Let’s Stop Pretending John Fetterman’s Stroke Matters More Than How He’d Vote in the Senate

Pennsylvania Lt. Gov. John Fetterman (D) had a stroke in May. This, we are told by Republicans and centrist pundits, is extremely relevant to his Senate race.

Hogwash.

Fetterman participated in his first and only debate with his Republican opponent Mehmet Oz (R) on Tuesday night. The lieutenant governor struggled, to say the least. He was allowed to use a monitor displaying closed captioning because he sometimes has difficulty processing spoken words. Several of his responses were disjointed and awkwardly delivered.

Predictably, the pundit class is acting as though lawmaking is akin to being a surgeon or an architect. If that were the case, then yes, we should be concerned about a recent stroke victim transplanting a new kidney into someone or planning repairs on Pittsburgh’s Roberto Clemente Bridge.

“The question is, how impaired is he?” Joe Scarborough said on Wednesday morning. “And that’s something that the voters of Pennsylvania are going to be sorting through, even if people on the Left want to pretend it doesn’t exist. It does exist, but does it mean he can’t serve as senator?”

No, it doesn’t. There is nothing technical about being a senator that requires razor-sharp mental acuity because that’s not what this job entails, as evidenced by the fact the Senate has the ignominious distinction of being full of decrepit old people. Dianne Feinstein, who is in the process of losing it, is a senator. So is Pat Leahy, who’s calling it quits. And Chuck Grassley. Hell, Strom Thurmond was 100 years old when he finally retired from the chamber and looked and sounded every bit a centenarian.

Also, like Fetterman, Sen. Ben Ray Luján had a stroke earlier this year. There have been no calls for him to step down. Former Sen. Mark Kirk also had a stroke while serving back in 2012 and was a senator for five more years before losing reelection. Again, there were no demands he resign.

Moreover – and I can’t emphasize this enough – in 2000, Missouri voters elected a dead guy to the United States Senate.

That’s right. Mel Carnahan died in a plane crash less than a month before the election, but that didn’t prevent him from defeating incumbent John Ashcroft, who you’d think would’ve had the edge in the race simply by virtue of having a pulse.

Obviously, it’s not ideal to have barely coherent geriatrics, other impaired lawmakers, and dead people elected to the federal legislature. But to speak as though Fetterman’s ascension to the Senate would be beneath its dignity is nonsense. And again, what truly matters is how Fetterman would vote.

Oz has said uninsured Americans “don’t have a right to health.” He also offered the oftentimes contradictory view in Tuesday’s debate that abortion should be decided by “women, doctors, [and] local political leaders.” He opposes red flag laws that aim to prevent nutjobs from buying firearms. He wants to give tax cuts to millionaires like himself.

I’d also be remiss if I didn’t point out that this race could determine which party controls the Senate in the next Congress. Clearly, that has huge implications for President Joe Biden’s appointments that require Senate confirmation, which obviously includes federal judges.

It’s unfortunate Fetterman had a stroke. But at the end of the day, he’s the nominee and his views more closely align with mine. And you better believe that if Oz were the one who had the stroke, Republicans would be insisting he’s still up for the task.

Fetterman’s stroke matters, but it’s hardly the most important facet of his candidacy.

This is an opinion piece. The views expressed in this article are those of just the author.