Dr. Oz visits “Outnumbered Overtime with Harris Faulkner” at Fox News Channel Studios on March 09, 2020 in New York City.
Roy Rochlin | Getty Images
Celebrity doctor Mehmet Oz will run for Senate as a Republican in Pennsylvania next year, adding intrigue to one of the races that will determine control of the chamber.
The 61-year-old host of “The Dr. Oz Show” will enter a crowded swing-state race where no clear frontrunner has emerged on the GOP side. Oz, who has never held elected office, will try to leverage his name recognition and wealth in the bid to replace retiring Republican Sen. Pat Toomey.
The television personality announced his candidacy in an op-ed in the conservative Washington Examiner on Tuesday. In it, Oz — who has faced criticism for promoting unproven or alternative medicine over the years — promoted himself as a steady hand to combat the coronavirus pandemic as he criticized policymakers’ handling of the crisis.
“During the pandemic, I learned that when you mix politics and medicine, you get politics instead of solutions. That’s why I am running for the U.S. Senate: to help fix the problems and to help us heal,” he wrote.
To win back control of a Senate split 50-50 by party, the GOP may need to defend Toomey’s seat in the battleground state. Pennsylvania backed President Joe Biden by a 1.2 percentage point margin to help to send him to the White House last year. The political environment in 2022 will likely be more favorable to Republicans.
The GOP primary is considered wide open after Trump-backed candidate Sean Parnell dropped out of the race after he lost custody of his children amid allegations of domestic abuse. While it is unclear who former President Donald Trump will endorse now, he has gravitated toward television personalities in the past and even appointed Oz to his sports, fitness and nutrition council in 2018.
Democrats hope competition in a messy Republican primary — including pressure to embrace election conspiracy theories promoted by Trump — will leave the eventual GOP candidate weakened in a general election race. Pennsylvania Lt. Gov. John Fetterman, U.S. Rep. Conor Lamb, and state Rep. Malcolm Kenyatta are among the Democrats running for Senate.
“The influx of unqualified, untested and wealthy Republican candidates in this race will intensify the viciousness of their intra-party fight and leave their ultimate nominee badly out of step with Pennsylvania’s general election voters,” Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee spokesperson Patrick Burgwinkle said in a statement Tuesday. “The GOP will find Oz is no miracle cure for their mounting problems in this primary.”
Oz has lived in New Jersey for two decades but started to vote in Pennsylvania after registering at his in-laws’ address, according to the Associated Press. The wire service reported he voted by absentee ballot in the Keystone State — a method many Republicans have tried to limit since Trump tied it to baseless accusations of widespread voter fraud in the 2020 election.
Oz, a heart surgeon, rose to prominence as a guest on “The Oprah Winfrey Show.”
