Dr. Oz boasts Trump endorsement but rivals slam record on abortion, guns and trans rights
Dr. Oz put out a new ad touting the endorsement of former President Trump on Tuesday in a heated Pennsylvania Senate race, but the TV doc was quickly slammed by rivals who say he’s got some very un-MAGA views in his closet.
“Trump knows who is the real conservative who will shake up Washington,” Oz says in the new ad. “It’s Dr. Oz...the conservative fighter Pennsylvania needs.”
The Oz for Senate ad also reprised Trump’s endorsement announcement at a weekend rally in North Carolina.
Oz is battling so-so poll numbers in a crowded May 17 GOP primary for the Senate seat held by Sen. Pat Toomey (R-Pa.), who is retiring. The winner will face off in one of the marquee swing states matches up against the winner of a Democratic primary race that Lt. Gov. John Fetterman is leading.
The celebrity physician hopes Trump’s coveted nod gives him a burst of much-needed political momentum with just five weeks to go before primary day.
But Trump’s backing is being panned by Oz’s rivals in the crowded field and prominent figures in his far right-wing MAGA movement.
Hedge fund titan David McCormick, who edged ahead of Oz in one recent poll of GOP voters, praised Trump but said he believes he only endorsed Oz because they are fellow celebrities and neighbors in Palm Beach, Florida.
“(Oz) is not viewed as a conservative and for good reason,’ McCormick said Monday in a radio interview.
Other Republican candidates include Jeff Bartos, a one-time failed candidate for lieutenant governor; Carla Sands, Trump’s former ambassador to Denmark; and Kathy Barnette, a Black conservative commentator.
They reminded conservative voters that Oz has supported abortion rights and taken some stands to which gun rights advocates object. He has spoken favorably of allowing transgender kids to make their own decisions about their gender identity, a position that the far right-wing virulently opposes.
A former congressional candidate, Sean Parnell, had Trump’s endorsement before he quit the race amid domestic abuse allegations during a messy divorce.
Parnell accused Oz of being a liberal in disguise and a carpet-bagger. Oz has lived mainly in New Jersey in recent years, although he went to school in Philadelphia.
“He’s pro-abortion & he’s pro-illegal immigration,” Parnell tweeted. “He’s not even close to conservative or America First.”
