Why the Chances for a Republican Senate Takeover Just Increased Dramatically

There’s a crease in the line, and Republicans should seize this opportunity to pull off the comeback of the midterm season. Pennsylvania, especially, seemed like the most daunting task—replacing outgoing incumbent Republican Sen. Pat Toomey in a state that’s been notoriously difficult for the GOP to win. The last time the Keystone State voted Republican in a presidential election was 2016. It was 1988 before that—and 2010 was the last time we won a gubernatorial race. The collar counties around Philadelphia and Allegheny County—Pittsburgh—have formed a mini-blue wall within the state.

During the summer, it seemed as if Pennsylvania Lt. Gov. John Fetterman, who suffered a severe stroke during the primary, would run away with the Senate race. After weeks of ads hammering his asinine criminal justice agenda, where he wants to empty one-third of all PA jails and abolish life sentences for murderers, his advantage has degraded massively. It’s now a virtual tie between Fetterman and Republican Dr. Mehmet Oz.

I had written this race off given how it had devolved into a dumpster fire—it still is—but Fetterman is also uniquely unhealthy right now. He’s not making much sense on the campaign trail, which has become so bad that he makes Joe Biden look like an academic scholar who speaks with learned diction. The planned debates between Oz are only an hour, and Fetterman wanted practice rounds done with the moderators, which would never happen. He also wants the event to be closed-captioned so he can read the questions and responses. These demands render a debate useless, which could partially be the Fetterman camp’s goal here, though it also speaks to the lieutenant governor’s mental capacity. They know this—which is why we should all be on debate watch. If you think this race is tight now—wait until one disastrous debate performance polls with voters.

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