Pennsylvania Senate candidate John Fetterman 'sometimes struggles to speak smoothly' after stroke, AP reports

• Pennsylvania Lt. Gov. John Fetterman's Senate campaign has been tight-lipped about his health.
• After suffering a stroke in late May, Fetterman has only recently begun to do virtual campaign events.

Pennsylvania Lt. Gov. and Democratic Senate nominee John Fetterman is recovering from a stroke he suffered in late May, but still "sometimes struggles to speak smoothly," the Associated Press reported Friday.

The AP reported that Fetterman's campaign "acknowledges" the speaking issues and that he hasn't fully recovered from the stroke.

Responding to Insider's request for comment, Joe Calvello, Fetterman's communications director, did not dispute the AP's report and pointed to a Washington Post story featuring video of a Tuesday Zoom call in which Fetterman addressed campaign volunteers. The campaign would not say when Fetterman will resume in-person events or be made available for media interviews.

Fetterman's wife, Gisele Barreto Fetterman, told CNN in early June that her husband "deserves a month break to come back as strong as ever" and would "maybe" return to the campaign trail by July.

In the first glimpse of the nominee speaking on camera since the stroke, Fetterman spoke extemporaneously on the Zoom call for a little over a minute and was joined by his wife. There were no apparent edits or cuts in the recording, and he did not slur his words.

"I never feel entitled to have support, but the fact that you do, I'm so grateful for that, and you know, from the bottom of my heart I want to thank you and what you're willing to do to help us flip this seat," he told the volunteers. "Thank you so much."

Fetterman has been pulling in impressive fundraising numbers — breaking a state record in the second quarter of this year, raising $11 million with $5.5 million in cash on hand — and has been on the air with a variety of TV ads, but his appearances in those were all recorded before his stroke.

In an invitation obtained by Insider, the campaign will hold an exclusive fundraiser in Washington, DC on July 19 with several prominent Democratic Senators, though Fetterman will not be in attendance.

His opponent, Republican nominee Mehmet Oz, has not been on the air since May 21, according to Politico, and has been holding minimal events in Fetterman's absence.

In the race to replace retiring Republican Sen. Pat Toomey, who won by 1.5 percentage points in 2016, Fetterman is ahead of Oz by a margin between six and nine percentage points, according to the Real Clear Politics tracker.