The Hill reports: “Pennsylvania Democratic Senate candidate John Fetterman said Tuesday he won’t participate in a debate against his Republican opponent Mehmet Oz during the first week of September, citing his ongoing recovery from a recent stroke.”
Refusing to debate is typically a tactic employed by candidates with large leads who see no reason to give their opponents an opening. Fetterman has a healthy 47.3 to 39.9 percent lead over Oz in the RCP polling average, but the two most recent polls show the race tightening: Emerson finds Fetterman leading by 4 points and Susquehanna finds Fetterman leading by 5 points. Pennsylvania polls significantly underestimated support for Trump in the fall of 2016 and 2020, but they were on target during the 2018 Senate race.