The Democratic party received a huge boost in Pennsylvania in the early hours of Wednesday morning, when John Fetterman won the state’s US Senate race to increase his party’s chances of retaining control of the chamber.

Fetterman was declared the winner over Mehmet Oz, the Republican celebrity doctor, six hours after the polls closed, overturning a Republican-held Senate seat to bolster Democrats’ chances of retaining the chamber.

The Democrat, who suffered a stroke in May which has impacted his ability to speak and process the sound of others’ speech, spent months ahead of Oz in the polls, but the race had tightened in recent weeks after a disappointing performance from Fetterman in a debate.

It made for a jubilant atmosphere at Fetterman’s election night event in Pittsburgh, close to the borough of Braddock where Fetterman spent 13 years as mayor. Fetterman took the stage at 1.15am to declare victory, and said he had fought “for every person that works hard but never got ahead”.

“This campaign has always been about fighting for anyone that ever got knocked down that got back up. This race is for the future of every community across Pennsylvania, for every small town or person that ever felt left behind,” Fetterman said.

“I’m proud of what we ran on,” he said. “Protecting a woman’s right to choose, raising the minimum wage.”

There was a raucous reception as Fetterman appeared on stage, wearing his customary hoodie with a pair of baggy blue jeans, and even louder applause as he thanked his wife, Gisele Barreto Fetterman, who has served as a convincing campaign surrogate while Fetterman recovered from the stroke.

“Six months ago she saved my life,” Fetterman said. “She recognized what was happening.”

He referenced the stroke again as he spoke about what he hoped to achieve in the Senate.

“Healthcare is a fundamental human right. It saved my life and it should all be there for you whenever you might need it,” Fetterman said.

Fetterman has presented himself as a blue collar Democrat, and has struck an unusual political figure throughout the campaign. At 6ft 8in tall, Fetterman is usually seen wearing hoodies at campaign events, and has tattoos on his forearms, including nine on his right arm which mark the dates that people were killed “through violence” in Braddock while he was mayor.

“I think he’s a grass roots guy, he grew up in the state of Pennsylvania,” said Ron Caserta, a Fetterman voter. “And he’s been all through the state, he’s been to every county, so he’s in touch with the common citizen, and I think that’s his appeal.”

Oz was dogged by questions about his actual connection to the state during the campaign. Oz lived in New Jersey for decades before he moved to Pennsylvania in October 2020, into a home owned by his wife’s family. He announced his bid to be the state’s US senator just months later.

Following his stroke, during which Fetterman said he “​​almost died”, the Oz campaign had launched unsavory attacks with one Oz aide, Rachel Tripp, claiming Fetterman might not have had a stroke if he “had ever eaten a vegetable in his life”.

The attacks ultimately proved futile, however, and Fetterman will replace the retiring Republican Pat Toomey in the Senate next year – to the delight of Democratic Pennsylvanians.

Bill Beardsley, a retired union official with the Pittsburgh Steam Fitters union had been confident of a Fetterman win all along.

“What the polling doesn’t reflect are the newly registered voters, most of which are women pissed off over Roe v Wade,” Beardsley said.

“The polls narrowing – it’s bound to happen. Most elections they do narrow, it’s not surprising in the least. Plus Oz’s campaign ran a brutal amounts of false ads, all of them were negative, so it was bound to happen.”

As for Oz, Beardsley was decidedly not a fan.

“He’s a stone goof. He’s a fraud, he’s a charlatan, he’s a snake oil salesman,” he said.

“And he doesn’t even live in Pennsylvania.”