Pennsylvania Lt. Gov John Fetterman (left) and celebrity doctor Mehmet Oz (right) will face each other in November's general election for Pennsylvania's open United States Senate seat (Photo by Office of Governor Tom Wolf and the World Economic Forum | CC BY-SA 2.0).
Businessman and former Under Secretary of the Treasury David McCormick conceded to Penn alumnus Mehmet Oz, better known as Dr. Oz, on June 3. Oz will face Democratic candidate Lt. Gov. John Fetterman in the general election for Pennsylvania's open United States Senate seat in November.
Pennsylvania’s primary election was held on May 17, and Fetterman secured the Democratic nomination with nearly 59% of the over 1.2 million Democratic votes casted. Over 1.3 million registered Republicans casted their ballots, with nearly 420,000 votes going to Oz. On the Republican side, Oz held a slim lead of 0.07 percentage points over McCormick, The New York Times reported. The slim margin triggered a recount in keeping with a 2019 Pennsylvania law, which requires a recount of any margin of victory smaller than 0.5 percent.
Oz, who earned his MBA and M.D. from the University in 1986, was endorsed by President Donald Trump during the Republican U.S. Senate primary. According to Oz’s campaign website, he bases his campaign on several issues, including being anti-abortion and a “proud gun owner.”
Fetterman has served as Pennsylvania’s lieutenant governor since 2019, and has framed his campaign around issues such as supporting reproductive rights and health care.
After suffering a stroke on May 13, Fetterman dealt with a lengthy hospital stay and the installation of a pacemaker and defibrillator in his heart. He was also diagnosed with atrial fibrillation and cardiomyopathy, which is a condition that weakens the heart.
Ramesh Chandra, Fetterman’s doctor, is still confident that Fetterman will be fit to serve in the U.S. Senate once he recovers.
“I do believe that [Fetterman] is taking his recovery and his health very seriously this time, [so] he should be able to campaign and serve in the U.S. Senate without a problem,” Chandra wrote in a public statement. However, Fetterman may not be back on the campaign trail until July, according to his wife Gisele Fetterman.
Oz also voiced his support for Fetterman at the time of his stroke. “I am thankful that you [Fetterman] received care so quickly. My whole family is praying for your speedy recovery,” Oz wrote in a tweet.
With the candidates for the Pennsylvania Senate race set, the two opponents now turn back to the campaign trail. A recent poll from Race to the WH gives Fetterman a 63.3% chance of winning the Senate seat, leading Oz by 26.6 percentage points.
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