PITTSBURGH — John Fetterman is the winner of the Democratic nomination for an open U.S. Senate seat in Pennsylvania, NBC News projected Tuesday.
He will face the winner of a competitive Republican primary, the result of which is not yet known. The seat is being vacated by the retiring two-term GOP Sen. Pat Toomey.
Minutes after NBC News projected the contest, Fetterman, who is in the hospital recovering from a health scare in the closing days of the race, tweeted his gratitude to voters.
His campaign said Sunday he had a stroke on Friday but the treatment was successful and he expects a full recovery. On Tuesday, shortly before polls closed, his campaign announced that he had “completed a successful procedure to implant a pacemaker with a defibrillator.”
Fetterman did not attend his election night event. His wife, Gisele Fetterman, spoke to a cheering crowd here after his win was projected and assured them that “doctors were able to act quickly, and John is going to be back on his feet in no time.”
“Too many people in this commonwealth and this country are hurting. Too many people feel abandoned, feel ignored. Too many people think their best days are the like them,” Gisele Fetterman said. “But John has a plan and a purpose to make sure Pennsylvania’s best days are ahead of us. He’s going to fight for abortion rights; he’s going to fight to raise the minimum wage; he’s going to fight to protect our planet; he’s going to fight to eliminate filibuster; he’s going to fight to legalize cannabis; he’s going to fight against gun violence; he’s going to fight against inflation and corporate greed.”
The contest is arguably Democrats’ best opportunity to pick up a Republican-held seat in what’s shaping up to be a grim political landscape for the party in power in the Nov. 8 general election.
Fetterman, the current lieutenant governor of Pennsylvania, jumped in the race early and established himself the front-runner, quickly raising huge sums of money and using his statewide name recognition to solidify his position. He is projected to defeat Rep. Conor Lamb, D-Pa., and state representative Malcolm Kenyatta, according to NBC News.
For Pennsylvania Democrats, the 6-foot-8 Fetterman is unconventional in style and substance. He’s a supporter of legalizing marijuana and raising the national minimum wage to $15 per hour. He recently criticized Philadelphia’s reimposition of a mask mandate, shortly before it ended, and broke with President Joe Biden on the Title 42 public health rule for immigration.
Gisele Fetterman voted in their town of Braddock just outside this city, where John Fetterman formerly served as mayor. She told reporters afterward that he would be back on the campaign trail “soon” without offering an exact date.
Biden congratulated Fetterman in a statement Tuesday night, saying that electing him to the Senate “would be a big step forward for Pennsylvania’s working people.”
“Democrats are united around John, who is a strong nominee, will run a tough race, and can win in November,” Biden said.
He also knocked the Republican field.
“They have fought a malicious, chaotic primary campaign to be the most extreme,” Biden said. “And they have shown people their authentic selves — that whoever emerges will be too dangerous, too craven, and too extreme to represent Pennsylvania in the United States Senate.”
