Obama, Biden rally for democracy in Pennsylvania push
STORY: “Democracy is literally on the ballot,” Biden told a rally in Philadelphia held to support Democratic candidate for senate, John Fetterman, and gubernatorial candidate Josh Shapiro. "Today we face an inflection point. One of those moments, one of those moments that comes along every several generations.”
The biggest names in U.S. politics, including Biden and Obama, as well as Republican former President Donald Trump, were in Pennsylvania on Saturday hoping to tip the balance in the pivotal Senate race between Democratic Lieutenant Governor Fetterman and Republican celebrity doctor Mehmet Oz.
“I understand that democracy might not seem like a top priority right now, especially when you're worrying about paying the bills, but when true democracy goes away, we've seen throughout history. we've seen around the world. when true democracy goes away, people get hurt. It has real consequences," Obama told the crowd.
The Fetterman-Oz Senate race is one of three critical contests, along with Georgia and Nevada, that will determine whether Democrats hold onto their razor-thin majority in the Senate.
Oz has whittled away Fetterman's commanding lead in the race in the last two months, amid growing concern over inflation under the Biden administration but also following a stroke Fetterman suffered in May, which forced him to scale back his campaign schedule and has affected his speech.
Fetterman tried again to allay concerns about his health on Saturday.
“This right now is what, that's what five months of recovery looks like,” he said. “And sometimes, sometimes I'm going to miss some things, some words. I might, I might mush two words together, but I’ll always make sure I make the right votes in Washington, D.C.”
