Dr. Oz announces Senate bid to his millions of followers

The celebrity TV doctor made the announcement Tuesday, rolling out a video he shared with his millions of followers on social media.

Mehmet Oz, a Republican, will self-fund part of his campaign and is planning to “put significant resources” into the battleground state race, campaign manager Casey Contres said.

His opening ad, set to begin airing on television Friday, takes aim at the government’s response to Covid, a topic Oz has spoken about in interviews over the course of the pandemic.

“Covid has shown us that our system is broken,” Oz said in the campaign ad. “We lost too many lives, too many jobs and too many opportunities because Washington got it wrong. They took away our freedom without making us safer, and tried to kill our spirit and our dignity.”

Lowering drug prices, bringing back jobs from China and establishing a “secure border” are among the issues his campaign plans to champion, according to his website.

Oz’s campaign launch comes a week after Sean Parnell, the GOP candidate who was endorsed by former President Donald Trump, suspended his Senate campaign after losing legal custody of his children. The former frontrunner’s departure from the race has scrambled the GOP primary, with Oz jumping in and other top candidates eyeing runs.

Sen. Pat Toomey’s retirement in Pennsylvania makes the open seat crucial for Republicans to defend in 2022 as they seek to take back the Senate majority.

One challenge that has already surfaced for Oz: Republicans are questioning whether, and for how long, he has been a resident of Pennsylvania, a famously parochial state. According to his campaign, Oz has lived in Pennsylvania since December 2020, renting a home in Bryn Athyn owned by his wife’s family. He attended the University of Pennsylvania for both medical and business school.

Oz was previously a decadeslong resident of New Jersey, where he voted in October 2020. He registered to vote in Pennsylvania soon after.

In advance of his launch, Oz made calls to top Republicans in Pennsylvania. One Republican who spoke to Oz in the last week said the celebrity doctor sought to tamp down concerns that he doesn’t live in the state.

“He tried to make a case for why he’s a resident of Pennsylvania,” the person said, “and that he’s been traveling around the state for the last couple years — I haven’t heard that — listening to people and seeing what the issues are.”

The person also said that Oz pitched himself as a “conservative Republican” and did not discuss Trump, a notable omission in a party controlled by the former president.

Oz used similar language to describe himself in his campaign rollout, calling himself a “conservative” but also pledging to put “America first,” a slogan Trump championed.

Sam DeMarco, chair of the Allegheny County GOP, said he talked with Oz recently and “came away very impressed.”

“He talked about how the system was broken, how we were so divided, and he thought he was somebody who had the ability and the desire to step in and try to fix it,” he said. “I asked him about his ties to Pennsylvania. He spoke with me about his youth growing up only four miles from the Pennsylvania border, and how as a youth almost everything they did, they did in Pennsylvania.”

Contres, a Pennsylvania native who served as chief of staff for Rep. Tony Gonzales (R-Texas) and campaign manager for former Sen. Cory Gardner (R-Colo.), is running Oz’s campaign.

Chris Hansen, former executive director of the National Republican Senatorial Committee, is consulting for the campaign, along with strategists Jon Lerner and Larry Weitzner.

Other Republicans in the field include real estate developer Jeff Bartos and Carla Sands, Trump’s former ambassador to Denmark who has pledged to spend millions of her own money in the race. GOP strategists said both have struggled to gain traction in the primary so far.

Billionaire David McCormick, CEO of hedge fund giant Bridgewater Associates, is actively discussing a run with Pennsylvania Republicans. Like Oz, he has made calls to party leaders in recent days. Bucks County GOP Chair Pat Poprik said she was invited to an event to meet McCormick in Philadelphia on Wednesday, but is unable to attend due to a prior obligation. Another person who talked to McCormick said it’s “90 percent” likely he will jump in.

State Republicans said Keith Rothfus, a former congressman from western Pennsylvania, is also considering a run.

(POLITICO)