The leading Democrat candidate in the U.S. Senate race out of Pennsylvania was hospitalized late last week after suffering a stroke.
John Fetterman, who is currently the state’s lieutenant governor, made the revelation in a statement that he released on Sunday afternoon.
“On Friday, I wasn’t feeling well, so I went to the hospital to get checked out,” he said. “I didn’t want to go — I didn’t think I had to — but Gisele insisted, and as usual, she was right.”
“I hadn’t been feeling well, but was so focused on the campaign that I ignored the signs and just kept going,” he continued. “On Friday it finally caught up with me. I had a stroke that was caused by a clot from my heart being in an A-fib rhythm for too long. Fortunately, Gisele spotted the symptoms and got me to the hospital within minutes.”
“The amazing doctors here were able to quickly and completely remove the clot, reversing the stroke, they got my heart under control as well,” he concluded. “It’s a good reminder to listen to your body and be aware of the signs.”
The statement did not reveal whether or not he was still in the hospital.
Fetterman has a commanding lead over his next closest Democrat challenger in the race.
On the Republican side, candidates Dr. Mehmet Oz and former hedge fund executive David McCormick are in a tight race for the nomination.
Fetterman holds far-left views on subjects like abortion, where he has stated that he does not believe that there should be any limits on abortion.
“Abortions are going to continue in America whether it is legal or not. They just won’t be safe, if they are illegal, and we can’t ever go back to that. We just can’t.”
Asked if there were “any limitations on abortion” that he would “find appropriate,” Fetterman responded, “I don’t believe so, no.”
WATCH: Pennsylvania’s Lt. Gov John Fetterman says he wants to eliminate the filibuster to “codify” abortion without any limits.
“I don’t believe [there should be any limits to abortion]” pic.twitter.com/4QYTualTN6
— RNC Research (@RNCResearch) April 26, 2022
Fetterman has faced renewed controversy over an incident that happened years ago when he chased down a black man and pulled a gun on him and detained the him until police arrived, thinking that the man had been involved in a shooting.
NBC News reported:
It turned out that the man was jogging and wearing running clothes. According to a police report, the manwas unarmed and said the sound of gunfire was actually fireworks, although two witnesses thought they heard shots.
The man Fetterman pulled a gun on is Black. Fetterman — the mayor of the Pittsburgh-area borough of Braddock at the time and now the state’s lieutenant governor — is white. Fetterman, 52, said he couldn’t tell the jogger’s race initially because of how he was bundled up in the winter cold.
“He’s not shooting straight on this, no pun intended. Just ‘fess up. Apologize,” said Michael Nutter, Philadelphia’s last Black mayor, who is neutral in the Senate primary. “All this other stuff — that he was the chief law enforcement officer or that he didn’t know the guy was Black — just doesn’t really sound like he wants to tell the truth. It’s not helping him. Figuratively speaking, he’s shooting himself in the foot, and he doesn’t have to.”
This report has been updated to include additional information.