Celebrity surgeon Dr. Mehmet Oz has secured the Republican nomination for the US Senate in Pennsylvania after his opponent, former hedge fund manager David McCormick, conceded the race Friday amid an ongoing statewide recount.
“It’s now clear to me with the recount now largely complete that we have a nominee,” McCormick said at a campaign party at a Pittsburgh hotel. “Tonight is really about all of us coming together.”
McCormick called Oz to concede.
“This evening I received a gracious phone call from David McCormick and am tremendously grateful for his pledge of support in the fall election,” Oz said in a statement Friday night.
“Now that our primary is over, we will make sure that this U.S. Senate seat does not fall into the hands of the radical left, led by John Fetterman. I look forward to campaigning in every corner of the Commonwealth for the next five months to earn the support of every Pennsylvanian,” said Oz.
Following a bitterly fought campaign, Oz — boosted by an endorsement from former President Donald Trump — led McCormick by a mere 974 votes out of 1.34 million votes cast in the May 17 primary — a margin of just 0.07 percentage points.
With McCormick’s concession, Oz’s nomination was confirmed.
Oz will now face off against progressive Democrat Lt. Gov. John Fetterman in November in what is expected to be a hotly contested election as both parties look to take control of the closely divided Senate.
Fetterman, 52, secured the Democratic nomination just days after suffering a stroke last month, defeating the US Rep. Conor Lamb and state Rep. Malcolm Kenyatta on Tuesday to advance to November’s general election.
Oz, who is best known as the host of “The Dr. Oz Show,” faced several attacks throughout his campaign from his opponents’ and from die-hard Trump supporters who were wary of Oz’s position on Repulican issues likes guns, abortion, transgender rights.
Oz used Trump’s endorsement as a proof of his commitment to conservatism while the ex-President launched an assault on his opponents, claiming the surgeon has the best shot to win the senate seat in the midterm election in the battleground state that Biden won in 2020.
His opponents attacked his dual citizenship with Turkey. If elected, he would become the country’s first Muslim senator.
Although born in the United States, Oz served in the Turkish military and voted in its 2018 election. He said he would renounce his Turkish citizenship if he won the election in November.
During the combative campaign, Oz, like McCormick, was painted as a carpetbagger for moving into Pennsylvania from out of state to run for office. He had spent the last couple decades at a mansion in Cliffside Park, New Jersey overlooking the Hudson River and Manhattan.
Oz defended himself by saying he grew up in next-door Delaware, went to medical school in Philadelphia and married a Pennsylvania native.
Both candidates burned through millions of their own cash on political ads that were inescapable on the state’s airwaves for months.
McCormick, who was largely unknown to voters before his campaign, did not have the recognition of Oz’s as a public figure. A super PAC spent $20 million to support him.
McCormick campaign’s had filed a lawsuit attempting to force the counting of undated absentee ballots in Pennsylvania’s Senate primary, which was objected by the Republican National Committee and the The Pennsylvania GOP.
With Post wires