PA Gov. Josh Shapiro Addresses Fetterman Resignation Question

HARRISBURG, PA — Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro said he will not encourage Sen. John Fetterman to resign to focus on his physical and mental health. Fetterman has been has been hospitalized twice since taking office in January and currently is receiving in-patient treatment for clinical depression.

Shapiro told The Philadelphia Inquirer that no Democrats have come to him requesting he ask Fetterman to step down. If any of them did, Shapiro said he would "dismiss it immediately."

“He’s going to get the help that he needs … and do a great job for the people of Pennsylvania as their senator for a long time." Shapiro told the Inquirer.

Fetterman's staff has not updated the potential release date for the senator to be released from the Walter Reed National Military Medical Center in Bethesda, Maryland where he was admitted last week. A week earlier, Fetterman was hospitalized after becoming lightheaded at a Democratic Senate retreat.

Fetterman, 53, suffered a near-fatal stroke last year while campaigning for the Senate seat he won in November by defeating celebrity doctor Mehmet Oz.

Fetterman is Pennsylvania's former lieutenant governor and the former mayor of Braddock, a small town just outside of Pittsburgh.