Pennsylvania Senate race tightens as Fetterman's verbal slips, health questions increase

Pennsylvania Democratic Lt. Gov. John Fetterman continues to make verbal slips in his campaign for U.S. Senate after suffering a stroke in May, raising growing questions about his fitness for the office. 

"I'm doing fantastic, and it's not about kicking balls in the authority or anything," Fetterman told MSNBC in a recent interview. Fetterman mangled the phrase "kicking authority in the balls," a phrase which GOP candidate Dr. Mehmet Oz has used to describe Fetterman. 

"The [Philadelphia] Eagles are so much better than the Eagles!" Fetterman told a crowd in late September. 

In a prerecorded video to supporters last month, Fetterman said, "And make sure you take advantage of this amazing opportunity to, the only thing you have ... stand ... to lose is your record." 

During a rally in Pittsburgh earlier this month, Fetterman discussed his recovery from the stroke. 

"As you know, I had a stroke," Fetterman said. "Oh, and I'm so grateful to be here today now after surviving that better and better, you know? 

"You know, the only lingering issue that I have after that stroke is sometimes auditory processing, sometimes. And, every now and then, I might miss a word or, sometimes, you know, I might mush two words together." 

Oz's communications director, Brittany Yanick, told Fox News that "on KDKA radio, John Fetterman swore up and down he's not on the heart transplant list." 

"If he's willing to tell a journalist that he doesn't need a heart transplant on the record, what is the big deal about making his medical records public to back that up?" she continued. "Fetterman already hid the fact that he had atrial fibrillation when he ran for lieutenant governor and throughout the Democratic primary for Senate, so how can we take him at his word now? 

"The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette called on both candidates to release their medical records weeks ago. Oz released his. Why hasn't Fetterman? It's bizarre and strange he hasn't done it yet. What is John Fetterman hiding?" 

Fetterman campaign spokesman Joe Calvello said in a statement to Fox News: "As we've said over and over again, John is healthy and he also still has a lingering auditory processing issue that his doctors expect will go away. John has already released a letter from his cardiologist, put out a candid letter directly from himself about his stroke, and talked about his health openly with local and national media. 

"Unfortunately for Dr. Oz and the pathetic Republicans who are desperately rooting against his recovery, John is getting better every day and he is going to win this race to be Pennsylvania's next senator."

The RealClearPolitics poll average shows Fetterman's lead over Oz pared down to just 3.7 points. The site ranks the race as a toss-up, but projects the outcome as a GOP hold. 

In a late September survey of Pennsylvania voters by Emerson College Polling/The Hill, the percentage who said that Fetterman's stroke doesn't make a difference to their vote has dropped from 68% to 59%. The percentage who say his stroke makes them less likely to support him has increased from 14% to 19%. 

In a just-published New York Magazine profile of Fetterman headlined "The Vulnerability of John Fetterman," writer Rebecca Traister reported that she and the Senate candidate "spoke using Google Meet, because the stroke had made it difficult for him to process what he hears; the video chat has closed-captioning technology that allowed him to read my questions in real time."

The RNC Research Twitter account posted a screenshot of the quote in the article, asking, "Does it sound like John Fetterman is fit for office?"

Republican activist Matthew Foldi tweeted an edited version of the New York Magazine cover for the Fetterman story, changing the subheadline from its original, "Inside this year's highest-stakes Senate race," to "He can't draw a clock, he wants murderers released and he wants to kill fracking, but he wears hoodies."

"Great profile of John Fetterman and his love of criminals and hatred of American energy independence," Foldi captioned the tweet.