Republican U.S. Senate candidate Dr. Mehmet Oz’s campaign has seized on Democratic opponent John Fetterman’s silence on debates to continue attacking Fetterman for supposedly hiding from voters.
Oz has agreed to five debates, including one scheduled in less than two weeks, but Fetterman, who suffered a stroke on May 13 and only returned to the campaign trail earlier this month, has yet to commit to any debates.
“John is up for debating Oz and contrasting his plan and record with Dr. Oz so that Pennsylvania voters can get a real sense of where the candidates stand, but not on Oz’s desperate terms and timeline,” said Rebecca Katz, a Fetterman campaign senior advisor.
“This is just an obvious attempt to change the subject during yet another disastrous week for Dr. Oz,” Katz said.
So far, Oz has agreed to debates sponsored by:
- KDKA-TV in Pittsburgh, Sept. 6
- WFMZ-TV in Allentown and the Greater Lehigh Valley Chamber of Commerce, Sept. 9
- Nexstar, which owns several TV stations in the state, on Oct. 5
- Fox 29 in Philadelphia with Spotlight PA, date to be determined
- WGAL-TV in Harrisburg, date to be determined
In addition to an Aug. 12 rally in Erie, Fetterman, the state’s lieutenant governor, made an appearance earlier this week at a United Steelworkers rally in Pittsburgh, but he did not take any questions from reporters.
“Dr. Oz has agreed to five debates. John Fetterman has agreed to zero debates,” said Brittany Yanick, Oz’s communications director, in a statement on Monday.
“If John is too sick to debate and is concerned he cannot stand in front of cameras for more than 10 minutes, then he should just say so,” Yanick said. “We’re sure voters would understand and so would we.”
On Wednesday, the Oz campaign stepped up its efforts, releasing a statement that included a Twitter post by Fetterman during the Democratic primary.
“Debates are an important part of this primary,” Fetterman wrote, committing to three televised debates.
Oz’s campaign also dug up tweets from Fetterman’s primary opponents — state Rep. Malcolm Kenyatta and U.S. Rep. Conor Lamb of Allegheny County — razzing Fetterman for missing debates.
Late Wednesday, Oz made an appearance on Laura Ingraham’s Fox News show during which she played a clip of Fetterman’s address to steelworkers with the chyron reading, “Fetterman mumbles and stumbles through speech.”
“The question we’re asking is a legitimate one,” Oz told Ingraham. “Are you hiding because you don’t want to talk about your radical views or is it because your health is such a problem? And, if it’s the stroke you had that’s causing issues, come talk to us. Let’s figure out some way that we can have a debate.”
