PHILADELPHIA — Pennsylvania Lt. Gov. John Fetterman bested celebrity heart surgeon Dr. Mehmet Oz in Tuesday night’s midterm election to become the state’s next U.S. senator.
The high-stakes contest was the most expensive Senate race in the country as well as in state history, with more than $200 million funneled in to support the candidates.
Oz, who held his election night party at the Newtown Athletic Club, located about an hour outside of Philadelphia, told supporters he was “confident” he could still win when all the votes were counted. The race was called about 30 minutes after he spoke.
Oz also thanked voters for “believing” in him and his campaign. The political newcomer was painted as an outsider, incapable of empathizing with Pennsylvanians by Fetterman and his allies. Fetterman’s campaign repeatedly linked Oz to former President Donald Trump. Trump endorsed Oz and even headlined a rally for him on Saturday. Since then, Oz has tried to distance himself from the polarizing ex-president as he tried to court centrist voters.
The crowd at Oz’s watch party was mostly subdued, with people occasionally cheering when Fox News reported a Republican win. The network was shown on two large screens at the athletic club’s basketball court.
The scene at Fetterman’s election night party in Pittsburgh was festive, with an energetic crowd chanting his name and erupting into thunderous applause when the race was called. The Fetterman camp had CNN blasting in the background.
Pennsylvania’s next U.S. senator, dressed in his trademark baggy black sweatshirt, told the crowd he was “humbled” by his win and reiterated his campaign slogan to a cheering crowd: “Every county, every vote.” Holding black and white Fetterman signs, the crowd chanted back, “Every county, every vote.”
Fetterman’s campaign poked fun at Oz when it served crudites, which are raw veggies as snacks, at the party. Oz tried to spotlight the country’s inflation by shopping for crudites in a state with cities that pride themselves on pierogies and cheesesteaks. It was another dig that Oz was an outsider and could not emphasize with locals.
Oz and Fetterman, Pennsylvania’s current lieutenant governor, were locked in a no-holds-barred bitter battle to win the coveted Senate seat vacated by retiring Republican Sen. Pat Toomey. Toomey was one of seven Senate Republicans who voted to convict former President Donald Trump during his second impeachment trial on charges related to the Jan. 6 Capitol riot.
It’s official. I will be the next U.S. Senator from Pennsylvania.
We bet on the people of Pennsylvania – and you didn’t let us down
And I won’t let you down. Thank you.
— John Fetterman (@JohnFetterman) November 9, 2022
During their first and only debate, Fetterman, 53, tried to paint Oz as a wealthy outsider who could not empathize with struggling Pennsylvanians, while Oz, 62, linked his opponent to a rise in crime and President Joe Biden.
“Washington keeps getting it wrong with extreme positions,” Oz said. “I want to bring civility, balance.”
The October debate came more than five months after Fetterman had a stroke. His performance was widely panned, and at times, he struggled to articulate his positions and used the wrong words. Fetterman, though, was given credit for showing up and addressing what he called the “elephant in the room.”
“I had a stroke and he’s never let me forget that,” Fetterman said about Oz, who has called his mental and physical acuity into question. “I might miss some words during this debate, mush two words together, but it knocked me down and I’m going to keep coming back up.”
Oz also made some missteps in the debate that Democrats seized upon, including his answer to a question on abortion. Oz got himself into hot water with centrists when he lumped local leaders in with doctors and women as to who should get a say on whether a pregnancy is terminated.
“I want women, doctors, local political leaders letting the democracy that’s always allowed our nation to thrive to put the best ideas forward so states can decide for themselves,” he said.
Leading up to the debate, Fetterman was polling ahead of Oz, but the former talk show host steadily gained ground post-debate.
In the last few days leading up to Tuesday’s election, both candidates were locked in a virtual dead heat, but a Monmouth University poll released Wednesday as well as a recent Fox News poll showed Oz having a tough time connecting with voters. The Monmouth University poll found that 55% of Pennsylvanians thought Oz couldn’t relate to working-class pain, while the Fox News poll showed that 44% of voters worried that Oz, whose longtime residence was in New Jersey, lacked the knowledge needed to champion Pennsylvanian needs in Congress.
The Oz-Fetterman contest played out in what could be the country’s biggest battleground state in 2024 if Biden and Trump have a rematch. Republicans and Democrats have been heavily invested in the state and have used Fetterman and Oz to test strategy. For example, Fetterman has run as an unapologetic liberal in a swing state, while Oz has largely embraced the MAGA (Make America Great Again) movement and said he would support a 2024 Trump run.
The relationship, for now at least, seems to go both ways.
“This is all about winning elections in order to stop the Radical Left maniacs from destroying our country,” Trump said in a statement. “I’ve known Dr. Oz for many years, as have many others, even if only through his very successful television show. He has lived with us through the screen and has always been popular, respected, and smart.”
Trump teased a third White House run during an Iowa rally last week for Sen. Chuck Grassley and then traveled to Pennsylvania where he headlined a rally in Latrobe on Saturday. Oz has tried to distance himself from Trump’s claims that the 2020 presidential election was rigged and that he was the rightful winner. Last week, Trump posted an article from the site Just the News that claimed the Pennsylvania Department of State had sent out 240,000 mail-in ballots without verifying voter identities.
“Here we go again!” he wrote in a statement. “Rigged election!”
Trump’s Pennsylvania rally went toe-to-toe with one headlined by Biden and former President Barack Obama in Philadelphia on Saturday.
On Friday, mega-mogul Oprah Winfrey also waded into the race when she endorsed Fetterman over Oz, whose television career she helped launch.
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Oz appeared regularly on Winfrey’s popular talk show before he settled into his own called The Dr. Oz Show, which was co-produced by Winfrey’s Harpo Productions.
“I said it was up to the citizens of Pennsylvania and of course — but I will tell you all this, if I lived in Pennsylvania, I would have already cast my vote for John Fetterman for many reasons,” she said, without going into detail.
