As the Pennsylvania Senate race heats up, a new ad by American Leadership Action exposes John Fetterman‘s past. In 2013, Fetterman shot an unarmed Black jogger whom he mistakenly suspected of a crime.
The ad is titled “Chase,” and it highlights how Fetterman, then-mayor of Braddock, “chased down an innocent, unarmed Black man.” The jogger put his hands up, as he stated in the ad:
“I mean, there’s a mayor with a shotgun and six other cops surrounding me. What else could I do but this?”
Fetterman defended his action, saying he believed he did “the right thing” while in the same breath saying he probably broke the law. The ad closes, highlighting Fetterman as “reckless, risky, and wrong for Pennsylvania.” The ad will air on networks with high Black viewership, including ESPN, the Oprah Winfrey Network, and MSNBC.
Usually, a tragic storyline like that would be all over the mainstream media, and there would be thorough coverage on MSNBC, ABC, and other networks. But this incident has not been brought up by any of the mainstream media outlets, no jumping to conclusions, none of that. The likely reason is that the race in Pennsylvania is tightening up.
According to Christopher Miyares, Fetterman “lied about everything” regarding the incident. However, Miyares, who is currently in a state prison in Somerset County for an unrelated crime, noted that he supports Fetterman. He said:
“I hope he gets to be a Senator. Even with everything I said, it is inhumane to believe one mistake should define a man’s life.”
There were a lot of Pennsylvanian conservatives who preferred David McCormick or Kathy Barnette. If either of those two candidates had become the nominee, this could have been a completely different race, and Fetterman could have been trailing in the polls. However, that’s not the case, so unless the GOP unites around Oz and Oz can convince registered Independents to vote for him over Fetterman, it will be a steep uphill battle. Currently, polls show Fetterman up by eight points on average. As we all know, no poll showed Trump winning in 2016, yet he won the Presidency. But it should be a warning to Oz’s campaign that they must work with a sense of urgency to win over Pennsylvania voters. This is a great ad, and it should be plastered all over Pennsylvania, so the voters see who the real John Fetterman is.