Pennsylvania Senate race faces late twists, from John Fetterman’s stroke to Kathy Barnette’s meteoric rise

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Voters head to the polls Tuesday to choose their party nominees in a high-profile Pennsylvania Senate race that has seen shocking last-minute twists, from the stroke suffered by Democratic front-runner John Fetterman to the late surge by far-right Republican Kathy Barnette.

Fetterman, 52, announced Sunday that he was resting after a stroke and is “well on my way to a full recovery.” He added: “Our campaign isn’t slowing down one bit, and we are still on track to win this primary on Tuesday, and flip this Senate seat in November.”

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His rivals, Rep. Conor Lamb, D-Pa., and state Rep. Malcolm Kenyatta, responded quickly to wish him well, with Kenyatta saying he looked “forward to seeing him back on the campaign trail soon.”

Meanwhile, in the ultra-competitive Republican primary, Barnette has surged into a statistical three-way tie for the lead with Trump-endorsed television doctor Mehmet Oz and former hedge fund executive David McCormick, according to a recent Fox News poll that found her support having doubled since March, sending waves of panic through the GOP establishment.

With Oz and McCormick struggling to convince voters they’re the true pro-Trump “America First” candidates, Barnette has depicted herself as a grassroots underdog facing two multimillionaires with weaker ties to Pennsylvania.