Fetterman fends off Oz in Pennsylvania Senate showdown

Lt. Gov. John Fetterman has defeated Republican candidate Mehmet Oz, flipping the seat currently held by retiring GOP Sen. Pat Toomey into Democratic hands.

Fetterman’s victory is a significant win for Democrats, representing potentially their only Senate pick up of the cycle. With Democratic incumbents facing tough races in other battleground states, winning Pennsylvania bolsters the party’s hopes to hold on to their no-room-for-error 50-50 majority for another two years.

"It's official. I will be the next U.S. Senator from Pennsylvania," Fetterman tweeted. "We bet on the people of Pennsylvania — and you didn’t let us down And I won’t let you down. Thank you."

Pennsylvania was viewed by both parties as the frontline for their strategies for winning the chamber. Though Oz was outspent and outraised by Fetterman, the Senate race topped out as the most expensive this cycle so far, with outside money pouring in. (The Georgia race could still ultimately claim the title if it goes to a December runoff.)

Fetterman beat Rep. Conor Lamb (D-Pa.) in their party’s primary, a win for progressives. And he led in polls against Oz for most of the year, but the race entered nailbiter territory in the final weeks as Oz appeared to close the gap thanks to a calvary of GOP groups spent heavily against him.

Fetterman’s campaign took a multi-pronged approach to trying to beat Oz, painting the wealthy celebrity doctor as out-of-touch and homing in on his longtime New Jersey residency, while also following national Democrats using the Supreme Court’s Roe v. Wade reversal to try to push Oz’s position on abortion into the spotlight.

Oz, and his allies, meanwhile spent the final stretch of the campaign focused on crime — reflecting a message that the party deployed in congressional races across the country. An ad from MAGA Inc., a super PAC founded by Donald Trump allies, accused Fetterman of wanting “ruthless killers, muggers and rapists back on our streets.”

In a sign of the times, their campaign frequently played out online in a war of memes, among them a viral video of Oz wandering through a grocery store buying ingredients for crudité. (Oz later called it a joke.)

But the Democrat’s campaign was thrown a curveball when Fetterman suffered a stroke in May, returning to the trail in August. Shortly after he did, Oz’s campaign put out statements making an issue out of Fetterman's diet and accusing him of being unable to debate.

Oz appeared to distance himself from the attacks, telling NBC News that he wouldn’t use that rhetoric about a patient. And Fetterman moved to try to address public concerns about his health, releasing an ad on the issue and medical reports.

The two ultimately had their first, and only, debate on Oct. 25, where Fetterman visibly stumbled with answers to some questions in a moment that left some Democrats wincing.

Pennsylvania was one of six open seats Republicans were playing defense on this year as Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) saw a stable of his members, and some of his most reliable allies, head for the exits.