Fetterman addresses union supporters at Pittsburgh rally, but avoids media questions

Hundreds of union members held a rally Tuesday at the United Steelworkers headquarters in Downtown Pittsburgh to support Democrats that the union endorsed, including congressional candidate Chris DeLuzio, state House candidate Dr. Arvind Venkat and U.S. Senate candidate John Fetterman.

It was one of Fetterman’s first public appearances in Pittsburgh since recovering from his stroke.

In a speech, Fetterman, Pennsylvania’s lieutenant governor, said he was proud the United Steelworkers union was the first to endorse his Senate campaign.

He also attacked his election rival, Republican Dr. Mehmet Oz, over his wealth and the large number of properties he owns, as Fetterman has done repeatedly during the campaign.

“I live in the shadow of the Edgar Thomson (steel) plant,” Fetterman. “Let me ask you a question: Of the 10 homes that Dr. Oz owns, do you think any of them have a steel plant across from any of them? I do.”

John Fetterman at one of his first public appearances in Pittsburgh since recovering from his stroke. pic.twitter.com/7Xa8E16vTm

— Ryan Deto (@RyanDeto) August 23, 2022

Fetterman vowed to protect the “union way of life” if elected and said being anti-union is anti-American.

After the rally, Fetterman was followed by a group of reporters, but he didn’t take any questions.

According to a polling average compiled by Real Clear Politics, Fetterman has a 7.5 percentage-point lead over Oz in the race for the U.S. Senate.

In a tweet, Oz criticized Fetterman for dodging questions from reporters.

“John Fetterman held his second public campaign event and he took 0 questions. Pennsylvanians deserve answers,” tweeted Oz.

The rally also featured candidates for other statewide offices, federal seats and the Pennsylvania legislature. Among them were state Rep. Dan Miller, state Sen. Lindsey Williams, and Lt. Gov. nominee Austin Davis, who is Democratic gubernatorial candidate Josh Shapiro’s running mate.

Williams spoke about her past experience being illegally fired after trying to organize a union at the National Whistleblowers Center and how she wears a “union yes” pin on her label as a reminder to her and her colleagues in the state Senate.

“I want everyone else to know in that chamber, that I am there to support unions,” Williams said.

Williams’s 38th Senatorial District includes all Allegheny Valley towns on the northwest side of the Allegheny River, from Harrison and beyond Aspinwall. Its northern border is the Butler County line, and it includes North Hills municipalities as far west as Pine Township, McCandless, Ross and her hometown of West View. It includes a small part of Pittsburgh.

DeLuzio is running for Pennsylvania’s 17th Congressional District, which includes Beaver County, western and northern Allegheny County and some suburbs just east of Pittsburgh.

He spoke about his experience helping to organize for union formation of faculty members at the University of Pittsburgh and his time in serving in the Navy in the Iraq War.

“A lesson I learned in the military is solidarity, you don’t leave someone behind,” DeLuzio said. “It is not patriotic to go after union jobs.”

After the rally, DeLuzio said that Congress needs to pass the PRO Act to expand union rights in America and wants to ensure that union jobs grow in Western Pennsylvania.

“We can’t send our jobs to right-to-work states, to Mexico, to China, to wherever,” he said.

Venkat is running in Pennsylvania’s 30th State House District, a swing district that includes Ben Avon, Ben Avon Heights, Emsworth, Franklin Park, Kilbuck, McCandless, Ohio Township and parts of Hampton.

An emergency room physician, he told the crowd he would work to lower health care costs in Pennsylvania.

“I am running because we need people who understand this crisis,” Venkat said.