WASHINGTON — U.S. Sen. John Fetterman said he is fully capable of serving in Congress as he recovers from the depression that led to his hospitalization earlier this year.
"Hell, yes, and that's why I'm doing it,’’ Mr. Fetterman, D-Pa., told Post-Gazette news partner KDKA-TV in an interview that aired Tuesday. “Just the way any Pennsylvanians are working is you take it a day and a day and work hard, and that's exactly what I’ve been doing here."
Mr. Fetterman, who had a stroke during his successful Senate campaign last year, checked himself into Walter Reed National Military Center in February to be treated for clinical depression. He was discharged at the end of March and returned to the Capitol in April when Congress came back from a two-week recess.
"I feel fantastic, honestly," he said. "A lot of people have asked, 'Hey, how are you feeling? How's your depression?' Again, it's in remission, and I am just so grateful to be feeling great.”
Mr. Fetterman said that the attacks against him during the Senate campaign may have contributed to his depression. Outside groups aired $84 million in attack ads against him, according to the research group OpenSecrets.
“It was after the brutality of the campaign,” Mr. Fetterman said about the onset of his depression. “Some people believe that it was one of the most vicious political campaigns.”
Jonathan D. Salant: jsalant@post-gazette.com; @JDSalant
First Published: May 3, 2023, 3:10 p.m.
Updated: May 4, 2023, 10:12 a.m.
