Political betting markets flip sharply in favor of Oz amid Senate debate with Fetterman

Political betting markets are flipping sharply in favor of Pennsylvania Republican Senate candidate Mehmet Oz amid the fallout a Tuesday debate with Democratic contender John Fetterman which saw the latter frequently struggling to articulate his thoughts and form coherent sentences. 

Fetterman suffered from a stroke in May but both he and his doctor have insisted that he is capable of serving in the U.S. Senate. Yet commentators after Tuesday's debate—the only one being held between the two candidates before November's midterm elections—have noted that Fetterman in multiple instances during the debate fumbled his words and labored to express his responses to debate moderators. 

Betting markets in the wake of the debate flipped sharply in favor of Oz. The betting tracker PredictIt on the day before the debate had both candidates nearly equal at roughly $0.50 buy-ins for "yes" prices; on the day of the debate Fetterman's buy-in dropped to $0.39 and Oz's rose to $0.65. 

The tracking service Polymarket, meanwhile, saw Fetterman's odds continue to slide, and Oz's continue to rise, after the debate; last week Fetterman was favored over Oz by a $0.60/$0.40 margin, yet by Wednesday the contest had shifted in Oz's favor $0.59/$0.41. 

Last week Fetterman's campaign released a letter from the Democrat's personal physician claiming he was healthy enough to serve in the Senate; subsequent analysis found Fetterman's doctor is also one of his campaign donors as well as a heavy donor to Democratic causes.