We dive into the dynamics of one of the nation’s most competitive races during a pivotal midterm election cycle: Pennsylvania's Senate race.

Democratic candidate John Fetterman long held an edge in the race, as a candidate who flouted right-wing caricatures of the contemporary left as elite and out of touch — but a stroke he suffered in May left him with lingering side effects. His Republican opponent, celebrity doctor Mehmet Oz, and his team, have seized onto Fetterman's recovery, launching attacks to paint Fetterman as 'feeble' and 'lazy.'

New York Magazine writer-at-large Rebecca Traister writes, "But while the image of Fetterman as fighter is what his campaign is going for, it’s possible that it is benefiting from a more complicated dynamic: that over the course of the race, Fetterman has become even more familiar to voters, not because of his Everyman toughness but because of his struggles." 

We speak with Traister whose recent piece chronicles Fetterman's trajectory and examines how tropes of masculinity are being deployed in this race.