John Fetterman addresses thousands outside Philadelphia, promises to be '51st vote' for abortion rights

• Pennsylvania Lt. Gov. John Fetterman addressed more than 3,000 people at a rally on Sunday.
• The rally in Montgomery County focused on women and abortion rights.

BLUE BELL, Pennsylvania — It was a risky play, pitting a midterm election rally against the opening day of Philadelphia Eagles football. But the bet was that voters in this blue-leaning suburb would care more about abortion rights than Jalen Hurts' ability to hit receivers downfield.

"Thank you for missing the game today, for this," Annie Wu Henry, a campaign staffer for Lt. Gov. John Fetterman, told those who decided to spend their Sunday afternoon in a gymnasium listening to a Democrat talk about defending reproductive rights and abolishing the filibuster.

In the end, the Eagles' defense held on to a 38-35 victory in Detroit. And in Blue Bell, a capacity-breaching crowd came to hear Fetterman address supporters in the Philly suburbs for the first time since returning to the campaign trail last month after suffering a stroke in May.

In all, more than 3,000 people attended, the campaign said, some wearing their favorite player's jersey. Most were women. One anti-abortion activist, a man, also showed up, helping personify the theme of the day's event.

Chris Hoyler, a nurse practitioner who works in an emergency room in the city, said she's driven to vote this November by the threat Republican control over the Senate could have on abortion rights nationwide now that the Supreme Court has overturned Roe v. Wade. More than a dozen states have already banned the procedure.

"It's harming women — it's killing women — to not have the ability to get the medical care that they need, when they need it," Hoyler said as she waited in a line that snaked around Montgomery County Community College. "They're like dictators, trying to tell women how to live their lives. It's so energizing. And disgraceful."

Rally attendance does not necessarily equate to electoral success. Thousands also turned out to hear former President Donald Trump speak earlier this month outside Scranton with Fetterman's GOP rival, Dr. Mehmet Oz. But pollsters have also captured a shift in momentum since the June court decision turned just about every election into a referendum on choice: Democrats are now seen as likely to hold the Senate in a cycle that typically inflicts large losses on an incumbent president's party.

"You know what? Don't piss women off," Dayle Steinberg, CEO of Planned Parenthood Southeastern PA, said in a speech at the rally. She received the loudest cheers when she talked of getting rid of the filibuster, which in theory would allow a slim Democratic majority to pass a federal law protecting abortion.

"We're seeing what abortion bans across the country are doing, and what they were actually designed to do," she said. "They're forcing women to become pregnant and give birth. Forced pregnancy is what we're working against."

Fetterman, running to replace retiring Republican Sen. Pat Toomey, could help Democrats actually expand their majority in the upper chamber. If elected to serve there, he said Sunday, he would fight to codify abortion rights.

"You know what I would do if I were that 51st vote? Get rid of the filibuster," Fetterman said, referencing the Senate rule requiring 60 votes to pass most legislation. Mention of the rule drew almost as much ire from the crowd as the name of his opponent, Oz, who has fought off repeated attacks from the Fetterman camp over where he actually lives. A long-time resident of New Jersey, Oz last year moved in with his in-laws outside Philadelphia to run for Senate, although he has since been accused of returning to his NYC-area mansion to record a campaign video.

In return, the celebrity doctor's campaign has stepped up attacks on the health of Pennsylvania's lieutenant governor, who suffered a stroke just before winning the Democratic primary.

"If John Fetterman had ever eaten a vegetable in his life, then maybe he wouldn't have had a major stroke," Rachel Tripp, a spokesperson for Oz, told Insider last month.

Sidelined until August, Fetterman — still suffering from auditory processing issues related to his health scare — on Sunday sought to make his recovery relatable. Speaking with apparent deliberation, occasionally halting to find the right word, the Senate candidate opened his 11-minute address with a question.

Who, he asked, has ever known someone who has faced a major health problem? Practically everyone, of course.

"I certainly have," Fetterman said. "And I hope — I truly hope for each and every one of you — you didn't have a doctor in your life making fun of it, making light of it, telling you that you're not fit to serve. But unfortunately, I do. I have a doctor in my life doing that."

That may be a smart way to deflect personal attacks in a state where nearly 50,000 people a year are hospitalized due to strokes and where heart disease is the leading killer. But for Lucy Thimme, a recent college graduate from nearby Chester County, her decision to attend Sunday's rally was all about policy and the prospect that Fetterman could be the Senator who helps deliver it.

"It's a chance to flip a Senate seat. And we can then have the possibility of passing bills and laws, for example, to safeguard people's rights to reproductive freedom," Thimme said.

As for her thoughts on his opponent, Dr. Oz: "Well, I suppose the obvious answer is he's from New Jersey."

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