The Philadelphia Inquirer on Sunday endorsed Pennsylvania Lt. Gov. John Fetterman (D) in the state’s Senate race after declining to endorse him in his party’s primary earlier this year.
“There is no reason Fetterman cannot serve effectively after his stroke,” the editorial board wrote, noting that the Democrat struggles with slightly delayed auditory processing after suffering a stroke shortly before the primary but contending that the lag of a “couple of moments … should not significantly impair him” from serving as a senator.
The editors added that “Fetterman knows what his values are and is capable of communicating them. The same cannot be said for his opponent, Mehmet Oz, a man wholly unprepared to be Pennsylvania’s U.S. senator.”
Republican nominee Mehmet Oz, a former cardiothoracic surgeon-turned-television personality, has mocked his opponent’s stroke and painted Fetterman as unfit.
The newspaper’s editorial board also said it had backed Democratic Rep. Conor Lamb (Pa.) over Fetterman in the May primary in part because Fetterman drew a shotgun on an unarmed Black man in 2013 but noted that Fetterman has recently shown himself to be “more contemplative” about the incident and has prioritized equity in criminal justice.
Editors lauded Fetterman while saying Oz “cozied up to former President Donald Trump” and said he would have voted against Trump’s second impeachment after the Jan. 6, 2021, riot at the U.S. Capitol.
“Oz has refused to commit to opposing a national abortion ban, opposes the expanded child tax credit, would repeal the Affordable Care Act, and would vote against red flag gun-control laws. Those positions are all reversals from views that Oz held as a Republican just a few years ago. If there are any values that Oz holds dear, it is difficult to ascertain what they are,” they wrote.
Fetterman and Oz are vying for the seat opened up by retiring Sen. Pat Toomey (R-Pa.). Recent polling shows the Democrat in the lead less than a month ahead of the closely watched midterm elections.
The newspaper endorsed President Biden in the 2020 election and Democrat Hillary Clinton in 2016.