<mediadc-video-embed data-state="{"cms.site.owner":{"_ref":"00000161-3486-d333-a9e9-76c6fbf30000","_type":"00000161-3461-dd66-ab67-fd6b93390000"},"cms.content.publishDate":1658851863457,"cms.content.publishUser":{"_ref":"0000016e-3da0-d10d-abef-3df3e9dc0001","_type":"00000161-3461-dd66-ab67-fd6b933a0007"},"cms.content.updateDate":1658851863457,"cms.content.updateUser":{"_ref":"0000016e-3da0-d10d-abef-3df3e9dc0001","_type":"00000161-3461-dd66-ab67-fd6b933a0007"},"rawHtml":"
var _bp = _bp||[]; _bp.push({ "div": "Brid_58845904", "obj": {"id":"27789","width":"16","height":"9","video":"1060967"} }); rn","_id":"00000182-3b46-da25-ab87-bb46a88e0000","_type":"2f5a8339-a89a-3738-9cd2-3ddf0c8da574"}”>Video EmbedConservative commentator Kathy Barnette, who came in third in Pennsylvania’s Senate Republican primary, is “having discussions” with Dr. Mehmet Oz’s team about endorsing her former rival, she told the Washington Examiner in an interview Tuesday.
For much of the campaign, the Pennsylvania GOP primary was centered on Oz, who was endorsed by former President Donald Trump, and businessman Dave McCormick. The two nearly tied when all the votes were counted, with Oz coming out on top by less than 1,000 votes. Barnette began surging in the polls during the final days of the race, as the battle between Oz and McCormick grew extremely negative, and received 24.7% of the vote.
Asked how she thought Oz was performing as a general election candidate, Barnette deferred to talking about Lt. Gov. John Fetterman, Oz’s Democratic opponent, whom she said was “Biden 2.0, not only in just diminished physical abilities at this moment as we see with Biden, but also in the policies.”
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Pressed further on whether she would endorse Oz, Barnette said their teams were “having conversations” about making that possible.
“You know, ‘endorse’ is the magic word that everyone is looking for,” she said in explaining her hesitancy. “I got almost a third of the vote. I am not a box for you to check. I represent a very real and a very determined voice of people who want to have their values reflected, and my only focus is making sure that those voices are reflected. So I will do my part, not only for our state but for those voices.”
“We’re having conversations, Oz and I. We and our teams are actively having a conversation to make sure that those voices, the 330,000-plus Pennsylvanians who came out and voted for me, despite tremendous harms, that their voices are respected,” she said, acknowledging the power of her endorsement.
Those talks, she told the Washington Examiner on the sidelines of the America First Policy Institute conference in downtown Washington, were “very recent” and “ongoing.”
Oz will need the support of Barnette’s voters to push him over the edge against Fetterman in November, which the nominee’s former primary rival alluded to, adding, “We need all hands on deck. We’re in trouble.”
Barnette said she was closely watching the race but demurred when asked what would bring her on board. Nor would she say whether she intended to back Trump in the 2024 presidential race.
“We have a deep bench vying for that position,” Barnette said, adding that she was “encouraged” by a slate of “very good options.”
In the wake of her primary loss, Barnette railed against Oz and McCormick as the two battled it out in a runoff. The third-place candidate declared at the time that she would not support Oz or McCormick in the general election.
CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM THE WASHINGTON EXAMINER
“I have no intentions of supporting globalists. I believe we have ran out of room on this runway for this space shift,” she said in an interview with Breitbart. “I believe we have very little rope left to just roll the dice, and we’ll see how it works on the other end.”
“I don’t think we have room to just vote for any old warm body with an R next to their name,” she said. “I think we can do better than that.”
