Sondra Long and her husband David were among the 250-plus curiosity seekers at Giannilli’s II restaurant in Westmoreland County, Pennsylvania, waiting to hear Dr. Mehmet Oz make his case to be the Republican nominee for U.S. Senate.

Long, 82, sitting in a folding chair at the back of the crowded room with her husband of over 50 years, was just there to “kick the tires and see what he is about.”