“Before the 2020 election, I said that if I could know one single fact about the results, I could tell you who was going to win Pennsylvania. Whoever wins Erie County will win Pennsylvania,” Fetterman said. “Erie County is Pennsylvania’s most important bellwether county. I’ve visited Erie dozens and dozens of times in the past, and I am honored and proud to be returning to the campaign trail here.”
Oz’s response — or lack thereof — has set off alarm bells within the Republican Party.
Of late, the Oz campaign has targeted Fetterman’s recent time away from public campaigning.
“I’ve been praying for him. I am glad he is OK. … Now that he is back, John Fetterman can’t keep hiding from voters forever,” Oz says as he jogs. “I am glad Fetterman is healthy so we can worry less about his heart and his hoodie and more about the crazy leftist ideas in his head.”
Asked by CNN about Fetterman’s return to the campaign trail, Oz said, “I’m over the moon, I really am.”
“I’d love to have him out there talking about what he wants to do to make Pennsylvania a better place,” Oz said in a statement Saturday. “What are you going to do about inflation, crime in our cities, or sanctuary cities? Help me understand how you’re going to help parents deal with some of the issues that they’re facing in schools. He’s never answered these questions, and it’s time he does.”
Fetterman’s return to the campaign trail has been slower than some top Democrats in Pennsylvania had anticipated. People close to the candidate made early promises of a quick recovery for the lieutenant governor, but those hopes was dashed by the seriousness of his illness and gravity of his initial condition.
“I could have died,” Fetterman said in June about the significance of his stroke.
Fetterman headlined a closed-press fundraiser hosted by Democratic Jewish Outreach Pennsylvania in late July. Event organizer Jill Zipin told CNN that the candidate “didn’t slur his words” and “spoke clearly” for around 20 minutes but did speak “a little slower or a little more halting” than before the stroke.
“People were excited to see him healthy. He did look fit and healthy,” Zipin said, adding that Fetterman spoke about his health and was “transparent with us about his experience” but told the audience that he was “on the road to recovery.”
This story has been updated with additional reaction.
