These are scenes that many people said wouldn't happen this election season.
An unabashed progressive winning in a swing state,
in the heart of America's rust belt.
A symbol of the so-called red wave stopped in its tracks.
We're in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
following the race for the US Senate
that’s pitted John Fetterman, the grassroots Democrat, publicly recovering from a recent stroke –
If you believe that a human being should toil for $7.25 an hour,
vote for the other person.
– against Mehmet Oz, a TV doctor accused of pushing pseudoscience,
who's been endorsed by Donald Trump.
People who took this medication were able to lose 10% of their body weight,
that degree of impact is large.
This is the last stop in my journey across the country
and we arrived three days before election day.
The city is abuzz with politics,
with two former presidents holding rival events on the same day
and the first stop is a downtown rally with Barack Obama
where the mood is one of cautious optimism.
It doesn't surprise me that it's close because Pennsylvania is a very split state,
but I think he'll prevail.
I haven't been confident calling any races since the 2016 election.
Well of course if people do the right thing and get out and vote
they hopefully will vote for those that are honest and true
and want our democracy back to what our founding fathers put it as.
But there are also warnings about the spread of disinformation.
If you read or see something that says “they are the cause of all your problems”,
then it's safe to say it is garbage, it is a lie, it is dangerous poison,
we've got to call it out and put an end to that kind of mindset.
Fetterman is the state's lieutenant governor
who began his political career as the mayor of a small post-industrial Pittsburgh suburb
and he's placed workers’ rights and trade unionism at the heart of his campaign.
Send me to DC.
And I’ll be that 51st vote to raise the minimum wage.
How can anybody live on $7.25 an hour?
The union way of life is sacred, we have to expand healthcare,
exactly the same kind of healthcare that saved my life.
The morning was Obama
and now we’re driving a few dozen miles out of the rural red suburbs
for a very different rally with Donald Trump and Dr Oz.
Here it felt like support for Dr Oz was mostly down to party loyalty
and a very different view of economic opportunity.
What do you guys think of Dr Oz?
Way better than the option.
But not your first choice?
No.
He was my only choice because because Fetterman is a puppet.
Fetterman along with lots of other Democrats stand for a national minimum wage,
$15 an hour, do you support that?
I think that's a little high.
Yeah it sounds good right now but $15 an hour is to me is still ...
Not enough.
You think it should be more than that?
I think it would be, yeah,
but it doesn't mean I agree with his perspective on it.
Doesn't that mean you're sort of voting against your own interests?
No.
Nobody working McDonald's, Burger King, other places
should be making $15 an hour
and most those places once they're paying that
they can't afford to have the employees.
So you're OK with poverty wages basically?
Yeah.
And the same for you?
Same.
Poverty wages?
Same, yeah.
I've been to a lot of Republican rallies during this campaign,
but this one felt a little low energy.
John Fetterman believes Joe Biden didn't spend enough money,
argued that he should have followed Bernie Sanders more,
it would have put us trillions more in debt
with higher inflation.
He has argued for higher taxes ...
So Oz is centring this speech and most of his campaign
on pretty classic fiscal conservatism,
advocating for spending cuts.
Actually when you speak to people here it’s a pretty lukewarm reception
for some of the stuff that he's saying,
but what he does have is that all important endorsement from Donald Trump.
The lack of enthusiasm
felt like a direct contrast to the energy surrounding John Fetterman's campaign
and on the morning of the election I headed out to meet volunteers
with a janitorial and cleaners union.
door knocking with just hours to go before polls closed.
When we fight?
We win!
When we fight?
We win!
Oh there’s not much to even get.
I think the back of this car is the signal of a busy election season right?
Yeah.
Oh cool.
I like this teamwork.
Yeah.
So I'm with the union, we're the pro-Democrat party,
are you voting the whole Democrat ticket with us?
Great.
How are you feeling about John Fetterman?
I love John Fetterman.
Do you think he's going to win?
Realistically I can't say
that I have 100% confidence,
but I feel like the people will come through for John Fetterman.
For those people that would vote for Oz, I think you have to ask yourself
why in the world would he have come to Pennsylvania in the first place,
what's his goal?
It's not like all of a sudden he woke up and thought well I'll save Pennsylvania today.
Any kind of [unclear] thinking, right?
Yeah.
Think, think.
There's something there's something motivating him and it's not helping the people in Pennsylvania.
Exactly.
For both women Fetterman's campaign connected to personal issues
around basic rights and the cost of living.
And how has inflation affected you guys?
I mean I've been pretty fortunate because I've worked during the whole entire pandemic
including in the gig economy, Uber, Grubhub, Instacart,
I was doing Instacart but ...
On top of your regular –
oh yeah, oh yeah, because my hours are from –
And what's your regular day job? Sorry I should have asked.
Oh I'm a cleaner and a damn good one too.
For a lot of people that would be an indicator that the economy isn't working
so well for you, know you, you should be entitled to work one job
and have down time and be paid properly in that circumstance,
I just wonder whether you think that's right?
Well, my reasons are selfish, I think my primary job would take care of my expenses
my living, like food, shelter, clothing,
but I chose to do what I do, so ...
It doesn't sound very selfish to me?
OK, it doesn't? OK yeah, yeah.
they know what the numbers are about,
they know that if they pay people $15 or more
that people will be able to sustain themselves, they know this,
they have all the information.
What's it called, like they want the feudal system,
they want peasants and pretty much,
like look at me I'm in my high castle and you're a peasant.
On my way to election night parties I stopped by the city of Braddock,
where Fetterman served as mayor,
to catch the last voters of the day.
My man is Fetterman.
You done?
How long have you been supporting John Fetterman for?
Ever since he's been here.
Are you from Braddock?
Yes, been running this poll right here for 27 years.
27 years?
27 years, I'm 84 years old.
You must have seen a lot of change in 27 years.
Oh my gosh, yes.
It has been rough and he's trying to rebuild.
John, John Fetterman?
Yeah, he's trying to do his best,
but, you know, if you see how people want to put him down, but still,
he can only do so much.
There's been a lot of threats to poll workers since Trump lost 2020,
have you been threatened and what do you think about other people that have had those threats?
If they get rid of democracy, what are we as people in America going to do?
What are we going to do?
There's no democracy, you know, because he thinks he's a king,
he wants to be a dictator.
Tonight or tomorrow or maybe weeks from now the balance of power in Congress will be decided
and that's something both Democrats and Republicans are already planning for.
As polls closed I made my way to a local Republican watch party.
The mood here was initially optimistic.
How you feeling about tonight?
Very positive, I think it's gonna be a red wave.
Just been watching the percentages and everything looks like it's going to be
a really strong Republican night.
Yes I think nationally we're going to see a a strong victory
and we're going to see wins in places like Oregon and maybe even Washington
Statewide in Oregon?
Statewide in Oregon I think we're going to see that.
Downtown at Fetterman's watch party
people seemed willing to acknowledge how close the election was likely to be.
It's a close race, it's a very close race,
neck and neck, but we'll see what happens.
I'm still positive that more of the Democrats are going to win.
We are working people that are gonna stay optimistic, we are fighters,
we are mothers and we know what to do.
But gradually on the other side of town reality began to sink in.
I'm a little disappointed in what the returns are
because I really thought it would be a red wave
and it's not showing it up yet.
Yeah.
Obviously the results of tonight weren't what we were all, we're hoping for,
as we start to look tomorrow and start to figure out where we go from here
Republicans absolutely need to change their attitudes
in regards to the mail-in ballots.
In closing, I want you to go home, want you to drive safely,
thank you very much, have a good night.
Alright, thank you.
And finally the race was called.
This was a Senate race that was projected to go either way
really up until election day.
While John Fetterman has won
and the Democrats stand a very good chance of maintaining control of the Senate,
what I think these midterms have shown us is that at least in part
there has been a nationwide rebuke to Trump-backed extremism around the country.
I'm not really sure really what to say right now my goodness.
I'm proud of what we ran on,
protecting a woman's right to choose,
raising our minimum wage,
fighting the union way of life,
healthcare is a fundamental human right.
It saved my life and it should all be there for you
if you ever should need it.
While the final balance of power in Washington is still being decided,
the result in this vital Senate race is a reminder
that authenticity and community action, can still unlock real political power.