John Fetterman's campaign officials praised the Pennsylvania Senate candidate's performance in Tuesday's debate with Dr. Mehmet Oz.
The Fetterman campaign's director of communications Joe Calvello praised the Senate candidate in a video shared to Twitter by NPR Pittsburgh affiliate Oliver Morrison.
In the video, Calvello asserted Fetterman gave a "better performance" than his previous primary debate further citing the Senate candidate had been cleared "fit to serve" by his doctor before referring to his Republican challenger as a "phony." Calvello continued in a second clip, suggesting Fetterman would fight for those who have been "knocked down but got back up" while further claiming Oz would fight for "big corporations," "big pharmaceuticals," and the oil industry.
"I think the people of Pennsylvania saw a relatable guy who's been doing his recovery in public for quite some time," Calvello said. "For a guy who's [just come] out of a hospital months ago, [Fetterman] took it to Dr. Oz pretty f---ing hard tonight."
Fetterman's campaign manager Brendan McPhillips agreed with Calvello's assertion that the Senate candidate "took it" to Oz, saying, "God d--- right he did."
Towards the end of the debate Calvello insisted Pennsylvanians could relate to the candidate while further referring to Oz as "sleazy."
Calvello's praise of the Lieutenant Governor's performance continued following the post-debate press conference: "Tonight, John Fetterman showed that he is going to fight for everyone in [Pennsylvania] who has gotten knocked down and had to get back up. John f---ing took it to sleazy Dr. Oz tonight. And the people of [Pennsylvania] saw that."
"So proud of [John Fetterman] who stood up tonight to do something incredibly hard under the best of circumstances, but did it only 5 months into his recovery," said McPhillips in a separate post. "What we saw was a brave fighter going to bat for every Pennsylvanian who's been knocked down and tried to get back up."
McPhillips announced late Tuesday that Fetterman's campaign had reportedly raised $1 million following the debate.
The Senate candidate's wife, Gisele, praised one of her husband's responses during the debate though edited his quote, saying, "I don't recall the Statue of Liberty saying give me your tired, huddled masses and put them on a bus to Massachusetts."
The Senate candidate appeared to stumble throughout his response regarding the quote in question, saying, "I don’t ever recall in the Statue of Liberty did they say you know take our tired huddled masses and put them on a bus and use cheap political stunts about them. I believe we have to develop a comprehensive and bicartisan solution for immigration—" Fetterman hesitated. "To address our issue here — for immigration here and our nation."
