Westmoreland Democrats rally volunteers, welcome Fetterman in Murrysville

Oct. 6—About 100 people turned out Wednesday evening to the Murrysville Center for Democracy to meet Pennsylvania Lt. Gov. John Fetterman, getting their photos taken with the Democratic U.S. Senate nominee as they signed up to knock on doors and make calls for his campaign.

After brief remarks to the crowd and photo opportunities, Fetterman pulled away on his bus about halfway through the two hours allotted for the event by the Westmoreland County Democratic party officials who organized it.

Still, county Democratic committee chairwoman Michelle McFall said the event was "very successful. We had 100 people showing up on a Wednesday night. Not just showing up to hear our federal guy, they signed up to work. I don't know that it gets more successful than that.

"This wasn't technically a Fetterman event. Had it been a Fetterman event, we'd have had 500 to 700 people."

Fetterman underlined the importance of the volunteers by noting he won his initial election as mayor in his hometown of Braddock in 2005 by a single vote.

"Can you imagine that my entire life was changed by one single vote?" he told the volunteers. "Your efforts matter because every vote really does matter."

Fetterman made reference to a newly released USA Today/Suffolk University poll that shows him with a six-point lead over Republican opponent Dr. Mehmet Oz. Other recent polls have indicated that Fetterman's lead has narrowed and that the two candidates are in a statistical dead heat.

"We're holding the line," Fetterman said. "We already knew this was going to be a tight race. We've always been running like we're down five points."

"Even if we were 20 points ahead, we would be concerned because we learned we can't trust polls," McFall said.

Fetterman outlined some of the leading issues in the race, and the outcome could be critical in determining party control of the Senate.

He reiterated his support for union jobs, an increased minimum wage and protection of abortion rights.

The latter issue has caught the attention of friends, mothers and campaign volunteers Amanda Faher and Susan Bayne, both of Murrysville.

"Our rights are at stake as women," Bayne said, referring to the U.S. Supreme Court decision this summer overturning the federal right to an abortion that was established in Roe v. Wade. "I think Fetterman is someone who could help at the national level to give us back our right.

"While we still have that right in Pennsylvania, it just takes the wrong election and we could lose that as well in the state."

The federal decision "makes women second-class citizens," Faher said. "If we can't have that choice and we have the government making that choice for us, that's not a country I want to live in."

Murrysville resident and campaign volunteer Rick Lichtenstein believes Fetterman has a good chance of winning the Senate race. "But you can't take it for granted," Lichtenstein said. "You've got to fight until the end."

He acknowledged some concern about the narrowing points in the polls but said he expects Fetterman will do well in his televised debate with Oz, set for Oct. 25.

"It will set him apart," Lichtenstein said of Fetterman. "He works really hard, and he's very down-to-earth."

Mark Galimberti traveled from Derry Township to attend Wednesday's event. A sales engineer in industrial water filtration for a Germany-based company, he also works part-time as an environmental services technician at Excela Health Latrobe Hospital and ran unsuccessfully last year for township supervisor.

Galimberti said he likes Fetterman's message and believes he "has a great chance to be elected." Galimberti said he differs with the Democratic candidate on just one issue: He doesn't agree with Fetterman's support for legalizing marijuana.

Otherwise, Galimberti said, "I like what he has to say."

None of the Fetterman supporters who spoke with the Tribune-Review Wednesday felt that the stroke the candidate suffered shortly before his primary victory would have a noticeable impact on the November election.

"Everyone has things in life to overcome, and this is his," said Bayne, who is a Democratic party official for the Newlonsburg No. 2 precinct in Murrysville. "I think he's doing his best to recover from it."

Jeff Himler is a Tribune-Review staff writer. You can contact Jeff by email at jhimler@triblive.com or via Twitter .