the stage onto shakier ground after failing to put to rest questions about his health.
“He certainly didn’t pick up any support,” said G. Terry Madonna of Millersville University of Pennsylvania. “The question that remains is: Did he lose support?”
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The question will loom over the final two weeks of the campaign and add to the sense of urgency as the candidates, the two major political parties and outside allies scramble to get out the vote in a contest that could tip control of the Senate.
Democrats woke up worried Wednesday that the 60-minute showdown between Mr. Fetterman and Mr. Oz could be more memorable for the superficial contrast in styles than for distinct policy differences.
They took some solace in the fact that the debate played out after more than 555,000 early votes had been cast and the vast majority of them, 407,000, were from registered Democrats, according to TargetSmart.
Republicans said Mr. Fetterman’s performance was likely disqualifying.
“While you have empathy for John Fetterman and pray for his complete and full recovery, it is clear that has not happened yet and he is unprepared to serve as senator,” said Charlie Gerow, a Pennsylvania Republican Party strategist. “Now the people of Pennsylvania are recognizing how bad it is, and it is shocking them.”
The differences between the candidates were jarring.
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Mr. Oz turned in a polished performance, drawing on his experience hosting TV’s “The Dr. Oz Show” and making the case that “Washington keeps getting it wrong with extreme positions.”
“Ask yourself and members of your family: Are you unhappy where America is headed?” Mr. Oz said. “I am, and if you are as well, then I am the candidate for change.”
Coming across as wooden and stilted, Mr. Fetterman said the stroke “may have knocked me down, but I keep getting back up.”
“My campaign is about anyone in Pennsylvania that ever got knocked down that had to get back up again,” he said.
Perhaps the most cringeworthy exchange was the response to a debate moderator asking Mr. Fetterman to square the support he voiced for fracking on the debate stage with comments he made in 2018 that “I don’t support fracking at all. I never have.”
Pressed repeatedly for clarity on why he changed his view, Mr. Fetterman said, “I do support fracking, and I don’t, I support fracking, and I do support fracking.”
Jim Wertz, chair of the Erie County Democratic Party, said he found himself defending Mr. Fetterman in a text thread with friends and family tuning in from across the country.
“They virtually all said the same thing: that this was difficult for them to watch, and my response was you have not spent enough time watching him in the past,” Mr. Wertz said.
Indeed, Mr. Fetterman has cultivated an everyman image over the years. He sports a hoodie sweatshirt and shorts on the campaign trail and towers over most other people with his 6-foot-8-inch frame, making him an endearing figure to many voters.
Still, he has struggled on the debate stage, including in the Democratic primary race against Rep. Conor Lamb and state Rep. Malcolm Kenyatta, who came off as more natural.
“I think there were a couple of moments [in the debate] where people might have been taken aback, but I think anybody who watched the primary debate was prepared for perhaps not the most optimal debate performance,” he said. “It is not really his best format.
“Anybody who has seen him speak publicly, you know he is kind of casual and extemporaneous, and that doesn’t always lend itself well to TV,” he said.
Matthew Munsey, chair of Pennsylvania’s North Hampton County Democratic Party, said he does not think the debate will move the needle much in the race.
“His answers may have been a little bit halted, he is still recovering from a stroke, but his message still came across,” Mr. Munsey said.
Democrats said Mr. Oz came off as smarmy and was talking fast to take advantage of Mr. Fetterman’s auditory impairment.
They also seized on his wishy-washy responses on guns and his statement on abortion, which the Fetterman campaign targeted in a television attack ad.
The Fetterman camp also said the closed captioning system was “delayed” and “filled with errors.”
Gary Weitman, a spokesperson for the Nexstar Media Group, which hosted the debate, said: “Nexstar’s production team went to extraordinary lengths to ensure the effectiveness of the closed captioning process, and to accommodate several last-minute requests of the Fetterman campaign.
“The closed captioning process functioned as expected during rehearsal and again during tonight’s debate,” he said. “We regret that Mr. Fetterman and his campaign feel otherwise.”
• Seth McLaughlin can be reached at smclaughlin@washingtontimes.com.
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