HARRISBURG, Pa.— Control of the U.S. Senate could depend on whether Pennsylvanians elect Democrat John Fetterman or Republican Dr. Mehmet Oz on Tuesday, capping a bare-knuckled and extraordinary campaign for an open seat.
Fetterman, Pennsylvania’s towering and plainspoken lieutenant governor, spent much of the campaign recovering from a stroke in May, while fending off attacks by Oz that questioned whether he was honest about its effects and fit to serve.
With two weeks to go in the race, Fetterman turned in a rocky debate performance, struggling to complete sentences, jumbling words throughout the hourlong televised event and fueling concern inside his party that it damaged his chances.
To underscore the importance of the race, President Joe Biden campaigned in Pennsylvania for Fetterman three times in the final three weeks, while former President Donald Trump came in to hold a rally for Oz, his endorsed candidate.
Polls show a close race.
Oz, 62, carried his own baggage into the election in the presidential battleground state. The smooth-talking and wealthy heart surgeon-turned-TV celebrity just moved from his longtime home in neighboring New Jersey — a mansion overlooking the Hudson River, just across from Manhattan — and barely won a bruising primary in which opponents cast him as an out-of-touch Hollywood liberal.
