John Fetterman will debate Dr. Oz: report

Break out the crudité.

Pennsylvania Senate candidate John Fetterman reportedly said he will give Dr. Mehmet Oz the debate the Republican challenger has been pushing for for weeks.

Politico reports that the front-running Democrat, still on the mend from a stroke he suffered in May, intends to take on the TV doctor he leads in polling by an average of 6.5%, according to Real Clear Politics.

John Fetterman, left, and Dr. Mehmet Oz.

Fetterman’s camp has pushed to label the TV doctor as an outsider who’s out of sync with the needs of Pennsylvanians. Oz’s campaign has helped those efforts with ill-advised ideas like showing the millionaire physician shopping for ingredients to make crudité — hardly a traditional working man’s meal — in a supermarket with a name the conservative candidate botched in that ad.

Oz has pushed Fetterman to engage him in a series of debates leading up to November’s midterm election. Fetterman, the Keystone State’s lieutenant governor, is reportedly committed to a one-on-one as he works to fully regain auditory processing abilities impacted by his stroke. Oz has in recent weeks accused Fetterman of being unable to defend his liberal politics in a live debate.

Fetterman, 53, told Politico that isn’t the case.

“It was just simply only ever been about addressing some of the lingering issues of the stroke, the auditory processing, and we’re going to be able to work that out,” Fetterman said.

Fetterman said he plans to engage Oz sometime next month. He also claimed his hearing was impacted by his stroke, but said that situation is improving daily.

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Oz’s campaign mocked Fetterman last week with a list of “concessions” it said it would extend to the frontrunner to get him on the campaign stage. That included allowing him to raise his hand if he needs a bathroom break and offering to pay for “any additional medical personnel he might need to have on standby.”

Fetterman, who said he expects to make a full recovery, wondered if it was wise for a doctor’s political campaign to mock a person who’s battling medical misfortune.

Oz didn’t let up Wednesday as he wondered on Twitter when and where he and Fetterman will meet.

“We keep hearing that the Fetterman campaign is in debate talks with networks…What networks?” Oz tweeted. “He won’t say. What terms? He won’t say. John Fetterman sure has a lot of people speaking for him, but does very little speaking himself.”

Oz, 62, has received considerable support from former president Donald Trump and Fox News.

Fetterman has used social media to appeal to labor unions and abortion rights advocates. He returned to the campaign trail on Aug. 12 following a three-month absence.

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The race to control the U.S. Senate is expected to be tight, with Democrats seeming to hold a slight advantage. In Georgia, incumbent Democrat Raphael Warnock has worked to pressure GOP contender Herschel Walker into a debate. Walker, whose campaign has also been plagued by gaffes, remains competitive in that very tight race. The former football star claims it’s Warnock who’s “playing games” with regards to participating in a debate.