Sen. John Fetterman (D-Pa.), who survived his own disastrous debate performance ahead of the 2022 elections, told his Democratic colleagues to “relax” after media outlets reported that Democrats are panicking about the President Biden’s poor performance in Thursday’s Debate against former President Trump.
“I refuse to join the Democratic vultures on Biden’s shoulder after the debate. No one knows better than me that a difficult debate is not the sum total of the person and their record,” Fetterman posted on social platform.
The Pennsylvania senator posted his comments alongside a Politico headline declaring, “Panicked Democrats Start Looking for Alternatives to Biden.”
Fetterman reminded his followers that pundits and “polling geniuses” declared he would lose the Senate race against celebrity Mehmet Oz in 2022 after he struggled to formulate coherent sentences in their only debate after suffering a stroke.
“The next morning, the thermonuclear defeats of my debate race and polling geniuses like 538 predicted I would lose by 2. And what happened? The only seat that flipped and won by a historic margin (+5),” Fetterman posted.
“Relax,” he added.
The Washington Post analysis in October 2022 summed up Fetterman’s only debate against Oz as “a tough night.”
The Post noted that Fetterman began the debate by saying “Good evening” instead of “Good evening” and had difficulty completing his thoughts and often used the wrong words.
The polling average compiled by the political odds website FiveThirtyEight showed Oz ahead of Fetterman after the debate.
Fetterman, however, won the Pennsylvania Senate race, taking 51.2% of the vote to Oz’s 46.3%.
After Biden’s Thursday night debate with former Trump, Democrats questioned whether the party could or should replace the president at the top of the ticket. Biden’s voice was hoarse, something his campaign attributed to a cold, and he had difficulty with words.
Pennsylvania is one of three Democratic-leaning states in the Midwest that Biden needs to win to secure re-election, along with Michigan and Wisconsin, assuming he doesn’t pull off more unlikely upsets in other regions.
This story originally appeared on thehill.com read the full story
