John Fetterman To Undergo Surgery For Pacemaker, Campaign Says

PENNSYLVANIA — Leading U.S. Senate candidate and current Lt. Governor of Pennsylvania John Fetterman will undergo surgery for a pacemaker after suffering a stroke over the weekend, his campaign announced on Tuesday.

The news comes on primary Election Day, as Fetterman leads a host of Democratic challengers in the race to replace outgoing U.S. Sen. Pat Toomey. The race has been hailed for more than a year as potentially transformational for the balance of power in Congress.

"John Fetterman is about to undergo a standard procedure to implant a pacemaker with a defibrillator," the Tuesday statement from his campaign reads. "It should be a short procedure that will help protect his heart and address the underlying cause of his stroke, atrial fibrillation (A-fib), by regulating his heart rate and rhythm."

Fetterman voted Tuesday from his hospital room at Penn Medicine Lancaster General Hospital, sharing a photo his social media channels of him filling out an emergency absentee ballot.

"I’m feeling much better," he said over the weekend. "I’m well on my way to a full recovery."

That the news broke just days before the primary is perhaps unfortunate timing, but Fetterman held a huge lead in the polls coming into the week. According to the latest aggregate of polls from RealClearPolitics, he leads his nearest challenger, Conor Lamb, 43 percent to 12 percent.

It wasn't the only election-related medical news Tuesday, as Democratic nominee for governor, Josh Shapiro, announced that he had COVID-19 in the morning.