Oz demands debates as Fetterman hits the campaign stage for the first time in three months

Friday marks the first step back onto the public campaign stage for Lt. Gov. John Fetterman since he suffered a stroke just before the May Democratic primary for U.S. Senate.

The Republican nominee, Mehmet Oz, sought to upstage that return by committing Friday to five televised debates in September and October.

“John Fetterman’s campaign also received invitations to these debates, but his campaign has not yet committed to any of these debates or any other debate with Dr. Oz,” said his campaign, dismissing Fetterman’s time recuperating from the stroke as “a 90-day break.”

The former television show host popularly known as “Dr. Oz” followed that with a tweet Friday, saying, “It’s time for Fetterman to show up. Pennsylvanians deserve to hear from their candidates.”

The National Republican Senatorial Campaign went further, accusing Fetterman of being a “coward” who was “shying away from Oz’s challenge,” which was less than eight hours old.

Traditionally, early and bombastic declarations for debate are made by challengers trying to unseat entrenched incumbents. But Fetterman and Oz seek a seat being vacated by the retiring U.S. Sen. Pat Toomey, a Lehigh Valley Republican.

Oz has trailed Fetterman in polling and fund-raising.

“This is just what losing campaigns do when they desperately want to change the narrative, and we’re not falling for it,” said Fetterman spokesperson Joe Calvello. “Today is about John, and it’s not our job to boost Dr. Oz’s struggling campaign.”

Fetterman was set Friday for an evening rally in Erie, an evocation to his brand of blue-collar politics that reaches to parts of the states where Democrats must show up to be competitive.

» READ MORE: Why John Fetterman picked Erie for his first big rally after a stroke that nearly killed him

While Fetterman has been off the campaign trail, Oz has held events across the state, largely without public notice, that his campaign later announced after they concluded.

Fetterman has faced this criticism before. Two primary opponents, U.S. Rep. Conor Lamb of Allegheny County and State Rep. Malcolm Kenyatta of Philadelphia, spent much of their first debate talking about the empty podium where Fetterman would have stood if he had agreed to participate.

“He didn’t respect you enough to show up today,” Lamb told the audience in Allentown in April.

Fetterman did appear at other debates, where his folksy populism did not translate well into the sound-bite structure of moderator questions and quick answers.

That didn’t dent Fetterman’s front-runner status in the primary. He went on to win all 67 counties in the state in May with 59% of the vote.