Former President Barack Obama and current President Joe Biden will be appearing in Philadelphia this coming Saturday in support of the bid by John Fetterman for Senate in the state. Fetterman, the Democratic nominee in the race, is currently the state’s lieutenant governor.
Fetterman’s opponent is the Trump-backed Republican Mehmet Oz, who barely won the Republican Senate primary and has spent tens of millions of his own money on his campaign — apparently surpassing all other federal candidates this cycle in the amount of loans provided to the campaign by the candidate. Fetterman, in contrast, hasn’t given his campaign any loans. The huge cash inflows from Oz’s personal coffers suggest the former reality TV personality is essentially trying to personally spend his way into the Senate, where, without a particularly clearly established policy record, he could serve as another rubber-stamp vote for the more extreme wings of the GOP — portions of the party slowly taking over basically the entirety of it. Just look at what happened to Rep. Liz Cheney (R-Wyo.) — she’s an avowed conservative who has often supported Republican causes. And because she rejected Trump’s anti-democratic schemes, she was essentially driven out of office. It’s about loyalty, not policy, for these people.
The Pennsylvania event featuring the former president will take place just days before Election Day, which is next Tuesday, although tens of millions of people have already voted around the country, including nearly a million in Pennsylvania, where Democrats are significantly outpacing Republicans in terms of the number of ballots returned. All early voting in Pennsylvania is done via the mail, and no-excuse mail-in voting — meaning any Pennsylvania voter can cast an absentee ballot — was only instituted in the state in 2020. Republicans originally supported the program who’ve since begun opposing it — including gubernatorial pick Doug Mastriano.
“There’s so much at stake in the upcoming election on November 8, and it’s imperative that we elect Pennsylvania Democrats up and down the ballot,” a listing says. “Join us to hear directly from special guests, and learn more about how you can get involved with organizing efforts TODAY.” Ahead of Election Day, Obama has also appeared in states including Georgia, Michigan, and Nevada. He has repeatedly discussed the attack on Paul Pelosi (Nancy’s husband) by a far-right assailant, using the incident as an example of the kind of political polarization about which he is concerned.
After the midterms, threats from Republicans rejecting the election results remain. Sen. Ron Johnson (R-Wisc.), who is running for re-election, won’t commit to accepting the outcome of his race, and polls suggest that it’ll be close no matter who ends up winning. Tim Michels, the Republican nominee for governor in the same state, has refused to commit to certifying the next presidential election results if he wins. Back in Pennsylvania, only 3 percent of those surveyed in a Monmouth University poll indicated they saw or heard some of the recent debate between Fetterman and Oz and that it led to them reconsidering their pick for the Senate contest.
Big news, Philly! @JoeBiden + @BarackObama will both be in town on Saturday to help us flip this Senate seat 🔵
Don’t miss this. Please RSVP right now to join us👇 https://t.co/cZbe3BwcfJ
— John Fetterman (@JohnFetterman) November 2, 2022
