by ONE The race that could determine control of the Senate, and the direction of the country for at least the next four years, was always going to be tight. But even in the throes of Trump-era politics, few could have predicted how bitter the campaign for the Pennsylvania seat would become.
With a month to go until Election Day, the race between Democrat John Fetterman and Republican challenger Mehmet Oz holds the dubious honor of being the nation’s ugliest, and there are no signs the two sides are slowing down.
In the last week alone, one candidate has been accused of killing puppies and the other of lying about his place on the heart transplant list. How did we get here?
The campaign started innocently enough, with a wild accusation from the Fetterman camp that Dr. Oz was a carpetbagger. Mr. Fetterman’s early attacks on his opponent focused on his longtime residence in New Jersey and accusations that he moved to Pennsylvania just to run for office. The campaign specifically commissioned a video cameo by Nicole “Snooki” Polizzi from the TV show The Jersey Shoreand even convinced Steven Van Zandt of Bruce Springsteen’s E Street Band, a pride of the Garden State, to participate in a mock video.
Dr Oz’s campaign played a largely defensive role in the early weeks, despite Mr Fetterman suffering a stroke shortly before the primary and being forced to take a break.
Meanwhile, Fetterman’s campaign spent much of the summer attacking Dr. Oz as irrelevant. His campaign slammed Dr. Oz for a video showing him shopping for crudité and mislabeling Wegmans as “Wengers.”
The Oz campaign in turn tried to hit back at Mr. Fetterman, specifically saying he was using his stroke to avoid a debate. Mainly, his communications consultant he said Business Insider“If John Fetterman had ever eaten a vegetable in his life, then maybe he wouldn’t have had a massive stroke and wouldn’t be in a position to lie about it all the time.”
His campaign doubled down on attacks on Fetterman’s health, as the Democrat asked for more time to recover before agreeing to a debate. A statement offered concessions such as: “We will pay for any additional medical personnel that may need to be on hand.”
These remarks led Mr. Fetterman to withdraw from the debate. Now, the only debate will take place in Harrisburg on October 25.
John Fetterman trolls Dr Oz by comparing him to The Simpsons character
Attacks on Mr. Fetterman were continued by Mr. Trump, who he claimed without documentation that he uses cocaine, heroin, methamphetamine and fentanyl.
But perhaps the darkest turn in the campaign came with a mention of it Jezebel who studied research conducted by his team at Columbia University. This research, the report claimed, killed more than 300 dogs.
Fetterman’s team has gone over the story, and Fetterman himself responded with characteristic bluntness in a tweet: “Dr. Oz kills puppies. This is the tweet.”
The question that remains now is how the bitterness of the campaign will affect the race. The stakes are incredibly high for both parties. For Democrats, it represents their best chance to flip a Senate seat, and Republicans must hold onto it if they want control of the Senate in 2022.
The decision by two-term Sen. Pat Toomey — one of seven Republicans who voted to impeach former President Donald Trump for his role in the Jan. 6 uprising — to retire has set off a strange chain reaction in the Senate race. Initially, Trump endorsed failed congressional candidate and veteran Sean Parnell.
Mr Parnell dropped out of the race after a nasty child custody battle with his estranged wife, who claimed he abused both two of their three children. Shortly thereafter, Dr. Oz entered the race and Trump endorsed him ahead of the May primaries.
Dr Oz blames viral blunder on ‘exhaustion’
That didn’t stave off concerns that he was too conservative, as he narrowly won the Republican primary in May over former hedge fund executive Dave McCormick and hard-right candidate Kathy Barnette. Even at Mr. Trump’s rally in Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania, last month, the famous doctor received a cold ovation and reception.
Shortly after Dr. Oz took the stage with Trump, someone yelled “It’s RINO.” That was a sentiment held by many people at the Pennsylvania rally.
“I don’t believe he will do the right thing for America, America first,” Marleen Laska of Pennsylvania he saidThe independent last month, but added that she would still vote for him. “I have to vote for him because, you know, we’ve got to get at least one RINO as opposed to Fetterman.”
A new Suffolk University/USA Today The network’s poll showed Dr. Oz has improved his standing with conservatives. In June, 76 percent of Republicans supported him and now, 85 percent of Republicans support him.
said Jackie Kullback, chairwoman of the Cambria County Republican Party The independent earlier this week saw many people warming up to Dr Oz on the trail. “I’ve never seen a candidate work harder than Dr. Oz,” he said. He is amazing at retail politics. He speaks to liberal media as well as conservative media.”
On Wednesday, Malcolm Kenyatta, a state lawmaker who ran for the Democratic nomination against Mr. Fetterman and has since endorsed and campaigned for him, noted The independent that despite criticism and a barrage of crime ads, Mr. Fetterman continues to lead in most polls. The Suffolk poll showed 46 per cent of voters backing Mr Fetterman compared to 40 per cent backing Dr Oz.
“The polls go up and down and what you have to look at is the trends. The trends on every issue show that Dr. Oz is losing,” Mr. Kenyatta said, saying voters were not supporting the Republican because “he is a horrible untrustworthy fool.”
Mr Kenyatta said despite the humor in Fetterman’s ads, there was a seriousness to them.
“This is a real issue for people who want to trust that the people who represent them really represent their lives,” he said.
JJ Abbott, who worked as press secretary for Pennsylvania Democratic Gov. Tom Wolf, said The independent this week that a close race was the most likely outcome, but noted that people’s opinion of Dr Oz has not changed.
“It’s definitely won back some Republican voters,” he said. “I think people expected the Republicans to go back to the candidate that Trump is supporting.”
The Suffolk poll showed 34 percent of voters have a favorable opinion of him, while unfavorable opinion of Mr. Fetterman has increased by 17 points since June.
“They’ve been really incredibly nasty and very desperate to make him out to be something he’s not and yet we haven’t seen a single poll that shows Oz leading,” he said.
