Of all the high-profile midterm elections outside my state in 2022, the one that interested me most was the race for the U.S. Senate in Pennsylvania, between Democratic Lieutenant Governor John Fetterman and Republican snake oil salesman Mehmet Oz.
I really wanted Fetterman to win, and it stressed me out a lot. It felt like much was at stake for me personally, even though, technically, it wasn’t, because I live in Illinois.
Of course, control of the Senate leadership was up for grabs. And while I don’t really view the Democratic Party as my savior, I do recognize the importance of keeping people like Mitch McConnell as far away as possible from the levers of power. I also know it’s important to beat back the increasingly bizarre zombie-like invasion of rightwing candidates into the political arena, especially those who hasten our nation’s descent into a “celebritocracy.”
While the same was true in other states, such as Georgia and Arizona, the outcomes didn’t seem to have the same potential impact on my own future well-being. The difference, I believe, is that Fetterman had a stroke last May. I also thought it was noteworthy that he didn’t just shake it off and quickly re-emerge unscathed, like a hokey Hollywood script.
Fetterman stayed in the race and struggled publicly with the aftereffects of his stroke. He wrestled particularly hard with new cognitive obstacles. When he spoke, his train of thought often seemed to derail. When listening to others, he needed to communicate using closed captioning because his brain suddenly had an easier time processing written words rather than spoken ones.
It was clear that because of the stroke, Fetterman had joined the disability community. He was now officially one of us. Welcome to the club. And if he won, it would be a significant image upgrade from the two most well-known and embarrassing elected officials with disabilities: Republicans Greg Abbott, the governor of Texas, and Madison Cawthorn, a former Representative of North Carolina. Both are rightwing rapscallions and wheelchair users.
As a fellow white man in a wheelchair, I’ve always felt compelled to seize every opportunity to resolutely declare that the views expressed by Abbott and Cawthorn do not represent the views of all white men in wheelchairs.
Please note, however, that I added the word “former” to Cawthorn’s legislative title. He generated so many unflattering headlines in his two brief years in office that even the Republican establishment couldn’t make excuses for him anymore. Thus, he was defeated in a Republican primary last year, rendering him a one-term wonder. Since he is now irrelevant, I will gladly leave it at that and hope I never have to speak of him again.
Sadly, I cannot refer to Abbott’s political career in the past tense because he easily won re-election in November. We’ll likely be hearing more about his xenophobic, transgender-bashing, and voter-suppressing escapades for another four years or more.
Before the election, I never doubted that Abbott would win, although I was shocked and dismayed that he could. The sense of foreboding I get whenever I think about being stuck with Abbott made me even more invested in Fetterman’s electoral fate. I hoped that if Fetterman won, his political mojo might temper Abbott’s.
I really liked the way Fetterman publicly handled his disability. He didn’t let the fear of stigma drive him into hiding. No one would have blamed him if he had dropped out of the race. But if he had, it might have subtly reinforced the false notion that no one with a disability is cut out for a job like that.
So Oz and the Republicans set out to subtly reinforce that idea. The Republican National Committee (RNC), for example, posted a Twitter video montage of Fetterman stumbling over his words while publicly speaking. Accompanying the clip was the caption, “Does it sound like John Fetterman is fit for office?”
I suppose those in the RNC hoped they could convince everyone that people who communicate in an unconventional manner don’t know what’s going on. Such as Stephen Hawking, perhaps?
For his part, Oz walked a tightrope between wishing Fetterman a speedy recovery and using the stroke to his own political advantage. After winning the primary, Fetterman did not appear in public for several weeks while he recovered. He campaigned largely via social media, trolling Oz over various things like being from New Jersey, rather than Pennsylvania. Oz trolled back, posting a daily countdown of the number of days since Fetterman had emerged from “his basement.”
When Fetterman began making public appearances again in August, Oz demanded that he agree to five public debates. A Fetterman campaign strategist said Oz was trying to draw negative attention to Fetterman’s disabilities by setting up a showdown between a man who “had a stroke three months ago, and the other [who] is a professional television personality.” She added that “our eyes are wide open about whose strengths this plays to.”
It was clear that because of the stroke, Fetterman had joined the disability community. He was now officially one of us. Welcome to the club.
Nevertheless, Oz and Fetterman did have one debate in October. In his opening statement, Fetterman said, “Let’s also talk about the elephant in the room. I had a stroke. He’s never let me forget that. And I might miss some words during this debate, mush two words together. But it knocked me down, and I’m going to keep coming back up.”
The words spoken during the debate were closed captioned on the wall behind the moderator so that Fetterman could read along. But when he spoke, he often hesitated and verbally stumbled while searching for words. At one point, when discussing student debt relief, it took him a while to recall the word “student.”
After the debate, The New York Times ran a story with the headline “Fetterman’s Debate Showing Raises Democratic Anxieties in Senate Battle.” A Reuters headline proclaimed, “Pennsylvania Democrats try to do damage control after shaky Fetterman debate.”
Retiring Senator Pat Toomey, the Republican from Pennsylvania whose seat the two men were competing for, told CNN after the debate that “it’s sad to see John Fetterman struggling so much. He should take more time to allow himself to fully recover.”
Yet Fetterman still won.
Fetterman’s victory meant several things to me. First, if Oz and his handlers were trying to cast doubts about Fetterman’s competence in the eyes of voters by putting his so-called deficits on full display, the strategy flopped. That makes me happy, as it does when greedy hedge fund types donate millions of dollars to rabid candidates who lose. It’s satisfying to watch them waste their money like that.
It seemed to me that, when it comes to disability awareness, the voters of Pennsylvania were way ahead of the Republicans. Or maybe that wasn’t it at all. Maybe it was simply that Oz was such a distasteful candidate that voters found Fetterman in any way, shape, or form to be superior.
I was glad to see Fetterman rewarded for his decision to forge ahead without pretending that he wasn’t disabled. I was glad he had agreed to the debate, even though he knew it would be awkward. He exposed everyone following the campaign to the notion that disabled folks have many different talents and aptitudes that we can put to great use if given the proper accommodations. And that is the essence of the Americans with Disabilities Act, which has fueled a positive transformation in our society for disabled people over the past few decades. By doing what he did, Fetterman helped to advance that transformation.
Or maybe, once again, that wasn’t it at all. Fetterman might not have calculated how his conduct would affect the disability community. Perhaps his desire to become Senator led him to whatever circuitous path he had to take to get there. That’s often how things go when you’re living with a disability—you find a way to do what you have to do.
Maybe if Fetterman had thought he could win by not debating or appearing in public, that’s what he would have done. But it doesn’t really matter—his conscious motivations don’t change the impact of his actions.
And he seems like the type of person whose disability experience would leave him with a sense of empathy for, and solidarity with, other disabled people, unlike Abbott and Cawthorn. Maybe that means he will become a legislative champion for us, someone who leads the way and builds support and momentum for disability issues.
Regardless of what happens, at least Fetterman can be someone our community will want to rally around and embrace, rather than forsake. That in itself is reason to celebrate, for now.