Democrat John Fetterman Will Not Debate Republican Mehmet Oz Until After PA Voting Begins

John Fetterman, Pennsylvania’s Democrat nominee for U.S. Senate, has accepted an invitation to debate his opponent, Republican Dr. Mehmet Oz, on October 25, well after voting begins in the Keystone State.

Nexstar will host the debate in Harrisburg, as the Fetterman campaign noted in a release. Fetterman, who suffered a stroke in May and has struggled at public events since getting back on the trail in August, had been dodging debates before telling Politico last week that he would participate in one. However, he provided no specifics other than that it would be “sometime in the middle to end of October.” Citing the Philadelphia Citizen, Washington Post columnist Marc Thiessen noted that mail-in voting starts on September 19.

“We said from the start that we’d do a debate, which John reiterated very clearly again last week. Enough distractions, it’s time to talk about the issues,” said Rebecca Katz, a senior advisor to Fetterman’s campaign, on Wednesday.

Soon after the announcement, the Oz campaign issued its own release stating that Nexstar informed them that “the Fetterman campaign asked for closed captioning during the debate – for the moderators and for Doctor Oz.” Fetterman’s campaign also asked for a pair of practice sessions to get acquainted with the closed captioning system. These accommodation requests prompted three requests from Oz’s team.

Firstly, the campaign asked that a moderator discloses that Fetterman will use the closed captioning system to provide insight as to why there will be delays between his responses to questions. Secondly, the campaign requests that questions asked in the “‘practice’ sessions bear zero resemblance to the actual questions asked during the debate.”

“We are totally fine with Fetterman practicing with the closed caption system, but not with Fetterman practicing his answers ahead of time in conjunction with the moderators,” Oz’s campaign added. “The details of how this would be enforced is still being worked out.”

Finally, as Fetterman’s responses will be delayed, the campaign requests a 90-minute debate as opposed to 60 minutes to make up for any potential lost air time.

Fetterman’s commitment to debate comes days after the Washington Post editorial board called on him to release his medical records and asserted that the campaign “squandered credibility” with its lack of transparency surrounding Fetterman’s hospitalization in May. It also called on him to debate more than once, with one event taking place before voting starts.

“Today, after being hit with massive criticism from state and national editorials and commentators for ducking, John Fetterman finally agreed to one debate… that was originally scheduled for October 5,” said Oz’s campaign manager, Casey Contres, in a statement, adding:

It’s a debate that Fetterman insisted be delayed until only two weeks remain in the campaign, to keep voters in the dark as long as possible. And it’s a debate in which Fetterman insisted on accommodations for his health condition, accommodations that are not permitted on the U.S. Senate floor. 

“Doctor Oz will continue to push for more and sooner debates,” said Contres. “Pennsylvania voters should not have to wait until October 25th to hear from their candidates.”