Lt. Gov. John Fetterman and Dr. Mehmet Oz make final pitch to voters in debate
HARRISBURG, Pa. (KDKA) — On Tuesday night, Lt. Gov. John Fetterman and Dr. Mehmet Oz faced off in the first and only debate as they make their final pitch to voters before the midterm elections.
It was a fiery debate with both candidates taking shots at one another.
Topics ranged from abortion to inflation, and the economy.
The hour-long event spanned a lot, but let's begin with a topic that is top-of-mind for many: abortion.
"There should not be involvement from the federal government on how states decide their abortion decisions," Oz said. "I want women, doctors, local political leaders, letting the democracy that's always allowed our nation to thrive to put the best ideas forward so states can decide for themselves."
"If you believe that the choice of your reproductive freedom belongs with Dr. Oz, then you have a choice, but if you believe that the choice for abortion belongs with you and your doctor, that's what I fight for," Fetterman responded. "Roe v Wade for me should be the law, he [Dr. Oz] celebrated when Roe v Wade went down, and my campaign would fight for Roe v Wade and if given the opportunity, I would codify it into law."
Crime always is a topic for voters, and it was part of the debate last night, specifically the topic of gun violence in Pennsylvania.
"I ran on my record on crime, I ran to be mayor in 2005 in order to fight gun violence and that's exactly what I did," Fetterman said. "In working with police and working with our community, I was able to stop gun violence for five and a half years as mayor, never accomplished before or since my time as mayor. I am the only person on this stage that has been successful at pushing back against gun violence."
"Part of the problem is that we have taken away the ability of police to do their job, and that's on John Fetterman," Dr. Oz claimed. "He has taken such a harsh position against them, he's undermined them at every level, taken away some of their funding, he's pushed for [Philadelphia District Attorney Larry] Krasner, who he admires tremendously and spoken highly of, he's taken his policies to a new extreme. He's argued that people should be let out of jail without any bail no matter what they did to get in there."
WATCH: Oz-Fetterman Debate Recap
One of the biggest focuses of the night and on this election is the economy.
So, what did the candidates have to say?
"John Fetterman's response, continually, is to raise taxes," Dr. Oz said. "He raised taxes as mayor, he tried to raise taxes as lieutenant governor - 46 percent - that's a big tax rate, he supported Joe Biden's recent tax rate increase."
"We need to fight about inflation because it's a tax on working families," Fetterman responded. "Dr. Oz can't possibly understand what that's like, he has 10 gigantic mansions. We must push back against corporate greed."
Now, the big question of the night: What qualifies you to be Pennsylvania's next senator?
"I'm running to serve Pennsylvania, he's running to use Pennsylvania," Fetterman said. "Here's a man that spent more than $20 million of his own money to try to buy that seat. This campaign is all about fighting for everyone in Pennsylvania that ever got knocked down."
"Washington keeps getting it wrong with extreme positions," Oz said. "I want to bring civility, balance, all the things you want to see because you've been telling it to me on the campaign trail. By doing that, we can bring us together in a way that's not been done of late."
Fetterman also argued that he is able to serve despite suffering a stroke in May. At the beginning of the debate, he addressed the condition and that he might miss some words during the contest but he was able to use a closed captioning system to read the questions and Oz's answers if needed.
KDKA-TV talked to Pittsburghers Wednesday about the debate.
"There was a decent conversation around state rights, kind of focusing on state responsibility around abortion, but I don't think it swayed my opinion whatsoever," voter Luke Siegel told KDKA-TV's Shelley Bortz.
Another hot-button topic was Fetterman's health and his ability to serve the people after suffering a stroke. While most agreed he didn't seem on top of his game because of that, they don't believe that's a reason to count him out of the race.
"I felt a little sorry for Fetterman because I think he got flustered and when he got flustered, his speech came out wrong," Connie Walsh said.
Regardless, many say if they were undecided going into the debate, they're even more confused now.
"It just has to come down to a party vote," said Emily Lopez.