By Julian Routh, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette (TNS)
Two days after he became the Democrats’ standard-bearer in one of the country’s most important U.S. Senate races, Pennsylvania Lt. Gov. John Fetterman was continuing to rest in a Lancaster hospital, recovering from a stroke he had late last week.
Campaign spokesman Joe Calvello told the Post-Gazette on Thursday that Fetterman is “feeling good today, he is up and walking around and talking to hospital staff and doctors about his recovery plans and his campaign staff about his massive primary win.”
“He is getting better every day, but the doctors are urging him to take it slow,” Calvello added.
The lieutenant governor has said he’ll return to duty Monday.
Fetterman’s pacemaker — implanted Tuesday with a defibrillator — is “functioning perfectly,” Calvello said, and a neurologist continues to say he will “make a full recovery,” according to the campaign.
Though their candidate is unable to return to the campaign trail, donors are trying to make sure that when he does, he’ll have the money to fight in all 67 counties — a key part of his campaign pitch.
Fetterman’s campaign raised more than $1.6 million in the first 24 hours after he clinched the Democratic nomination, officials said.
“Thank you, from the bottom of my heart, for your support,” Fetterman said in a statement. “I am deeply honored to be your nominee, and I am looking forward to turning this seat blue in November.”
On Tuesday, Fetterman won the primary by a wide margin over U.S. Rep. Conor Lamb, state Rep. Malcolm Kenyatta and Jenkintown Borough Councilwoman Alex Khalil. He carried 58.9% of the vote, getting more than two votes for every one that Lamb, the second-place finisher, received.
News of his stroke was announced a few days before the election. His campaign said it was caused by a “clot from the heart being in an [atrial fibrillation] rhythm for too long.”
All the information about the stroke — and his recovery — has come from Fetterman’s campaign itself.
Fetterman’s wife, Gisele, has said that her husband will be back on the campaign trail soon but that there’s no exact date for him to do so. The campaign says Fetterman was told by doctors that he didn’t suffer any cognitive damage.
Republicans haven’t been able to start campaigning for the general election, either. Former hedge fund CEO David McCormick and celebrity surgeon Mehmet Oz are locked in a narrow race, with thousands of ballots left to count.
Pennsylvania is a prime Senate target for both parties because it’s the only open seat up for election this year that’s held by a Republican — U.S. Sen. Pat Toomey — but in a state Democrat Joe Biden carried in 2020.
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