John Fetterman, Democratic Senate candidate, was seen struggling to speak Tuesday night after suffering a stroke in May.
Fetterman is locked in crucial Pennsylvania race against entertainment doctor and Republican opponent Mehmet Oz that could decide control of the chamber.
Fetterman is unable to hear what he says and cannot speak clearly. In an interview broadcast Tuesday by NBC, Fetterman used a closed-captioning device to read questions put to him. His side effects are temporary, he said. He was back in January. “I’m going [to] be much better – and Dr. Oz is still going to be a fraud.”
This bitter contest saw Oz mock Fetterman right after his stroke and say on Twitter,“If John Fetterman had ever eaten a vegetable in his life, then maybe he wouldn’t have had a major stroke.”’
Fetterman, who resumed his duties as Pennsylvania’s lieutenant general this summer, shot back that Oz was making fun of a stroke victim.
In Tuesday’s broadcast, Fetterman described his current limitations.
“I sometimes will hear things in a way that’s not perfectly clear. So I use captioning so I’m able to see what you’re saying on the captioning,”He said.
He was asked why he hadn’t made his medical records available or made his doctors available to interview.
“I feel like we have been very transparent in a lot of different ways,”Fetterman. “When our doctor has already given a letter saying that I’m able to serve and to be running. And then I think there’s — you can’t be any more transparent than standing up on a stage with 3,000 people and having a speech without a teleprompter and just being — and putting everything and yourself out there like that. I think that’s as transparent as everyone in Pennsylvania can see.”
This summer, the candidate resumed public speaking.
This week, the Real Clear Politics average of polls suggested Fetterman has a 3.7% point lead, much smaller than a double-digit lead he had after the contentious GOP primary won by Oz.