Fetterman, Oz Square Off For PA U.S. Senate Seat

PENNSYLVANIA — There's a reason why the state's U.S. Senate race between Democratic lieutenant governor John Fetterman and Republican celebrity physician Dr. Mehmet Oz has garnered significant national attention. Politically, the stakes could not be higher.

The election in the swing state could decide which party controls the Senate.

Currently, the Democrats and Republicans are split 50-50 in the Senate, with Vice President Kamala Harris gettig tie-breaking vote on legislation. But midterm elections usually do not bode well for a president's political party and Republicans are hoping they can win control of both chambers of Congress.

The key Senate race in a nutshell:

The Candidates

Fetterman, 53, has been Pennsylvania's lieutenant governor since 2019, a position he vaulted to after serving as the mayor of Braddock from 2004 through 2018. Located just east of Pittsburgh, Braddock is a former thriving mill town that fell on hard times with the collapse of the steel industry. Fetterman has eschewed living in the lieutenant governor's mansion, preferring to stay in Braddock - a town in which he has a permanent connection via tattoos on his arms. On his left arm is the number 15104, Braddock's zip code. On his right arm are the dates of the nine murders that occurred in the borough while he was mayor.

Oz, 62, is a retired cardiothoracic surgeon and author who gained fame as a frequent guest on Oprah Winfrey's talk show before getting his own syndicated "Dr. Oz Show" which ran for 13 years. Various medical publications and physicians have criticized Oz for his embrace of alternative medicine techniques and faith healing. Former President Donald Trump, who appointed Oz to the President's Council on Sports, Fitness and Nutrition in 2018, has endorsed him for the Senate seat.

The Contentious Campaign

The candidates have run a series of increasingly outlandish ads and commercials in advance of both presumably addressing relevant policy issues at their likely lone debate later this month. Voters thus far have been treated to an onslaught of increasingly personal attacks by the candidates:

• Oz has characterized Fetterman as a "freeloader" because he largely was supported by money given to him by his family until he was in his late 40s.
• Fetterman recently ran a campaign commercial comparing Oz to Dr. Nick, the slimy, snake-oil salesman on the animated TV series "The Simpsons."
• In September, Oz put up a billboard near Fetterman’s Braddock home in which he labeled him soft on crime.
• Ahead of Sunday's game between the Philadelphia Eagles and Dallas Cowboys, Fetterman has put up two billboards near the Eagles Lincoln Financial Field home accusing Oz of being a Cowboys fan. An Oz tweet from 2013 had him claiming he had auditioned for the Cowboys and included a picture of him dunking a football over a goal post in the Cowboys' AT&T Stadium.
• Fetterman this week latched onto reports Oz once was in charge of experiments that killed more than 300 dogs while working at the Columbia University Institute of Comparative Medicine. "Dr. Oz isn't going to be able to brush his puppy killing ways under the rug," the lieutenant governor said on Twitter.

Oz also has challenged Fetterman to be more transparent about his health after the lieutenant governor suffered a stroke in May that nearly proved fatal. In an interview with NBC News
this week, Fetterman said he has been open about suffering auditory processing challenges but said his cognitive function and memory are unaffected.

Campaign Cash

The importance to both parties of capturing the seat has resulted in enormous amounts of money being funneled to both candidates.

Fetterman's campaign reported that he raised $22 million from 330,000 different donors during the third quarter; campaign officials said is the most money raised by a single candidate in Pennsylvania history. Oz's campaign said he raised $17 million during the quarter, although $7 million of that was a personal loan to his campaign.

The Polls

Despite Fetterman's distinct financial edge, Oz has closed the gap in polls. In June, a USA Today-Suffolk University poll had Fetterman up 9 percentage points, leading Oz 46 percent to 37 percent. The most recent poll taken by the newspaper and university earlier this month had Fetterman leading Oz 46 percent to 40 percent.

The latest Real Clear Politics average of multiple recent polls has Fetterman with a narrowing 3.4 percent lead over Oz.

What's Next

President Joe Biden will appear at a Fetterman campaign event on Oct. 20 in Philadelphia. Fetterman and Oz will debate in Harrisburg on Oct. 25. Then it's a dash to the campaign finish line, with Election Day occurring on Nov. 8.

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