DV Journal

NBC News reporter Dasha Burns’ revelation about Democratic U.S. Senate candidate John Fetterman’s mental acuity has once again raised questions about his fitness for the job. It has also raised the stakes for his debate with Republican Mehmet Oz at the end of the month.

Burns, who recently interviewed Fetterman, received pushback from partisan members of the media when she reported that “in small talk before the interview without captioning, it wasn’t clear he was understanding our conversation.” Due to the impact of a stroke he suffered in May, Fetterman only agreed to the interview if he could use a computer monitor with real-time closed captioning.

For weeks, Fetterman refused to agree to any debates. Now, the Oz campaign says, he has pushed it back so late that weeks of early voting will have taken place before the voters get to take the lieutenant governor’s measure in a one-on-one with his opponent.

“John Fetterman will do anything to keep voters in the dark about his radical policies, even if that means delaying a debate until the last minute, lying about his health, and robbing voters of their right to hear directly from both candidates,” said Oz spokesperson Rachel Tripp. “If John Fetterman won’t even do voters the courtesy of answering their questions, why would they trust him to fight for them in Washington? Pennsylvanians deserve a senator who will answer tough questions and address issues head-on – Dr. Mehmet Oz.”

Fetterman pushed back on Twitter: “Recovering from a stroke in public isn’t easy. But in January, I’m going to be much better–and Dr. Oz will still be a fraud.”

Asked if he still plans to debate, Fetterman said, “Well, yeah, of course I’m going to show up on the 25th.”

Agreeing to a single debate is a sign Fetterman is unfit, his critics say. But in the post-Trump political era, do debates still matter?

Fetterman is hardly alone in avoiding debates this cycle. In Georgia, Republican Herschel Walker will only debate Sen. Raphael Warnock once, limiting the number of questions he is likely to face over allegations he paid for a woman’s abortion.

And in Arizona, Democratic gubernatorial candidate Katie Hobbs is refusing to appear on stage with her GOP opponent Kari Lake even once. Not surprisingly, Lake is making an issue of Hobb’s refusal to give voters the basic courtesy of facing a nominee chosen by thousands of Arizona voters.

“I have no desire of the spectacle that she’s looking to create,” Hobbs told CBS News, adding that she is “happy with where we are.”

“Where she is” is trailing her Republican opponent by one point in the RealClearPolitics average.

And here in Pennsylvania, Republican gubernatorial candidate state Sen. Doug Mastriano is also a “no” on debates thus far — not that his opponent, Democratic Attorney General Josh Shapiro, is pushing to make one happen.

On Dom Giordano’s Phil-based radio show earlier this week, Mastriano said he’s happy to debate Shapiro. He just doesn’t want to have to debate the liberal media, too. He used the example of Gov. Tom Wolf (D)  debating Republican Scott Wagner with the late Jeopardy! host Alex Trebek moderating. Trebek interjected his own opinions into the debate, Mastriano said.

He wants a debate where he and Shapiro pick their own moderators to ask questions, without any media bias.

“All the media would be welcome and then there is no bias. They could live-stream it all, whatever they want to do with it. We just want a fair platform. Josh Shapiro could even bring Donna Brazile. She could give him the questions in advance like she did Hillary Clinton. I don’t care. As a (former) military intelligence officer standing before generals, presidents, prime ministers, and handling tough issues of life and death, this would be a piece of cake,” Mastriano said.

More and more, however, pundits question the value of debates.

According to Larry Sabato, who oversees “Sabato’s Crystal Ball” at the University of Virginia Center for Politics, candidates can “get away with canceling debates without much of a penalty.”

Sabato told ABC News that debates over debates “have become a permanent part of campaigning, and most people just tune it out because it doesn’t affect their lives. It has no real impact on your campaign or your likelihood to win.”

New England-based GOP strategist Patrick Griffin has a similar viewpoint.

“In the days of yore, when I was a young political hack, debates were all the rage. Everyone studied and practiced, debate prep was a serious thing mainly because voters watched. A gaffe could be deadly. Catching that hitch moment and seeing replay in ads again and again created a win-or-lose destiny for candidates,” Griffin said.

Not today.

“This election, like so many in recent years voters are too angry and impatient to listen to what they consider to be bs from both sides. Nobody has the time or interest — except for about a third of Democrats and a third of Republicans already firmly rooted in one camp or the other,” Griffin said.

Berwood Yost, director of the Center for Opinion Research and the Floyd Institute for Public Policy at Franklin and Marshall College, bemoaned the decline of debates but said he understands the political strategy.

“I think candidates for public office should engage in debates,” Yost told DVJournal. “It is not unusual for candidates who have a comfortable lead to try to avoid debating because they often feel they have more to lose than gain from them.”

Are these candidates right?

“Past experience shows that debates do not usually change the trajectory of a race, but I think candidates are less interested in debates because it makes it potentially more difficult for them to control the messages that emerge if they misspeak.”

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On a campaign visit to Bucks County on Sunday, Democrat Senate candidate Lt. Gov. John Fetterman kept up his mocking attacks on his Republican rival Dr. Mehmet Oz, delighting supporters with quips about “crudite” and Oz’s connections to New Jersey.

The Bristol Borough crowd, which numbered in the hundreds, laughed and applauded,

Democrats, however, are not laughing about the latest trend in the polls which shows Oz steadily gaining on Fetterman. Several political polling organizations, including the Cook Political Report, now rate the race a toss-up.

Fetterman did his part to close the deal with Democrats and independents in the crowd, promising to be the majority-maker in the U.S. Senate for several progressive issues.

“Send me to D.C., and I’ll be the 51st vote,” said Fetterman. “Send me there to eliminate the filibuster, raise the minimum wage; $7.25 an hour is that okay? Isn’t it ironic that a guy with 10 gigantic mansions thinks $7.25 is still okay?

Congressional candidate Ashley Ehasz

“I am going to make sure we vote and pass the Pro Act. Our campaign (is) running on the union way of life and how sacred that is. It built America. It built the middle class, and we need to make more stuff in America, more stuff here in Pennsylvania.”

“I am going there to fight to expand healthcare,” he said. “I’m going to fight for veterans,” said Fetterman, who accused retiring Sen. Pat Toomey (R-Pa.) of using veterans as “bargaining chips.”

“Another thing: Marriage equality,” said Fetterman. “Back in 2013, as mayor (of Braddock) I was the only official willing to solemnize a gay marriage when it was illegal. (Gov.) Tom Corbett threatened to have me arrested for that. And I said, ‘You know what? You know where I live.’”

“I’m going to fight to codify Roe v. Wade,” he said. “Abortion is on the ballot.”

Republicans believe the power of the abortion issue is waning and voters will turn to the GOP on more ever-present issues like the cost of living and concerns about crime.

“Dr. Oz has closed the polling gap on Fetterman for a variety of reasons, not the least of which is (Fetterman’s) awful record on crime,” said Republican consultant Charlie O’Neill. “Fetterman has never met a criminal he didn’t think was a victim, which is backward thinking to most Pennsylvanians. In addition to his terrible crime record, voters know Fetterman won’t stop inflation. He won’t secure the border. They are also meeting the real Fetterman, the trust fund kid who lived off his parents for decades and didn’t pay his taxes – it’s all tarnishing the ‘every man’ facade he tried to create.”

However, many of the rally attendees DVJournal spoke to said abortion was a top issue for them.

“I’m for John Fetterman because I believe in a woman’s right to choose,” said Phyllis Arnold of Buckingham, a retired teacher. She also said she favored “sensible gun control” and “being the stewards of the planet.” And she was concerned about access to healthcare, especially for the disabled.

Her friend, Penny Parkin, who also lives in Buckingham, agreed with all those points and added,” I am a Democrat. I vote Democrat. I always vote Democrat.”

“My number one concern is protecting the vote, protecting democracy,” said Parkin.

Bristol resident Sybil Henderson also mentioned “protecting women’s rights” and affordable healthcare.

Maggie Finn, also of Bristol, said she worries about the fentanyl crisis and lost her brother to an overdose. Substance abuse “needs to be treated as a health problem, not a criminal justice problem,” she said. “I think people should not be in jail for nonviolent possession.”

Ann and Tom Argenieri

Yardley residents Ann and Tom Argenieri came with their dog, Lyla.

Ann Argenieri’s main issues are social justice, healthcare, and “personal freedoms.”

“It’s a slippery slope to a fascist, authoritarian theocracy,” she said.

Tom Argenieri said, “We’ve already sent one con man to Washington. We can’t send another.”

In a somewhat unusual move compared to other campaigns, the Fetterman event began with a warm-up act to get the crowd pumped up and ready for the candidate. He exhorted the crowd to chant and wave the Fetterman signs they had been given when they walked in the gate, similar to a comedian talking to a television studio audience before taping a show.

No similar warm-up person was present at recent Bucks County rallies for Oz, GOP gubernatorial candidate Doug Mastriano, or a rally in Wilkes-Barre that former President Donald Trump held for Oz and Mastriano.

Several local Democrats took to the stage to praise Fetterman and talk about their races, including congressional candidate Ashely Ehasz, who is running against Rep. Brian Fitzpatrick (R-Bucks/Montgomery).

Ehasz mentioned she was a combat veteran raised by a single mother. She joined the Army at 17 and went to West Point.

Ehasz said, “I value leaders who will fight for and protect veterans…When I needed her most when I was a young kid just trying to hope for a better future, my country saved me, and as I stand here before you all as your Democratic nominee for U.S. Congress, I am running to save her when she needs us most.”

While Oz and supporting PACs are running ads detailing Fetterman’s record on crime as the chair of the Board of Pardons and using Fetterman’s own words in favor of freeing one-third of the state’s inmates, Fetterman said that he is the candidate who would be tough on crime.

“They’ve spent $30 million on negative ads against me, and we’re still standing,” said Fetterman. “More than standing. We’re winning.”

“Send him back over the river to New Jersey and send me to D.C.,” he said.

During the rally, Republican protesters could be heard chanting “U.S.A.” from nearby and a boat sporting an Oz flag motored along the Delaware River honking.

After his remarks, Fetterman briefly mingled with the crowd and then left the area without taking questions from the press.

Bucks County Republican chair Pat Poprik said, “Well, I’m glad to see that he finally decided to campaign and come out of his basement and let people talk to him.”

“I think the people deserve more than that from someone who is running for such an important office,” said Poprik.

Brittany Yanick, a spokeswoman for the Oz campaign, said, “Dr. Oz is running against the most pro-murderer candidate in the nation, and he is going to win in November because he is showing up and listening to voters – Republicans, Democrats, and independents – who want to see a change from the failed policies of the past.

“Pennsylvania can’t afford a Bernie Sanders socialist who wants to release one-third of Pennsylvania inmates, decriminalize all drugs, eliminate life sentences for murderers, and raise taxes on hardworking Pennsylvanians while failing to pay his own taxes 67 times.”

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Scattered across Pennsylvania are countless factory and mill towns that were once bustling with all the signs of a thriving economy and the joys of everyday American life. But, through the years, as jobs left these pockets of life across Pennsylvania, so did many of the people and any real sense of opportunity. Over time, those who stayed felt forgotten by our country and our leaders.

One such place, the Borough of Braddock, is just 11 miles outside Pittsburgh. With only 1,800 people, near the lowest population in its history, the borough is a hollowed shell of its former glory. During the Second World War, it was an 18,000-person community; but it is now underpopulated and wrangling with ongoing concerns of unemployment, crime, drug abuse, and hopelessness.

The median income in Braddock is $14,000 a year. More than one-third of Braddock households live below the poverty line. Braddock has one of the highest crime rates in the commonwealth – a fact that has been true for some time now.

It’s hard to believe that a community like Braddock, with such real struggles and the need for true leadership, attracted the attention of someone as unremarkable as John Fetterman who, shortly after moving there in 2005, managed to get elected mayor. But his move would turn out to be much more about using the town to create opportunities for himself than bringing opportunities to the families of Braddock.

Reports indicate that Mayor Fetterman skipped at least one-third of the borough’s monthly meetings – at least 53 meetings to be exact – and he cast only one vote during his tenure. During those 12 years, it is said that Fetterman never got around to developing relationships with town residents or even the town council.

So, what did the no-show mayor actually do for this struggling town of few jobs and high crime? By many accounts, Fetterman pursued an agenda focused on art installations, a fine-dining restaurant, and climate change.

Instead of basic things like more jobs or safer streets, John Fetterman said, “Let them have sculptures and carbon caps!” Because Fetterman apparently thinks that’s the way you invite manufacturing jobs back to the southwestern part of the state – give them good esthetics and expensive, unreliable energy.

Even Fetterman’s successor, Mayor Chardaé Jones, pointed out the lunacy of coming into the town and telling people what they need instead of listening to the residents and working with community leaders.

But Fetterman didn’t care. He used his failures as mayor to find greater fame among people who’ve never actually seen Braddock, never been to Allegheny County, and never known the issues faced by our communities. That’s why Fetterman went on a national tour, including a TED talk and the Aspen Ideas Festival, to brag about how he was “saving” Braddock. And during that time, Braddock continued to suffer.

During Fetterman’s tenure, the population continued to fall and one-third of the population lived in poverty. Violent crime spiked dramatically between 2013 and 2018, peaking in 2017 as the number of reports to local police quadrupled compared to 2006. Similarly, robberies surged in 2017 along with property crimes, burglaries, larceny-theft, and motorcycle vehicle theft.

Despite his demonstrated failure to show up as mayor, Fetterman has continued to push his radical policy ideas that make no sense for real communities. In November 2021, when asked if Fetterman had a magic wand to change one thing in Pennsylvania, he said he would end life without parole sentences for convicted murderers.

These stories encapsulate the true failure John Fetterman has been for the people of Braddock and Pennsylvania. But that has not stopped him from failing upward, again and again, thanks to the financial backing of his family.

For a large part of his life, John Fetterman’s main source of income came from his parents. They gave him and his family $54,000 in 2015 alone. That funding helped support Fetterman throughout his life, including his group “Braddock Redux” – which he used to operate with limited accountability and go around the Braddock Borough Council.

But, even with the cushy support from his parents, Fetterman still struggled to do basic things like paying his taxes. Over the years, Fetterman and his “nonprofit” were hit with tax liens totaling $25,000, and the nonprofit was sued 67 times. From 2006 to 2012, Fetterman’s residential properties were subject to more than $11,000 in liens for unpaid property taxes and garbage fees.

With this horrible track record, it’s no wonder Fetterman doesn’t want to debate Dr. Oz in the race for U.S. Senate. It’s no wonder he’s been hiding from voters – whether to cover up his record or lie about his current health status.

How can we expect a guy who couldn’t show up to lead a town, earn a real paycheck, pay his taxes, run a non-profit, or understand the basic needs of our communities to be our next U.S. senator? We can’t. But we can expect John Fetterman to find a way to fail upward again, one way or another.

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With crime rising on Philadelphia streets and as a political issue, Dr. Mehmet Oz embraced the Pennsylvania State Troopers Association’s (PSTA) endorsement Wednesday.

Oz, the GOP nominee for U.S. Senate in Pennsylvania, is in a tough battle with Lt. Gov. John Fetterman. Republicans have identified crime as a potential vulnerability for the Democrat. The troopers gave Oz their wholehearted support.

“The PSTA is proud to endorse Dr. Mehmet Oz for U.S. Senate,” said the group’s president David Kennedy. “Dr. Oz has shown that he is, and will continue to be, a strong champion for law enforcement officers and their families in Pennsylvania. At a time when the law enforcement community is facing its greatest challenges, we need people who will advocate for the tools and resources that will keep the men and women of the Pennsylvania State Police safe as they serve our commonwealth.”

The PSTA represents 4,440 state police officers.

“I am honored by this endorsement, and in the U.S. Senate I will continue to advocate for policies that meet these ends and build the relationships we need to forge ahead as one Pennsylvania with our common goals for peace, security, and justice for all,” Oz said in response. “Through their selfless actions, Troopers help us in our times of greatest need and they risk their own lives to make our streets safer. We owe these brave men and women, as well as their families, our deepest gratitude and our enduring commitment to work together with law enforcement to ensure they have the tools and resources they need to uphold the law and save lives.”

Oz was previously endorsed by the state Fraternal Order of Police and the Philadelphia Fraternal Order of Police, burnishing his credentials on the crime issue. At the same time, he has hammered Fetterman for his role in pushing for pardons, including those charged with second-degree murder, as chairman of the state Board of Pardons. Fetterman has said one-third of the prisoners now held in Pennsylvania’s prisons could be released without harming public safety.

According to The New York Times, “under Fetterman’s leadership [on the Board of Pardons], the number of inmates serving life sentences who were recommended for clemency and release has greatly increased.” That included Lee and Dennis Horton, convicted in a robbery and fatal shooting in Philadelphia. Once Fetterman’s board released them, he gave them jobs as field organizers for his campaign.

“If John Fetterman cared about Pennsylvania’s crime problem, he’d prove it by firing the convicted murderers he employs on his campaign,” Oz spokeswoman Brittany Yanick said.

On Wednesday, Oz also received the U.S. Chamber of Commerce’s endorsement.

“Oz is a proven leader and will work tirelessly to address the challenges facing job creators, the workforce, and families in Pennsylvania,” said Ashlee Rich Stephenson with the Chamber. “There is no greater divergence on issues than in this election here in the Keystone State. Fetterman would raise taxes, has flip-flopped on his energy position, and would ruthlessly work to drop the filibuster.

“Dr. Oz, on the other hand, will support and defend Pennsylvanians by not raising taxes a single dime, advancing America’s energy independence, and standing in defense of the filibuster to be sure bipartisanship remains in the U.S. Senate. The U.S. Chamber is proud to endorse pro-business champion, Dr. Oz, in his campaign for U.S. Senate, and we look forward to working with him in the next Congress,” Stephenson said.

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After weeks of debate and recriminations, Democrat Lt. Gov. John Fetterman has agreed to debate his GOP opponent in the U.S. Senate race, Dr. Mehmet Oz, on Oct. 25.

Both sides took the opportunity to slam each other in dueling press releases.

The debate, hosted by Nexstar television, was among the seven Oz had already committed to. His campaign noted that Fetterman’s only debate commitment is for a face-off that doesn’t take place until weeks after voters have begun casting mail-in and absentee ballots.

Fetterman was off the campaign trail for months after suffering a stroke and only began campaigning again in late August. He has had some stroke-related difficulties with speech due to what he calls “auditory processing.”

In a press release on Wednesday, the Fetterman campaign said the debate will be televised in all 67 Pennsylvania counties.

“We said from the start that we’d do a debate, which John reiterated very clearly again last week. Enough distractions, it’s time to talk about the issues,” said Rebecca Katz, senior advisor to the Fetterman campaign. “While John will be debating Dr. Oz next month, Oz doesn’t have to wait that long to be honest with Pennsylvania voters about where he really stands on abortion. It’s a simple question, doctor: Would you vote for the Republicans’ national abortion ban, or would you vote against it?”

The Oz campaign, in turn, released this statement: “According to Nexstar, the Fetterman campaign asked for closed captioning during the debate – for the moderators and for Doctor Oz. They also asked for two practice sessions in the studio in Harrisburg ahead of time so Fetterman could be comfortable utilizing the closed caption system. All of the other debate rules are traditional and fine with us.”

According to its release, the Oz campaign asked for three things: “That at the top of the debate – a moderator explain to the audience that Fetterman is using a closed captioning system during the debate, to explain any delay between him being asked a question and responding.

“That the questions asked by any Nexstar employee during the ‘practice’ sessions for Fetterman bear zero resemblance to the actual questions asked during the debate. We are totally fine with Fetterman practicing with the closed caption system, but not with Fetterman practicing his answers ahead of time in conjunction with the moderators. The details of how this would be enforced are still being worked out.

And, “that the debate be extended from 60 to 90 minutes – because John will be on a delay, we believe that it would be unfair to viewers interested in the candidates’ positions to waste airtime while closed captioners type questions and answers.

“If those three reasonable requests are acceptable to the Fetterman campaign, then we accept the debate invitation on October 25th,” the Oz campaign said.

“Doctor Oz has accepted seven different debates throughout September and October,” said Casey Contres, Oz campaign manager. “Today, after being hit with massive criticism from state and national editorials and commentators for ducking, John Fetterman finally agreed to one debate…that was originally scheduled for October 5th. It’s a debate that Fetterman insisted be delayed until only two weeks remain in the campaign, to keep voters in the dark as long as possible.

“And it’s a debate in which Fetterman insisted on accommodations for his health condition, accommodations that are not permitted on the U.S. Senate floor. Doctor Oz looks forward to being in Harrisburg on October 25th to share his vision for a better Pennsylvania and America, and he is ready expose Fetterman’s record as the most radical, far-left senate candidate in America.

“Voters need to hear about John Fetterman’s radical record of supporting parole for violent murderers and not paying his taxes 67 times,” Contres said.

The debate will be shown in the Delaware Valley on WPHL Channel 17.

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Democrat Lt. Gov. John Fetterman released a statement agreeing to one debate with Dr. Mehmet Oz, his Republican opponent—though early voters would not see it before casting their ballot. And, the Oz campaign noted, Fetterman’s pledge does not come with any details, such as a date or location.

“We’re absolutely going to debate Dr. Oz, and it was always our intention to do that,” Fetterman said in a statement. “It has simply only ever been about addressing some of the lingering issues of my stroke, the auditory processing, and we’re going to be able to work that out.

“We will debate sometime in the middle to end of October—as each of the past two Pennsylvania Senate races have—on a major television station to reach voters across the commonwealth. We are still finalizing the details.

“There is literally zero precedent in modern times for having U.S. Senate debates in Pennsylvania in early September. That was never going to happen. All of these debates have always occurred in the middle to late October.

“But let’s be clear this has never really been about debates for Dr. Oz. This whole thing has been about Dr. Oz and his team mocking me for having a stroke because they’ve got nothing else,” he said.

At a rally in Bucks County Saturday night, Oz said Fetterman’s statement was insufficient. “To actually agree to a debate, you have to actually have a date and a location,” Oz said.

And Fetterman’s demand for a single debate in late to mid-October means many voters will have mailed in their ballots before the event is held.

On Sept. 8 Oz tweeted, “John Fetterman’s misinformation campaign is busy tonight. Here’s the reality: I have committed to 6 debates in September and October. Fetterman has committed to 0. Absentee ballots go out September. 19. We need to be debating early and often.”

Brittany Yanick, a spokeswoman for Oz said Friday, “There is now a ZERO-percent chance that John Fetterman agrees to a debate between now and when absentee ballot requests can begin to be processed and ballots go out on September 19th. By refusing to debate Dr. Oz before mail-in ballots are sent out, John Fetterman is insulting Pennsylvania voters by denying them the opportunity to assess his health and to hear him try to defend his radical views on the debate stage.”

Fetterman, who suffered a stroke in April, only recently returned to the campaign trail. His public statements and struggle to speak have raised more questions about his ability to serve in the U.S. Senate. “If Mr. Fetterman is not well enough to debate his opponent, that raises serious concerns about his ability to serve as a United States senator,” the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette editorial board wrote last week.

Despite being off the campaign trail, Fetterman has been ahead in the polls, although those surveys have tightened lately. Fetterman has also been running numerous ads attacking Oz as a carpetbagger and for Oz’s pro-life position. Fetterman rallied for Planned Parenthood in Blue Bell on Sunday.

Oz’s ads and those of supporting PACs paint Fetterman as soft on crime for his votes to release numerous criminals while chairing the Board of Pardons. The board has recommended 50 commutations since Fetterman became chairman. Gov. Tom Wolf granted 47 of them, according to state records.

“Since 2019, they’ve recommended more citizens for commutation than in the past 25 years combined,” Fetterman’s campaign website said. But Fetterman’s campaign runs ads saying he cleaned up crime when he was mayor of Braddock.

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There was no need to ask, “Is there a doctor in the house?” during a campaign event for Dr. Mehmet Oz in Bucks County Saturday night. The GOP U.S. Senate candidate revived a woman who fainted in the crowd, an unplanned-but-timely reminder of his medical bona fides and the health issues that dog Democrat Lt. Gov. John Fetterman.

Local radio host Dom Giordano was speaking to some 1,500 people at the Newtown Athletic Center when a woman in the audience passed out. Oz leaped over a railing to administer first aid. He was joined by state Rep. Frank Farry, a state Senate candidate, who also serves as chief of the Langhorne-Middletown Volunteer Fire Company, and GOP state Senate candidate Matt McCollough, who is a nurse.

Later, Oz reported “Rita, God bless her, is doing well.” An Oz campaign staff member said it was at least the third time he had helped someone who had a medical problem on the campaign trail, including once on an airplane.

The rally was a metaphor of sorts for the Oz campaign, given up as dead by some pundits after a series of polls showed him trailing Democrat John Fetterman by double digits, in addition to making some high-profile missteps, like Oz’s Wegman’s visit to talk about the price of “crudites.”

But the latest polls now show Oz in a single-digit race with Fetterman, and the first-time candidate was greeted by an enthusiastic crowd. He hit the Biden administration and its ally Fetterman on everything from inflation to education to the Green New Deal.

Oz said his father grew up in Turkey in a home with a dirt floor and “yet he was very proud.” He came to America legally and “passionately believed in the American Dream,” a passion he passed on to his son. Oz talked about attending medical school at the University of Pennsylvania and the lessons he learned there.

“Doctors fix things. That’s what we do,” said Oz. He said he talks to his patients and gets them involved in their health. He started a TV show to share his experiences so “all of America would get better.”

Then the COVID-19 pandemic hit.

“For doctors, COVID was a catastrophe,” Oz said. “Not just because of the horrible loss of life and illness, but we weren’t allowed to play the role we could play in treating it.”

“I learned when you mix politics and medicine, you know what you get? Politics,” he said.

In other parts of the world, children remained in school. Although some research backed up that approach, “you couldn’t say it. If you did, you got crushed,” Oz said.

“In this commonwealth, we had the worst of the worst. We had the biggest restrictions, shutdowns, the biggest mandates and we didn’t get any better for it,” Oz added. “There were three states that did worse than anybody else, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, and New York. And those were the states with the toughest restrictions. States that didn’t do that, like Florida, didn’t have the same problem.”

“My opponent in this race, John Fetterman, was lieutenant governor throughout that,” he noted. “There was a 60 percent increase in crime here in Philadelphia.”

Before Oz spoke, several Republicans took to the stage to talk up his candidacy. Sen. John Kennedy (R-La.) used humor and his southern drawl to wholeheartedly endorse Oz, while also taking jabs at his opponent.

“Dr. Oz is not a trust fund baby. Dr. Oz did not have his mommy and daddy support him until he was 50 years old,” said Kennedy, referring to Fetterman. “Dr. Oz is not hiding here in his basement.

“And,” Kennedy noted to howls of laughter, “Dr. Oz wears pants!”

(Fetterman is notorious for wearing a hoodie and shorts, sometimes at official gatherings.)

“If Mr. Fetterman wins this race, Pennsylvanians will have nothing to worry about unless you are a taxpayer, a parent, a business person, or a cop, or you believe in the American Dream. Because he will fit right in, I can tell you, with the woke, neo-socialist, left of Lenin, wack-jobs running this country,” Kennedy said.

State Treasurer Stacy Garrity also mocked Fetterman’s lifetime of family financial dependence.

Many people in government “don’t understand the value of a dollar and the meaning of hard work,” Garrity said. “And we know the Democrat nominee for the U.S. Senate, John Fetterman, is anything but a hard worker, right? The hardest John Fetterman ever worked as a lieutenant governor was when he walked outside his office and flew the marijuana flag outside the capitol,” she said.

“Dr. Oz loves our country with a fervor that only a son of immigrants has,” Garrity added.

Oz said the Biden administration and Democrat-controlled Congress are wrecking the U.S. economy with high inflation, crippling the energy industry, and allowing rampant crime, among other things.

Oz also raised concerns about Fetterman’s energy policy, an important issue in fossil-fuel-rich Pennsylvania.

“There is this thing called the Green New Deal. You all heard of it?” Oz asked. “Well, the Green New Deal isn’t legitimate science. It cannot work. In order for us to have this, you actually have to sell us to China. Everything we need, all the batteries, all the solar panels, they’re coming from China,” Oz said.

The Republican also tapped into the education issue, which helped energize Glenn Youngkin’s successful bid for Virginia governor among suburban voters, like those in the Delaware Valley.

“You can’t claim that science says it’s correct to teach a 5-year-old about gender issues. It is complicated stuff…They’re not basing that in science. They make that up,” Oz said. “When the Department of Education says they’re going to teach our kids from age 3 to 12th grade about gender fluidity, I say, let the parents get involved.”

The Bucks County rally was Oz’s third event in five days in the state’s southeast region, and some political observers have raised questions about his focus on such a blue corner of the state. But GOP strategists say Oz’s weakness in the GOP primary — he is a TV doctor who appeals to moderates, not a conservative politician — could be a strength in the Philly suburbs in November. If Fetterman’s far-left politics are viewed as too extreme by suburban women, Oz could be a more acceptable alternative than a conservative activist.

Meanwhile, Oz said the focus should be on the Democrats’ performance, not political rhetoric.

“We have to hold people accountable for what they’ve done,” said Oz. “That’s what our job is…You have an obligation, in the vanguard, tip of the spear. You must call people and share what you’ve heard tonight. Be optimistic because I am optimistic.”

All these problems “we can address if we have strong leadership,” he said.

He played football in college and heard the last words of the National Anthem while running out to the field: “Home of the brave.”

“You can’t be free if you’re not brave. This time in our history calls for more bravery than most of us have had to muster in our lifetimes. Because the most important thing we need to do is say what we see.”

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President Joe Biden’s recent visit to the region doesn’t mean anything new for Pennsylvanians. Today, we are still being slammed by record inflation, sky-high gas prices, violent crime and drugs in our communities, and misguided Washington policies that continue to hurt Main Street Pennsylvania.

John Fetterman decided against campaigning with President Biden, which means one of three things: He doesn’t want to appear with one of the least popular presidents in decades, he believes he can campaign from his basement so he doesn’t have to talk to voters about his radical liberal policies like releasing one-third of the prison population, or he’s lying about his ability to campaign.

The liberal media won’t put pressure on Fetterman to debate, which is a rite of passage to becoming a U.S. senator, and they refuse to question why he isn’t campaigning. We witnessed it with Biden’s 2020 basement campaign and John Fetterman is using the same campaign playbook. Fetterman ignored minority communities during the primary and continues to avoid having to publicly explain his far-left policies to voters.

If either Joe Biden or John Fetterman had seen, firsthand, how their radical agenda drives prices for gas and groceries through the roof, puts criminals over our communities, harms student achievement in our schools, and promotes sanctuary cities for dangerous illegal immigrants, they would realize that our communities are truly suffering under their disastrous policies.

In recent years, radical policies like defunding the police and cashless bail – coupled with soft-on-crime district attorneys who are handing out weak sentences – have dismantled decades of progress in cities across America. For example, in previously safe neighborhoods of Philadelphia – like West Philly where I once lived as a University of Pennsylvania medical student – residents are experiencing year after year of tragic milestones of record violent crime and an alarming decline in police morale.

Unfortunately, we have been experiencing these alarming trends in communities large and small, and oftentimes in places where elected officials promote policies that fly in the face of community safety and the rule of law. Look no further than the small town of Braddock, Pa., where my opponent John Fetterman served as the mayor between 2006 and 2018. During that time, John Fetterman oversaw a dramatic surge in crime as well as a noticeable population decline in the borough. Data from the Federal Bureau of Investigation shows violent crime, specifically, began spiking between 2013 and 2018.

In 2017, violent crime peaked in Braddock as the number of reports to local police quadrupled compared to 2006. And, in 2019, the first year after John Fetterman left office, Braddock’s crime rate dropped by 61 percent – even as a recent report indicates, Pennsylvania was beginning to experience the fastest rising crime rate – up 27 percent – of all the northeast states from 2019 to 2020.

It’s no wonder why the Pennsylvania Fraternal Order of Police endorsed me unanimously over my opponent. John Fetterman has publicly advocated for the release of one-third of Pennsylvania’s inmate population, defunding the police, lowering bail for violent criminals, and lighter sentences for convicted murderers. As Chair of the Pennsylvania Board of Pardons, John Fetterman has reportedly used his position to bully others, set loose more than 8,000 inmates, and even pardon convicted first-degree murderers who are now back on our streets.

John Fetterman has also been a crusader for decriminalizing all drugs, including deadly heroin and fentanyl coming from Mexico and China. Coupled with Democrats’ open-border policies, these actions would amount to a total surrender to the dangerous cartels that traffic illicit drugs, weapons, and helpless young women across our borders.

The disastrous Biden-Fetterman agenda for open borders is fueling the epidemic of drug abuse across America by allowing deadly fentanyl to flood into our communities – with Pennsylvania paying one of the gravest prices of all. In 2021, Pennsylvania was third only to California and Florida in drug overdoses with an estimated 5,360 people having lost their lives due to drug overdose. This loss of life is a tragedy for our communities, our commonwealth, and our nation because we need the contributions of every citizen to fully thrive.

Over the past few years, the increasingly radical policies pushed by liberal leaders like Joe Biden and John Fetterman at the local, state, and federal levels have set back communities across Pennsylvania by a generation or more. Too many diverse and hard-working communities full of potential have been ruined by out-of-touch radicals who don’t know the first thing about running a business or the basic functions of government.

I hear these concerns and frustrations every day on the campaign trail from voters across the Commonwealth – like during my recent walks through downtown Conshohocken where I spoke with small business owners and community leaders. I dare John Fetterman and Joe Biden to do the same. If they did, they just might see who it is that their far-left policies are failing.

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Before he became president, John F. Kennedy was a U.S. senator from Massachusetts, serving despite his debilitating chronic back pain and suffering from Addison’s disease. JFK still got the job done, well enough to become president of the United States.

And to paraphrase the late Texas Sen. Lloyd Benson, “Lt. Gov. Fetterman, you’re no JFK.”

A politician can serve despite struggling with health conditions. Ronald Reagan was called The Great Communicator, and yet by most credible accounts, he was already in the early stages of Alzheimer’s disease by the end of his second term. Franklin Roosevelt’s polio, while not a complete secret from the public, was cleverly hidden from view during his dozen years in office with the tacit complicity of the news media who rarely photographed or filmed him sitting in a wheelchair.

John Fetterman differs from them in some important ways. The most important is this: FDR, JFK, and Reagan were all elected while still in good health (at least as far as the public knew). The former mayor of Braddock is asking voters to give him their trust despite an illness that he acknowledges is impacting his mental acuity, an illness we, the people, can see impacting him right now.

It’s not a political attack or personal criticism to acknowledge a fact: Democrats have nominated a man to hold one of our two U.S. Senate seats who barely survived a near-death experience less than five months ago.

I find the attempts of his campaign and supporters to cover for his health unforgivable for several reasons.

First, and most importantly, voters deserve a full explanation of his current medical condition, not the rosy press releases regurgitated about how he’s “improving.” I’ll readily admit I’m not a doctor and I won’t play one on TV (or the interwebs). But you don’t need to be Dr. House — or even Dr. Phil — to wince as Fetterman fumbles for his words, appearing detached and disconnected, looking confused when asked questions and moving more slowly than the average man his age.

One of my friends, a nurse with decades in rehabilitative care, told me that while she obviously hadn’t examined Fetterman and doesn’t know the specifics of his stroke, “In general, I know that once someone has a stroke, the risk of having a second significantly increases.”

How will this impact Fetterman’s ability to represent Pennsylvania? To represent us? Fetterman attacks his opponent for being “from NJ;” but if given the choice, I think most of us would prefer a healthy Jersey boy to an impaired native son.

Another issue is the callousness of Fetterman’s team. They (and he) seem to be so focused on winning that they’re putting political ambitions ahead of his family obligations as a husband and a father to young children.

He’s ill. It’s obvious. And it’s inconceivable to me that the people who are supposed to care about him would allow him to push forward under those conditions.

As I wrote on Facebook, “I can’t stand the man and I have compassion. No one on the left will believe this, but it’s not purely about politics. Put in Conor Lamb, he could be a formidable Oz opponent. This is about simple human decency. The man is sick. Is the left selling its soul for a Senate win? Is that what matters? They could still win honorably, with a healthy candidate.”

Despite what some on the left are saying, it is not below the belt to question Fetterman’s health. It is legitimate. It is also compassionate. The physical and mental abilities of Pennsylvania’s junior senator must be at the highest levels.

We deserve competence. John Fetterman deserves attention. I’m glad that, slowly, people are coming to that realization.

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Lt. Gov. John Fetterman, Democratic candidate for the U.S. Senate, and Attorney General Josh Shapiro, Democratic candidate for governor, enjoy the endorsement and support of the powerful state teachers’ union.

But when it comes to their own children, they rely on private schools.

The Washington Free Beacon revealed Fetterman, a passionate opponent of school choice for low-income families, sends his kids to an expensive prep school.

“In 2018,  Fetterman told an organization founded by Bernie Sanders supporters he opposed vouchers for families in Philadelphia on the grounds that they ‘[take] money away from public schools and give it to private and charter schools. Roughly one-third of Philadelphia school kids go to charter schools because of the city’s dismal public school system,” the Free Beacon reported.

Charter schools are publicly funded alternatives to the various school district systems. Fetterman was called out for repeatedly conflating them with private school charters by David P. Hardy, co-founder and retired CEO of Boys’ Latin of Philadelphia charter school.

“Mr. Fetterman needs a primer in how charter schools work,” Hardy told Fox News on Wednesday. And he called out Fetterman’s hypocrisy on the issue.

“This guy was the mayor of his town, and he sent his kids out of that town to a private school, and left all the other kids there. That’s not a good look for him,” Hardy said.

And it is not just Fetterman. Hardy noted Pennsylvania’s liberal Gov. Tom Wolf (D) comes from a long line of private-school families. “Our current governor hasn’t had a family member in a public school since before Pearl Harbor.”

While Fetterman has publicly blasted the voucher system, Shapiro has said he supports more funding for public schools. As attorney general, he filed an amicus brief in a school funding case that remains pending.

“Every child in our commonwealth should have access to a high-quality education and safe learning environment regardless of their zip code. Many Pennsylvania schools are not able to provide the level of education required by the Constitution—not for lack of trying, but for lack of funding. I commend the tireless efforts of dedicated teachers and administrators who have struggled for years to do the most for our children with the least amount of resources,” Shapiro said.

Six school districts had filed a suit saying that the state does not fairly fund all districts and argued that 84 percent of students attend public schools that are not adequately funded. The trial phase of this case is over but a judge has not yet ruled.

Meanwhile, Shapiro’s four children attend his alma mater, a Jewish day school in the Delaware Valley where the tuition ranges from $30,500 to $37,600 a year. The private school Fetterman’s children attend also charges a hefty $34,250 a year.

Not many working families, who the Democrats claim to champion, can afford those hefty tuitions.

“Unfortunately, there are many politicians who practice the hypocrisy of supporting school choice for their own kids but opposing it for others,” Hardy said. “While folks like John Fetterman and Josh Shapiro send their children to the best private schools money can afford, they’re backed by school union executives who oppose giving poor parents access to those same educational institutions. Wealthy politicians already have educational opportunity, but they’re blocking school choice for the poor.

“Allowing taxpayer funding to follow the child to the school that best meets their needs is the only way to guarantee that all students have fair, equal access to a great education,” said Hardy.

And the state teachers union opposed Republican efforts to provide vouchers to families in districts in the bottom 15 percent of the state, where public schools are failing to teach needy children.

Neither the Fetterman nor Shapiro campaigns responded to requests for comment.

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