HARRISBURG, Pa. (NewsNation) — Midterm elections are just over two weeks away and the race for Pennsylvania’s Senate open Senate seat is heating up.
Pennsylvania’s Democratic Lt. Gov. John Fetterman will face off against Republican challenger and TV personality Dr. Mehmet Oz in a highly anticipated debate Tuesday ahead of their race for the U.S. Senate seat currently held by Republican Pat Toomey.
The state played a key role in deciding the last two political races, and so far, it’s clear this race is getting tighter.
The latest Real Clear Politics poll average has Fetterman leading Oz by just over 1 percentage point — a very different story than what was seen in August when Fetterman’s lead was almost 9 percentage points
The two candidates have been at a war of words with one another — Oz called Fetterman’s mental acuity into question following a stroke and painted him as a radical, while Fetterman has attacked Oz on being a short-term Pennsylvania resident who is out of touch with the needs of the people.
This debate will be a little bit different than most debates in the past. A closed captioning system will be implemented in Tuesday’s debate with real-time captioners employed.
Everything the moderators ask Fetterman and the responses from his opponent will be put on a screen for him to read. The captioners will transcribe everything that’s being said in real-time.
This provision came at the request of the Fetterman campaign and was approved by Oz’s campaign as part of the overall debate rules.
The Pennsylvania airwaves are flooded with attack ads lobbed at each candidate. This race is already the sixth most expensive Senate race in history, according to AdImpact.
The stakes are so high in this race that President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris are both coming back to Pennsylvania this week as Oz narrows the lead on Fetterman.
NewsNation will air the primetime debate exclusively on Oct. 25 with a pre-debate analysis provided by Leland Vittert during a special edition of his show “On Balance” from 7-8 p.m. ET, followed by the full debate from 8-9 p.m. ET. After the debate, NewsNation’s Chris Cuomo will provide a post-debate analysis on a special edition of his show “CUOMO” from 9-10 p.m. ET.
Not sure how to tune in? Enter your ZIP code in our Channel Finder app to find out how to watch. If you have NewsNation in your channel lineup, you can watch the debate here.
“Debate Night in America”
NewsNation is exclusively broadcasting live national candidate debates in battleground states, which have included the Texas governor debate and the debate between Georgia Senate candidates Raphael Warnock and Herschel Walker.
“Debate Night in America” will feature news and analysis from NewsNation’s team of experienced journalists.
Nexstar Media, the parent company of NewsNation, adopted a set of criteria to determine which candidates are eligible to participate in a debate, which includes a requirement that a candidate must receive at least 10% support in an established, professionally conducted, nonpartisan poll leading up to the election.
