Dave McCormick says John Fetterman will ‘probably’ leave hospital Saturday as GOP floods the Democrat with well wishes

Republican Sen. Dave McCormick told a crowd at a Veterans Day ceremony in Reading on Friday that his Pennsylvania Democratic colleague, Sen. John Fetterman, says hello.

Fetterman, who was hospitalized this week after a heart issue caused him to fall, will “probably” leave the hospital on Saturday morning, McCormick said.

“I spoke with him this morning,” he said. “He’s fine, he’s going to be fine.”

Fetterman’s office did not immediately confirm the expected timeline shared by McCormick.

The Republican senator noted that Fetterman “banged up his face” from the fall the same week he is launching his book Unfettered, joking that he’ll “do anything to sell books.”

“He has been a great force of good for the Democratic Party, a great common sense vote for Pennsylvania,” McCormick said.

Fetterman has received an outpouring of well-wishes from across the aisle following his hospitalization beyond McCormick, from the Pennsylvania Republican Party to the White House.

“WE NEED HIM BACK IN SENATE,” posted Senate Republican President Pro Tempore Chuck Grassley (R., Iowa) on Thursday after his hospitalization was announced.

Sen. John Kennedy, a Louisiana Republican, posted that he sends his “prayers and best wishes to my friend and colleague.”

As of 4:30 p.m. Friday, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, a New York Democrat who has led the caucus since 2017, shared five posts on X since the news of Fetterman’s fall but none were about Fetterman.

The Pennsylvania Democrat has made a name for himself as someone who is willing to break with his party and work with Republicans. He was one of eight Democratic caucus members who voted with the GOP to open the government this week without the health care subsidies Democrats were pushing for, infuriating some colleagues from his party.

Karoline Leavitt, the press secretary for President Donald Trump, posted an emoji of prayer hands on X, saying she’s “praying for a speedy recovery for Senator Fetterman.”

Mehmet Oz, Fetterman’s 2022 Senate opponent who now serves in the Trump administration, also lent words of support.

Oz shared on X that he’s “praying for John’s full recovery,” referring to the senator by his first name.

The former candidate who lost a bitter election to Fetterman now oversees the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services. Fetterman voted against Oz’s appointment though he voted for other Trump nominees.

Oz’s campaign staffers and allies mocked Fetterman’s health during their feisty 2022 contest. Fetterman survived a near-death stroke just days before the primary, which was caused by a blood clot that had blocked a major artery in his brain.

Fetterman said in his new memoir Unfettered, which he was promoting in the days leading up to his fall, that he couldn’t hear for weeks after his stroke, communicating only with a whiteboard and markers. Once he could speak, he relied on closed-captioning. He revealed in the book that he should have dropped out of the race because of the toll the attacks on his health were taking on his mental health.

Now three years later, Fetterman, 56, fell to the ground near his home after feeling lightheaded due to what his unnamed spokesperson described as a “ventricular fibrillation flare-up” in a Thursday post on X.

He was transported to a Pittsburgh hospital “out of an abundance of caution” but stayed in the hospital for “routine observation” as his doctors “fine-tune his medication regimen,” according to the statement.

Ventricular fibrillation is a kind of irregular heart rhythm and common cause of sudden cardiac death. Fetterman could have been assisted by a defibrillator he had implanted following his 2022 stroke, according to doctors who specialize in heart conditions but are not involved in the senator’s care.

The Pennsylvania Republican Party posted well wishes for Fetterman and his family on X on Thursday. The Pennsylvania Democratic party, however, posted on X on Friday to attack Republicans for supporting Trump but had not made a post about Fetterman’s recovery as of Friday afternoon.

Two of Fetterman’s Democratic colleagues in the House from Pennsylvania wished Fetterman a speedy recovery: U.S. Reps. Brendan Boyle, of Philadelphia, and Chris Deluzio, whose district includes Pittsburgh suburbs. (The other five House Democrats representing the Commonwealth did not share statements on X as of Friday afternoon.)

While most House Republicans from the state also did not offer public well wishes for Fetterman, two joined in on the GOP chorus on X.

U.S. Rep. Brian Fitzpatrick, a Bucks County Republican, called Fetterman “my friend” while wishing him a speedy recovery.

“You’ve met every challenge head-on, and you’ll meet this one no differently,” Fitzpatrick posted with muscle and American flag emojis.

U.S. Rep. Ryan Mackenzie, a Republican who represents the Lehigh Valley, praised Fetterman for siding with Republicans during the government shutdown while wishing him a fast recovery.

“The Senator has been a strong champion for bipartisanship and the needs of Pennsylvanians throughout the shutdown, and he and his family are in our thoughts,” Mackenzie said.

On Thursday evening, Democratic Gov. Josh Shapiro put a statement on X in support of Fetterman after being asked by The Inquirer if he would be commenting. Fetterman describes his longstanding tension with the governor in his new book.

Fetterman’s willingness to befriend politicians outside of his party has marked his term in the Senate, which has been reflected in social media messages from GOP senators.

Sen. Katie Britt, an Alabama Republican, last year partnered with Fetterman on a bill aimed at curbing the negative mental health impacts of social media.

Britt visited Fetterman when he was hospitalized at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center for major depression shortly after he began his term in February 2023.

“John’s resilience and fortitude are second to none, and I’m confident he’ll be back at it in no time,” she said on Thursday.

Staff writer Kristen Graham contributed to this report