Pennsylvania Democratic Senate candidate John Fetterman pledged Wednesday to meet with Republican challenger Mehmet Oz for a debate on Oct. 25 — two weeks before Election Day.
Fetterman, the Commonwealth’s lieutenant governor, is recovering from a stroke in May and has come under pressure from Oz’s campaign for refusing to discuss or take questions from reporters at press conferences. Last week, the Democrat announced his intention to speak with Oz, but did not set a date or time.
But even with Fetterman now offering more details, a new follow-up exchange between the campaigns over the preparation of the debate and the length of the event has raised new doubts.
In response to Fetterman’s announcement, Oz’s campaign said it would “accept the invitation to debate” if the Democrat agreed to three conditions tied to what they described as Fetterman’s own demands: that closed captioning be used during the debate and be given two opportunities to “practice” using the system on stage (and off air) in advance.
Oz requested conditions for a moderator to tell the audience at the beginning of the discussion about the closed captioning system. that any practice questions for Fetterman “bear no resemblance to actual (debate) questions”; and that the meeting will be extended from 60 to 90 minutes because, they said, the format could cause delays.
The Fetterman campaign, in a later statement, said Oz mischaracterized their plans for “walk-ins” before the debate, a standard practice, and rejected the suggestion that it was an attempt to repeat his answers. They also rejected Oz’s request to extend the debate by 30 minutes, citing a prior agreement with the host.
Fetterman’s team agreed to ask the moderators to explain that the Democrat was using a closed captioning system, adding, “John was open and honest about his persistent issues with audio processing.”
Responding to requests from the Oz camp, Rebecca Katz, a senior adviser to Fetterman, accused the Republican of cynically prolonging campaign talk for the sake of the debates.
“Let’s be real: If we agreed to 10 conversations, Oz would demand 20,” Katz said. “He’s going to keep trying to move the goalposts, because that’s his only game.”
After Fetterman initially announced that he intended to talk to Oz, questions remained about when he might offer to make good on that promise. His speech remains slurred after a stroke he said nearly killed him, but Fetterman and his campaign insist his “auditory processing” issues are part of the recovery process and will improve over time.
Oz took advantage of Fetterman’s earlier refusal to offer details about if and when he would be willing to go one-on-one with the Republican nominee. Last week, Oz joined retired GOP Sen. Pat Toomey in a press conference where they stepped up their attacks, accusing Fetterman of either exaggerating his health problems to avoid a debate stage confrontation or being physically unable to serve.
“It’s not about health, it’s about honesty,” Oz said. “It’s either John Fetterman is physically able to debate and he’s not debating because he doesn’t want to own the statements he’s made, the radical leftist statements he’s made on so many issues, or he’s lying about his health.
The Pennsylvania Senate seat is a prime opportunity for Democrats, who are defending their slim majority in the House this fall. It is one of five states that flipped from former President Donald Trump to President Joe Biden in the 2020 election.
Fetterman’s announcement comes as participation in the debate has become a point of contention among some campaigns nationally. In Georgia, Democratic Sen. Raphael Warnock and his Republican challenger, Herschel Walker, have agreed to at least one debate after weeks of wrangling between the campaigns over televised debates.
In North Carolina’s open Senate race, the campaigns of Democrat Cheri Beasley and Republican Ted Budd agreed to an Oct. 7 debate hosted by Spectrum News. And in Ohio, where another Senate contest is underway, tense negotiations between the campaigns of Democrat Tim Ryan and Republican JD Vance remain unresolved. Similar deadlocks exist in Senate and gubernatorial races across the country.
In their announcement earlier Wednesday, Fetterman’s team previewed the Oct. 25 debate, which will be hosted by Nexstar and broadcast on a wide range of affiliates across the state, noting that Oz had previously committed to taking part.
“We’ve said from the start that we’re going to have a conversation, which John reiterated very clearly again last week. Enough distractions, time to talk about the issues,” Katz said.
