The Washington Examiner‘s Salena Zito analyzed some of the midterm election results in the early hours of Wednesday morning, noting that “place mattered” in these races.
According to Zito, “Coalitions were formed in different places but didn’t pan out in other places.”
JOHN FETTERMAN BEATS DR. OZ IN HUGE PENNSYLVANIA SENATE SHOWDOWN
“I think we really need to be thoughtful and unpack what exactly happened over the next few weeks,” she said on Fox News’s election coverage.
“In some states, there were these big waves in places where you don’t expect Republicans to win. And then other places where Republicans should have won, there was no contest,” she said of surprise results across the country.
She further explained that many people have been surprised by some of the initial results, particularly in the Pennsylvania Senate race, where Lt. Gov. John Fetterman bested the TV doctor, Dr. Mehmet Oz. “I thought that [Dr. Mehmet Oz] was going to win this by about a half a percentage point,” she said.
Zito noted that Oz “made incredible inroads and really turned out to be this very mature, very good candidate.”
However, she said, a “couple things hurt” him.
“700,000 people voting before they saw the debate was probably — that was hard. It wasn’t impossible to overcome, but that was hard to overcome,” she added, referencing his debate with Fetterman which took place just weeks ahead of the election. Fetterman, who suffered a stroke recently, faced severe criticism for his performance. Oz was widely considered to have outperformed his Democratic counterpart.
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Zito reiterated that she believes an earlier debate may have benefited Oz.
Further, she suggested that former President Donald Trump’s involvement in the key state may have been overkill. She also said that his hints at a 2024 announcement could have taken attention away from the race at hand.
