Oz Vs. Fetterman PA Senate Race Heats Up With Social Media Hilarity

PENNSYLVANIA — The nation's eyes are once again fully turned to Pennsylvania as the U.S Senate midterm race here this fall, so crucial to the future balance of power, intensifies in its final months.

Republican celebrity doctor Mehmet Oz is hanging in there in the polls, but he's recently found himself on the other end of an increasingly targeted and very public social media war with the campaign of Democratic Lt. Gov. and candidate John Fetterman.

Fetterman's campaign has taken to responding directly to dozens of Oz's Twitter posts, tweeting digs on everything from Oz's cheesesteak choices and geographical location to the veracity of his outdoorsmanship.

In one instance, Oz shared on Twitter his recent visit to Pat's and Geno's steaks in south Philadelphia, noting that "South Philly is ready for a Dose of Reality."

"Ah yes, the trip to Pats + Geno's -- a rite of passage for every tourist," Fetterman's account quipped back.

It continued: "Dr. Oz, Jersey Strong," he shared alongside a gif.

Then, after a photo of Oz's New Jersey home: "can Dr. Oz see Pennsylvania from his sprawling mansion in NJ?"

Oz's campaign has hit back, calling Fetterman a radical whose policies have caused inflation. He later shared a photo of a milk carton with Fetterman's mug on it and the letters "wya," (where ya at) implying that Fetterman has been absent from the campaign trail.

For years now, even before outgoing Republican U.S. Sen. Pat Toomey announced his pending retirement, both Democrats and Republicans were looking forward to the race as potentially transformative. Toomey, who drew the ire of much of the MAGA wing of his party when he condemned the Jan. 6 storming of the U.S. Capitol and defended the integrity of the 2020 election, leaves a rare vacuum of power. In fact, Pennsylvania is the only state won by President Joe Biden in 2020 which is up for election this fall.

The race has now been wittled down to just the representatives of the two parties from what was once a massive field on both sides. Major political figures challenged Oz and Fetterman respectively and failed, including Montgomery County Commissioner Val Arkoosh, State Sen. Sharif Street, Bush administration official David McCormick, and former Congressional candidate Kathy Barnette.

With the conclusion of the primary, it was expected that the race would intensify. However, the campaigns seem to be playing out more and more via social media, whether due to each candidate's large online presence, or simply exacerbated by post-pandemic changes in electoral strategy.

And it's been more than just barbs traded between the campaigns; other celebrities have been called upon. In a video posted to Fetterman's Twitter account, Nicole Polizzi, a "Jersey Shore" cast member better known as Snooki, chided Dr. Oz for "moving from New Jersey to Pennsylvania to look for a new job."

"Personally I don't know why anyone would wanna leave Jersey 'cause it's like the best place ever and we're all hot messes," said Polizzi, who had described herself as a "hot mess on a reality show."

Oz says he now lives in Bryn Athyn, a suburb of Philadelphia in Montgomery County near the New Jersey border. It's where his wife's family is from, but he never voted there before the 2020 election.

Senate candidates don't have to live in the state where they are seeking office during the campaign but are required by the Constitution to move there by the election.

The latest polls from FiveThirtyEight show Fetterman maintaining a steady but far from insurmountable lead over Oz. A June 17 to June 19 poll from Cyngal has Fetterman up by four points, which is close to what the average of polls taken since the primary elections have shown.