Joe Biden returned Friday to Pennsylvania to attend a fundraiser to boost Democratic Senate nominee John Fetterman, gubernatorial candidate Josh Shapiro and other Pennsylvania Democrats.
PHILADELPHIA — If a president’s most precious commodity is time, there is no place more valuable politically for the White House this midterm year than Pennsylvania.
The Pennsylvania seat has for months been the most likely pick-up opportunity for Democrats in the evenly-divided Senate, but as prospects darken for Democratic incumbents elsewhere, a win here is becoming an even more urgent insurance policy for the party to cling to Senate control.The White House has showered attention on the Keystone State — Biden’s birthplace — in the final weeks before the election, and officials are preparing for another visit next week.
The dinner at the Pennsylvania Convention Center is the state party’s biggest fundraiser of the year, and party officials said the $1 million raised is the most ever for the dinner. Attendees included U.S. Sen. Bob Casey, and U.S. Rep. Matt Cartwright, for whom Biden headlined a virtual fundraiser earlier this week.
Ravi Balu, a dentist who is the party’s vice chair in Westmoreland County, in western Pennsylvania, heard from a number of friends who were worried or surprised by Fetterman’s performance. He said he told them that, whatever Fetterman’s lingering issues from the stroke, that he will recover and will always be more “relatable” to regular people than Oz.
The statement — which spread rapidly across social media immediately after the debate — was meant to frame Oz’s opposition to a federal ban that would pare back abortion access in Pennsylvania, even though he opposes abortion. But Democrats say it’s proof that Oz wants politicians in doctors’ offices and exam rooms with women.