News & Brews October 20, 2022

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Fetterman releases doctor’s note that says he’s ‘recovering well’

Amid repeated calls to release his medical records following a May stroke, Democrat gubernatorial nominee John Fetterman released a letter from his doctor saying Fetterman is “recovering well from his stroke” and “has no work restrictions and can work full duty in public office.” The AP adds that “Fetterman has declined to release a fuller suite of his medical records or provide access by reporters to his doctors or specialists.”

Out-of-state donors rank high in Shapiro’s fundraising

Commonwealth Foundation Senior Vice President Nathan Benefield writes in RealClear Pennsylvania that as Democrat gubernatorial nominee Josh Shapiro has raised nearly $51 million since the beginning of 2021, “[s]lightly more than half” of his fundraising total came from out-of-state donors. Among these are $5.6 million from the Democratic Governors Association, $500,000 from Michael Bloomberg, $120,000 from the Soros family, $2 million from California billionaire Jennifer Duda, $1 million from Silicon Valley physician Karla Jurvetson, and $1 million from former PayPal executive William Harris, Jr.

A tale of two Mike Doyles

The Wall Street Journal looks at the western Pa. U.S. House race in which Democrat Rep. Mike Doyle is retiring—and Republican Mike Doyle is running. The identical names are causing confusion as Republican Borough Councilman Mike Doyle is running against Democrat State Rep. Summer Lee in the newly drawn 12th congressional district. The district includes much of the old 18th district, which is represented by retiring Democrat Rep. Mike Doyle. Clear as mud, right? Rep. Doyle recently held a press conference to try to clear up the confusion. “My name is on the ballot,” he said, “but it’s not me.” Check out the Journal story here (paywall).

‘Biden closely tends his Pa. roots in election year’

The Associated Press observes that while President Biden “has been practically absent from midterm election campaigning in pivotal states such as Georgia, Nevada and Ohio … he keeps coming back to Pennsylvania, where … his low approval ratings won’t keep him away.” Today, he plans to be in Pittsburgh to talk about infrastructure, marking his 14th visit to Pa. since taking office.

Judge tosses lawsuit, clears way for Lehigh County dropboxes

Yesterday, I shared that dropboxes in Lehigh County were on hold pending litigation surrounding dropbox monitoring. Well, WITF reports that a judge has tossed the lawsuit and “said the county proved that in-person monitoring of the dropboxes would be too difficult to prepare workers for and changes to dropbox procedures for which the county has already prepared could cause confusion for voters this close to Election Day.” The move comes after Chester County took a different approach, committing to in-person monitoring of dropboxes. Guess it wasn’t too hard for Chester.

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