Source: Politics<\/p>\n
John Fetterman\u2019s campaign announced on Wednesday that the Democratic Senate nominee in Pennsylvania had agreed to an Oct. 25 debate in Harrisburg, Pa., hosted by Nexstar Television.<\/p>\n
The announcement followed the lieutenant governor\u2019s commitment last week<\/a> to one debate with his Republican opponent, Mehmet Oz, in the high-stakes battle. Oz, who is trailing in the polls, has hammered on the issue, questioning Fetterman\u2019s ability to debate after he suffered a stroke in May.<\/p>\n The Oz campaign responded on Wednesday with more conditions before agreeing to the debate. It said Fetterman\u2019s team asked for a closed-caption monitor \u2014 and two practice sessions to get used to closed captioning \u2014 to help with the Democrat\u2019s auditory processing issues related to his stroke.<\/p>\n The Oz statement said the Republican would agree to the debate under three conditions: if the moderator explained to the audience that Fetterman was using a closed-captioning system, if the practice debate did not include real debate questions and if the debate was 90 minutes instead of 60.<\/p>\n \u201cIf those three reasonable requests are acceptable to the Fetterman campaign, then we accept the debate invitation on October 25th\u201d the Oz campaign said in a statement, continuing to slam Fetterman for agreeing to only one debate.<\/p>\n The Fetterman campaign got ahead of the Oz attack in its statement.<\/p>\n \u201cWe said from the start that we\u2019d do a debate, which John reiterated very clearly again last week. Enough distractions, it\u2019s time to talk about the issues,\u201d Rebecca Katz, senior adviser to the Fetterman campaign, said in the statement.<\/p>\n Katz went on to hit Oz on his response to questions<\/a> about whether he would support an abortion ban that Sen. Lindsey Graham<\/a> (R-S.C.) proposed this week.<\/p>\n \u201cWhile John will be debating Dr. Oz next month, Oz doesn\u2019t have to wait that long to be honest with Pennsylvania voters about where he really stands on abortion,\u201d she said. \u201cIt\u2019s a simple question, doctor: Would you vote for the Republicans\u2019 national abortion ban, or would you vote against it?\u201d<\/p>\n The Oz campaign has reiterated that the Republican is against abortion with exceptions for the life of the mother, rape and incest, but it has not directly addressed the Graham proposal. In a statement to the Philadelphia Inquirer on Tuesday, Oz spokesperson Brittany Yanick said that as a senator, Oz would \u201cwant to make sure the federal government is not involved in interfering with the state\u2019s decisions on the topic.\u201d<\/p>\n While Fetterman has agreed to face off against his opponent, it\u2019s been a rough year for scheduling debates<\/a>. Debate-dodging took off in the primaries this year and has continued through the fall, raising questions about the future of the democratic practice.<\/p>\n In another closely watched Senate race, in Georgia, former football star Herschel Walker, the state\u2019s Republican nominee, and Democratic incumbent Sen. Raphael Warnock<\/a> finally agreed Tuesday evening to an Oct. 14 debate<\/a> in Savannah, after Walker dodged a commitment for months. And over the weekend, Democrat Katie Hobbs\u2019 campaign<\/a> announced she wouldn\u2019t debate with Republican Kari Lake in the race for Arizona governor, expressing concerns that a debate with Lake would \u201cjust create another spectacle, like we saw in the GOP primary debate.\u201d<\/p>\n