Fetterman races to election day with stop in Wilkes-Barre

Nov. 4—WILKES-BARRE — At ease in a comfy chair, Lt. Gov. John Fetterman gushed over the person sitting across from him asking questions.

During a campaign stop Thursday morning in his bid for to represent Pennsylvania in the U.S. Senate, Fetterman sat down with one of the two current office holders and fellow Democrat, U.S. Senator Bob Casey of Scranton.

"Let me just get this said, that it is an honor to be on the stage with you, I mean the legend, you know," Fetterman began. "And you know it's kind of like, I just tell people like if you love Bob Casey, that's you know it'd be a dream of mine to have you be a mentor in the Senate, so thank you to always join us again and again."

What was billed as a conversation on "Making the Economy Work for Working People," took place before a less-than-capacity crowd in a ballroom at the Best Western Plus Genetti Hotel & Conference Center in downtown Wilkes-Barre with five days to go in the highly contested and watched race between Fetterman and Republican Dr. Mehmet Oz.

Dressed casually in a blue V-neck sweater and not wearing a tie, Casey controlled the conversation that lasted approximately 30 minutes, included frequent attacks on Republican legislators and soft pedalled questions to Fetterman on inflation, raising the minimum wage, protecting unions and crime.

Early on Casey asked about Fetterman's health.

"So tell us about about what your stroke has meant to you as a person. How it's changed you life as a person, but also because you're in the middle of a big campaign, how has it changed your life as a candidate," Casey inquired.

Fetterman, wearing a blue jeans and a black hooded sweatshirt imprinted with Carhartt on a sleeve, replied that Casey was one of the first people he spoke to after the stroke.

"The stroke was a fact that it really knocked me down, but we got back up on that. My wife Gisele is here," Fetterman said to applause. "The only reason I'm here is because she was there."

The scare reminded him how critical health care is, Fetterman said, adding everyone should have access to the same lifesaving treatment.

After Casey blamed inflation on Republican opposition to efforts undertaken by Democrats to control it, he asked Fetterman what he's hearing from people while campaigning.

"This idea of remembering that inflation really is a tax on working families," Fetterman said, offering his solution is to push back against corporate greed and price gouging.

"I think it's also critical that we begin to insist on making more things right here in Pennsylvania," Fetterman said.

Calling out Oz

Nearly halfway through the conversation Fetterman first referred to Oz by name.

"It's also critical that we be reminded that Dr. Oz, you know given a choice to have of his merchandise as part of his kind of empire from the show , all of it was manufactured right here in China," he said.

Without naming Oz, who moved to Pennsylvania to run for office, Casey referenced Fetterman's residency.

"Well John, I especially appreciate the fact that not only are you from Pennsylvania (you) have worked in Pennsylvania. That should be relevant right," Casey said.

Returning to Republican voting records on funding state and local law enforcement and common sense gun measures, Casey said, "Who's responsible for what's happening when it comes to crime?"

Fetterman pointed out his experience as mayor of Braddock, in Allegheny County.

"In fact, in this race we're the only candidate that actually has hands-on experience fighting against crime and gun violence. In fact that's the real reason why I ever ran for mayor in the very first time," Fetterman said, referencing two students in GED courses he was teaching who had been shot and killed.

There was no discussion about Fetterman's role as chair of the Pennsylvania Board of Pardons and his recommended commutations for inmates serving life sentences or, while mayor, his grabbing a shotgun after hearing the sound of gunfire, chasing down an unarmed Black jogger and detaining him until police arrived.

Casey ended the conversation by allowing Fetterman to make his case to voters:

"Basically the closing argument is simply that I'm going to be the kind of person that is here to serve Pennsylvania and he's there to use Pennsylvania and it's all, again, about where you spent your time and your career I think are the values and somebody is the kind of senator that is going to anyone that's ever gotten knocked down that needs to get back up or to fight for any kind of communities all across Pennsylvania that has ever has to get back up again and just always being there to stand up and support all those kind of core kinds of values, whether it's the minimum wage, whether it's the (Protect the Right to Organize) whether that is protecting abortion rights, as well as having the hands-on kind of experience of fighting crime.

"So that's really our argument here, because somebody that has, really if you've never had any experience of actually living in Pennsylvania, understanding Pennsylvania, how can you ever effectively fight for Pennsylvania."

Supporters weigh in

Neither Casey nor Fetterman took questions from the media or audience, but Sharon Stehle, already a supporter, liked what she heard clearly from the candidate. Stehle, 76, of Kingston sat in one of the 91 seats — a handful unfilled — arranged in rows for the invited guests.

"I think that he has the values that I think are important for us to continue as a democracy. So the fact that he has hard time with speech," Stehle said, "It's all what's inside of his head that really matters because his values are going to be there even though he might not be able to articulate them like some people can."

Rashawn Nelson, 45, originally from Newark, N.J. who calls Wilkes-Barre home, was in the audience and has been using his business, D&P Digital Ads & Gaming, and driving his trucks around the state to campaign for Fetterman.

"I'm not being paid to do it. I'm doing it because it's important. So I spent most of my life in prison and because I spent most of my life in prison, coming home I have a lot of things stacked up against me. So me starting this business, it allowed me to, you know, see things in a different light. So to me Fetterman is our champion. You know I have brothers that's in prison," Nelson said.

Nelson said he served time for selling narcotics and was released in 2015. He and Fetterman have recovery in common, Nelson added.

"When you have a physical stroke sometimes it can take a while. You can't expect him to heal like that because everything that's going on is affecting his healing process," Nelson explained.

Outside the event Jeff Shinko of Wilkes-Barre staged a one-man protest against Fetterman.

"All they're doing is lying about the Republican party, when all I do is look at the state of the nation and the condition it's in right now," Shinko said. "And like we're just spiraling right down hill. Like we're paying like three, four times, five times more for everything.You know inflation's just going through the roof, so why would anybody want to vote for a Democrat right now?"

Reach Jerry Lynott at 570-991-6120 or on Twitter @TLJerryLynott.