Fetterman didn’t have new stroke, aide says
Pennsylvania senator remains hospitalized, undergoes tests after feeling lightheaded.
WASHINGTON — Pennsylvania Sen. John Fetterman, who had a stroke during his campaign last year, remained hospitalized and undergoing tests after feeling lightheaded, with tests so far negative for another stroke or seizure, his office said Thursday evening.
An MRI at George Washington University Hospital, along with other tests run by doctors, rules out a new stroke, Fetterman's communications director, Joe Calvello, said in a statement.
Fetterman was being monitored with an electroencephalogram — an instrument that measures brainwaves — for signs of a seizure, Calvello said.
“So far there are no signs of seizure, but he is still being monitored,” Calvello said.
Calvello gave no indication about when Fetterman might leave the hospital, but had said late Wednesday that Fetterman was “in good spirits and talking with his staff and family.”
In November, Fetterman, 53, won the seat held by nowretired Republican Pat Toomey after a hard-fought contest against GOP nominee Mehmet Oz. Fetterman, who was the lieutenant governor, defeated the celebrity heart surgeon by 5 percentage points, flipping a seat that was key to Democrats holding on to their Senate majority.
More than $300 million was spent during the campaign, the most expensive Senate race in 2022.
Fetterman’s campaign was derailed May 13 when he had what he later called a near-fatal stroke. He refused to drop out and spent much of the remaining months of the campaign in recovery, declining to release his medical records or allow his doctors to answer reporters’ questions.
Oz made an issue of whether his opponent was honest about the effects of the stroke and whether Fetterman was fit to serve, but the Democrat insisted his doctors said he could have a full recovery.
In an Associated Press profile just weeks after his victory, Fetterman was described as still suffering from auditory processing disorder, a stroke’s common aftereffect. The disorder can leave a person unable to speak f luidly or quickly process spoken conversation.
The effects of the stroke were apparent in Fetterman’s uneven performance during the fall campaign’s only debate. He struggled to complete sentences and jumbled words, causing concern among Democrats.
On election night, he told cheering supporters that he ran for “anyone that ever got knocked down that got back up.”