BLUE BELL, Pa. (KYW Newsradio) — Thousands of people turned out to rally for Democratic Senate candidate John Fetterman at Montgomery County Community College on Sunday. It was the Pennsylvania lieutenant governor's first appearance in Southeastern Pennsylvania since the primary.
"Can we get this room so loud that we can let him hear it in New Jersey right now?" exhorted Fetterman, taking his favorite jab at his Republican opponent, Dr. Mehmet Oz — that he's not from Pennsylvania.
But the rally was billed as Women for Fetterman and the focus was on abortion rights. "Oz believes abortion is murder, he said that," Fetterman told his supporters. "No exceptions for rape or incest."
Fetterman, in a black hoodie with sleeves rolled up, spoke for only about 10 minutes of the hour-long rally, after half a dozen women, including U.S. Reps. Madeleine Dean and Mary Gay Scanlon, warmed up the crowd.
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The large turnout was a surprise, even to the campaign, which estimated nearly 3,000 people had shown up and it had space for only 2,500. Sally and Matt waited half an hour in line and Matt gave up watching the Eagles but he said, no regrets. "Best thing to do," he said. "I'm here to support the women."
"You're too cute," chided Sally. "We support women's rights and that's a big issue this year — women's rights, not only abortion rights, the right to choose, the right to vote. We want to actually preserve our freedom."
The rally followed two events last week for Oz, who has been jabbing Fetterman about being less active on the campaign trail while recovering from a stroke and major surgery in the spring.