John Fetterman returns to Senate after depression bout

Sen. John Fetterman (D-Pa.) was seen on Capitol Hill Monday for the first time since missing more than 60 votes due to his prolonged hospital stay for treatment of clinical depression.

The 53-year-old Fetterman, clad in a hooded sweatshirt and basketball shorts, did not respond to reporters who asked if he’d be able to serve out his full six-year term, which runs through 2029.

The former Pennsylvania lieutenant governor checked himself in to Walter Reed National Military Medical Center two months ago to get treatment after suffering a stroke last year.

He was discharged in late March after a six-week stay.

Fetterman told “CBS Sunday Morning” in an interview earlier this month that his depression had made him “indifferent” to living shortly after he fended off Republican celebrity candidate Dr. Mehmet Oz, who was endorsed by former President Donald Trump.

The victory flipped the seat of retiring Republican Sen. Pat Toomey, and helped give Democrats a 51-49 majority in the Senate.

“It’s like, you just won the biggest, you know, race in the country,” he said. “And the whole thing about depression is … that objectively, you may have won, but depression can absolutely convince you that you actually lost.

“And that’s exactly what happened. And that was the start of a downward spiral,” Fetterman added.

Questions have been raised about Fetterman’s ability to serve since his medical episode shortly before his May 2022 victory in the hotly contested Pennsylvania Democratic Senate primary. He triumphed over Oz despite visibly struggling to form coherent sentences during their one and only debate this past October.

In February, shortly before his hospitalization, the New York Times reported Fetterman had trouble hearing other people’s voices clearly, an auditory processing issue that got worse during periods of great stress or in unfamiliar situations.