Test results Thursday confirmed that Sen. John Fetterman (D-Pa.), who was hospitalized on Wednesday after feeling lightheaded at a political gathering, is not experiencing another stroke, according to his Senate office team.
Fetterman, who was attending a Senate Democratic retreat, was hospitalized Wednesday in Washington, D.C., and was expected to stay at least a second night. The senator had suffered a stroke in May 2022, days before the Democratic primary election in Pennsylvania.
According to his team, MRI results and other tests Thursday evening ruled out another stroke. Fetterman was also being monitored with an electroencephalogram (EEG) for signs of seizures, though reportedly none had been detected as of Thursday evening.
Shortly after his stroke last year, Fetterman underwent surgery to insert a pacemaker to regulate his atrial fibrillation, an irregular heart rhythm. The stroke also left him with an auditory processing disorder, which is common among stroke survivors. He took some time away from the campaign to recover, and by October his doctors said he was “recovering well” and was healthy enough to finish his Senate campaign and would be able to work in the Senate.
But his health became a primary focus of the Pennsylvania Senate race, especially from his Republican opponent, Mehmet Oz, whose campaign mocked Fetterman’s stroke and his general health, including ableist attacks from Oz and other elected officials.
Fetterman ended up defeating Oz by 5 percentage points in the November midterm elections, helping keep the Democrats in control of the Senate, although narrowly. On Tuesday, he attended President Joe Biden’s State of the Union address.