Democrat U.S. Senate candidate for Pennsylvania John Fetterman is not planning to join President Joe Biden when Biden visits the state on Tuesday, Breitbart has reported.
Biden plans to outline his "Safer America Plan" to deal with an increase in crime in many of the nation's major cities, particularly his intention to ban "assault" weapons, including many semi-automatic rifles.
A Fetterman spokesperson told New York Times reporter Katie Glueck that he will not attend Biden's event in Wilkes-Barre, explaining that there is a scheduling conflict with a planned fundraiser for his campaign in Pittsburgh.
However, Fetterman spokesman Joe Calvello told Axios that the candidate does plan on being at a Labor Day parade with Biden next Monday in Pittsburgh, where "he looks forward to talking to the president there about the need to finally decriminalize marijuana."
In addition, in the event on Tuesday in Wilkes-Barre, Democratic gubernatorial nominee Josh Shapiro and Rep. Matt Cartwright do plan to appear with Biden.
For most of the summer, nearly any Democrat running in a close race this November was not willing to appear with Biden, whose approval ratings had plummeted, Axios reported.
However, the latest surveys show the president registering a rebound. Biden's job approval jumped to 44% this month in a new Gallup poll from 38% in July, including support among independents surging 9 percentage points to 40%.
Fetterman is currently polling ahead of Republican Senate candidate, Dr. Mehmet Oz.
Oz commented on the Democrat's planned absence for Biden's Tuesday event, issuing a statement saying "No-Show John Fetterman strikes again," the New York Post reported.
"Is Fetterman running a campaign for U.S. Senate or is he trying to swindle Pennsylvania voters into electing him without knowing the truth?" the statement said, which added that Fetterman has also refused to debate Oz.
Oz's campaign also accused the Democratic candidate of not being "transparent" about his health after Fetterman returned to the campaign trail earlier this month for the first time since suffering a stroke in May.
Brian Freeman ✉
Brian Freeman, a Newsmax writer based in Israel, has more than three decades writing and editing about culture and politics for newspapers, online and television.
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