I fucking love it:
Mehmet Oz, the Republican nominee in Pennsylvania’s US Senate race, has been claiming that everyone he defeated in the party primary has now endorsed him. But that’s not true.
Oz is trying to unite the Republican base after winning the bruising multi-candidate primary with about 31.2% of the vote. In an appearance on Fox on Tuesday, after a host mentioned an opinion poll that showed Oz trailing his Democratic opponent, Pennsylvania Lt. Gov. John Fetterman, by 9 percentage points, Oz spoke of the importance of Republican unity and said, “All of the Senate candidates that I was competing against have endorsed me. The party rapidly unifies.”
Oz made the same claim in a Fox appearance last week, saying then that “my competition – they’ve all endorsed me, by the way. God bless them, gracefully done that.”
Facts First: It is not true that “all” of Oz’s former competitors have endorsed him. While Oz has been endorsed by three of the four other major candidates from the May primary – second-place finisher David McCormick (who received about 31.1% of the vote), fourth-place Carla Sands (about 5.5%) and fifth-place Jeff Bartos (about 5%) – Oz has not been endorsed by third-place Kathy Barnette, who received about 24.7% of the vote.
“No, I have not endorsed Oz. He knows that,” Barnette said in an interview on Tuesday. She said she wasn’t surprised “the truth may elude them sometimes” given how, she said, “they lied about me” during the campaign.
That’s not all she had to say about Oz. She added that about 70% of Republicans “voted against him” despite his endorsement from former President Donald Trump. She argued that “Donald Trump won this election for Oz; it wasn’t Oz.” And though she said that she was open to eventually endorsing and campaigning for Oz, she also said, “I have a lot of issues with Oz and who he presented himself to be.”
When CNN noted to Oz’s campaign earlier on Tuesday that Barnette has not endorsed Oz, the campaign didn’t try to argue that Oz’s “all” claim was correct. Instead, spokesperson Brittany Yanick said simply: “The Republican Party is uniting behind Dr. Oz.”
Also, looks like Oz is realizing this isn’t such a blessing:
Pennsylvania Senate candiate Mehmet Oz is making a strong pivot towards a centrist electorate as he hurtles towards a general election showdown with the state’s lieutenant governor in November.
The celebrity TV doc better known as “Dr Oz” has removed any mention of former president Donald Trump from his Twitter bio, background image, campaign website splash page, and even recent advertisements, following a primary campaign that relied heavily on his endorsement from the 45th president. The changes were first reported on Wednesday by Axios.
Dr Oz faces an uphill battle to winning Pennylvania’s open US Senate seat, currently held by retiring Republican Pat Toomey, in November. Recent polling of the race shows him trailing Lt Gov John Fetterman by double digits while Mr Fetterman has more recently begun to batter his GOP opponent with the revelation that Dr Oz was voting in New Jersey as recently as 2020.
The state’s Republican primary turned into a race to the far right with the three leading candidates all seeking Trump’s endorsement; that dynamic will pose a challenge for the GOP as they hope to see Dr Oz take a Senate seat currently held by Mr Toomey, who himself has established a much different reputation as a centrist and dealmaker in Washington.
Some background info here:
The backdrop: Trump was a heavy staple of Oz's primary campaign, showing up frequently in his ads run even before the former president endorsed him in mid-April.
- After the endorsement, Trump was a near-ubiquitous fixture in Oz's spots — even a series of six-second issue ads on guns, abortion and energy began with "endorsed by President Trump."
- Oz's Twitter account mentioned Trump more than 70 times between the endorsement on April 9 and primary day, May 17.
- On Google and Facebook, Oz's campaign bought a barrage of Trump-focused ads during the primary.
- Both his Facebook and Twitter accounts were emblazoned during the primary with a cover photo of Trump and Oz with the words "endorsed by Trump," and his website had a pop-up to let visitors know he was "Trump-endorsed."
By the way, the AARP released their poll on the state of the U.S. Senate and Governor races:
Democrats John Fetterman and Josh Shapiro were the top choices for U.S. Senator and governor, respectively, in a survey conducted by AARP Pennsylvania.
In a poll conducted between June 12-19, Fetterman holds a six-point advantage (50-44) over Mehmet Oz in the race to become the Keystone State’s next senator. The lieutenant governor has a narrow three-point lead (49-46) among voters 50 and older. Fetterman (+10) has a 46 percent favorable rate with 36 percent looking on him unfavorably. Oz is underwater (-33) at 30 percent favorable and 63 percent unfavorable. Democrats are +80 on the former mayor of Braddock, while Republicans are just +15 on the celebrity doctor.
Shapiro has a slim three-point edge (49-46) over Doug Mastriano in the contest to become the next governor, although that advantage is within the poll’s +/-4.4% margin of error. The race is even narrower when only looking at voters over 50 with Shapiro in front by a single point. The Pennsylvania attorney general has a +13 favorable rating, while the GOP state senator is minus-7.
Both Fetterman and Shapiro have picked up some big endorsements this week. First, Fetterman:
After receiving support from the Pennsylvania State Education Association (PSEA), the National Education Association (NEA) has endorsed candidate John Fetterman in the race for Pennsylvania’s soon-to-be-open Senate seat.
“John Fetterman is a proven leader on education issues in Pennsylvania,” PSEA President Rich Askey said. “He respects educators and support professionals, trusts us to teach and serve students, and will be a forceful advocate for the federal resources and programs that will ensure that every student gets the power of a great education. We are proud to support John Fetterman for U.S. Senate. He’s exactly the kind of leader PSEA members need in Washington, D.C.”
Fetterman also received praise from NEA’s President Becky Pringle.
In the Senate, John Fetterman will be a champion for America’s students and Pennsylvania’s working families. He is someone who knows how critical it is to ensure that every student — Black and white, native and newcomer, Latino and Asian, rural, suburban, and urban alike — has access to quality public schools. Fetterman has a proven record of partnering with parents and educators to ensure all students — no matter their ZIP code or background — have the freedom and opportunity to achieve their dreams…And in the Senate, John Fetterman will continue helping level the playing field for working families, while getting things done to help students, educators, and families across Pennsylvania, which is why the National Education Association is proud to recommend him to be the next senator from the Keystone State.”
PRINGLE’S STATEMENT ON FETTERMAN
Next, Shapiro:
The Pennsylvania Professional Firefighters Association representing over 7,000 career professional firefighters, emergency medical technicians and paramedics across the state has endorsed Democrat Josh Shapiro for governor.
In a statement, the association's president said:
"Josh Shapiro and Austin Davis know our worth to this commonwealth. We proudly endorse their ticket because they are one of us. Josh and Austin are our brothers, and we will be with them in this campaign, and on this journey."
FYI, Shapiro has been keeping the focus on this:
Efforts to overturn the 2020 election and the subsequent January 6 insurrection have become a through line for Pennsylvania Democratic gubernatorial nominee Josh Shapiro’s rise to national prominence.
In the wake of the election, Shapiro used his perch as Pennsylvania attorney general to fight efforts in the commonwealth to overturn the election, becoming a staple on cable television and one of the national faces of the Democratic fight against election lies. And now, with Republicans making election denier state Sen. Doug Mastriano their gubernatorial nominee, Shapiro is making what the January 6 insurrection says about the future of Pennsylvania a central tenet of his gubernatorial campaign.
At a time when some Democratic candidates across the country are turning away from focusing on Republican efforts to overturn the 2020 election and the insurrection at the US Capitol on January 6, 2021, Shapiro has done the opposite, using them as a core argument right alongside the economy, education and other political issues.
The reason is clear: His general election opponent is Mastriano, a prolific purveyor of the baseless belief that the 2020 election was stolen from President Donald Trump.
“When I launched my campaign for governor in October, long before we knew who I would be facing, I said that voting rights and democracy would be on the ballot here in Pennsylvania,” Shapiro said in a recent interview with CNN. “It’s still on the ballot. There’s just such a clear contrast between me and my opponent on this issue.”
He added: “I was in court defending our free and fair, safe and secure elections while he was siding with the insurrectionists at the Capitol on January 6. The issue remains the same, but the contrast couldn’t be clearer.”
Health and Democracy are on the ballot this year and we need to get ready to keep Pennsylvania Blue. Click below to donate and get involved with Fetterman, Shapiro and these Pennsylvania Democrats campaigns:
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Austin Davis
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Congress:
Summer Lee for Congress
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Madeleine Dean
Dwight Evans
Mary Gay Scanlon