John Fetterman Sends Dr. Oz Packing Back to New Jersey
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Pennsylvania Lieutenant Gov. John Fetterman (D) has defeated television doctor Mehmet Oz (R) in Pennsylvania’s Senate race according to three major networks, allowing Democrats across the nation to breathe a momentary sigh of relief over their chances of retaining control in the Senate.
Shortly after NBC News announced they were calling the race for the Pennsylvania Democrat, he took to Twitter to claim victory.
Fetterman was a commanding frontrunner in the Democratic primary this cycle and originally showed a strong lead over Oz as the duo went head-to-head in the general election. But everything changed after Fetterman suffered a stroke in May, leaving him off the trail for the bulk of the summer.
When he returned, his candidacy became plagued by questions about his health and criticism over his lack of transparency on the matter.
Fetterman and his campaign pushed back, insisting they’d been open about his recovery, which included speech therapy for his lingering auditory processing issues. In interviews and at the lone debate for the seat, Fetterman used closed captioning to assist him in understanding questions and conversations.
Oz hit Fetterman on Democratic stewardship of economy and his record on crime throughout the race—all of which drove polls between Fetterman and Oz to narrow in the weeks leading up to the election.
But it appears Fetterman’s message—much of which focused on pinning Oz as an out-of-touch carpetbagger—still won out. From the very start of the general election cycle, Fetterman had hammered Oz on only recently moving to Pennsylvania from New Jersey, among other repeated talking points like Oz’s wealth and long history of pushing questionable medical advice on his television show.
And Oz inadvertently generated several negative news cycles for himself, with gaffes like him calling a vegetable tray “crudites,” getting the name of a widely known Pennsylvania grocery chain wrong and giving misleading answers about how many houses he owns. He was also bogged down by controversial and sticky stories, like one that revealed his medical research allegedly killed over 300 dogs.
Fetterman’s seat was considered a must-win for Democrats who believed he was their best chance at gaining a seat in the Senate—or setting off potential losses. Pennsylvania barely went blue for now President Biden in 2020—but remains a swing state that Republicans heavily targeted this cycle as well.
Read more at The Daily Beast.