When leading Republican candidates for the Pennsylvania Senate – Trump-appointed renowned surgeon Dr. Mehmet Oz and David McCormick, a former hedge fund chief executive – shared a stage of debate for the first time Monday night, they faced sharp attacks not only from each other, but also by three other candidates struggling to take the lead in the election.
With little significant political disagreement between the five candidates, the attacks instead concerned how long each had lived in Pennsylvania (for Dr. Oz and Mr. McCormick, not much, recently); past commitments to other countries; and Dr. Oz’s statements during the first months of the coronavirus pandemic encouraging people to wear masks are now a forbidden position among Republican believers.
Dr. Oz rarely failed to remind viewers that he had won approval from former President Donald J. Trump, a victory he used to declare himself the real “America first” candidate in the race. His rivals challenged the name.
“The reason Mehmet keeps talking about President Trump’s approval is that he cannot run for office and for his own record,” Mr McCormick said. “The problem, Doctor, is that there is no miracle cure for flip-flops, and the people of Pennsylvania see through your forgery, and that’s what you’re up to, so you don’t go up in the polls.”
The latest public opinion polls, combined, show that Dr. Oz and Mr McCormick have leveled the lead ahead of the May 17 primary, a fact that was close to their rivals’ minds on Monday.
The other three on stage – Katie Barnett, a political commentator who wrote a book about being black and conservative; Jeff Bartos, real estate developer; and Carla Sands, who was Mr Trump’s ambassador to Denmark, tried to attack the favorites both individually and as a pair of fraudsters trying to buy a seat in the Senate.
“The two out of state, the two tourists who moved here to escape, they don’t know Main Street Pennsylvania,” Mr Bartos said. “They were not interested in spending time there until they decided to run for office.”
Cleveland-born Dr. Oz, the son of Turkish immigrants who attended the University of Pennsylvania for Business and Medical Schools and who has spent most of his adult life in New York and New Jersey, recently changed his address for vote at its … House of Laws in the suburbs of Philadelphia.
Mr. McCormick, who was born and raised in Western Pennsylvania, moved back to the state of Connecticut, where he served as CEO of Bridgewater Associates, a hedge fund.
The debate also reflects the efforts of second-level candidates to make joking appeals as they portray Dr. Oz and Mr. McCormick as loyal to other nations before the United States. Ms. Sands, who also returned to Pennsylvania before the Senate race, said neither of them could be trusted to put America first.
She said Dr. Oz was “First Turkey”, adding: “He served in the Turkish army, not the US, and he chose to do so. He chose to put Turkey first. “She said Mr McCormick was China first. He made his fortune in China and he ranked first in China.”
Dr. Oz defended his service in the Turkish army as mandatory for retaining the Turkish citizenship he said he needed to visit his mother in the country. Mr McCormick said his international business career would benefit Senate decision-making.
And Ms. Barnett reflects on other candidates’ attempts to attract Trump voters. She even included a rare – for Republican primary circles – criticism of the former president.
“MAGA does not belong to President Trump,” she said, using the acronym for Mr. Trump’s “Make America Great Again” campaign slogan. “Our values have never, ever shifted to President Trump’s values. President Trump has shifted and brought it into line with our values. “
The debate showed how the commitment to Mr. Trump served as the centerpiece of the Oz campaign. He mentioned the former president’s support in almost all his answers, and while Mr McCormick avoided asking whether Republicans should “move 2020” and stop discussing Mr Trump’s defeat, Dr Oz said the party should to rely on false allegations about the 2020 elections
“We can’t move forward,” Dr. Oz said. “There have been draconian changes to our voting laws by the democratic leadership, and they have blocked proper reviews of some of these decisions. We need to be serious about what happened in 2020, and we will not be able to deal with that until we really can look under the hood. “
Monday’s debate was the first to include the two leaders in the race, after Dr Oz and Mr McCormick missed a televised debate in February. Both joined the race after former Trump-approved candidate Sean Parnell, a former Army Ranger who received the Purple Heart for his service in Afghanistan, dropped out in November after losing a child custody dispute with his estranged wife.
Both Dr. Oz and Mr. McCormick have largely funded their own campaigns. According to the latest financial statements of the campaign, $ 11 million of the $ 13.4 million raised by Dr. Oz comes from his own pocket. Mr McCormick gave his campaign $ 7 million out of the $ 11.3 million he raised.
For months, the two engaged in fierce public and private campaigns to win Mr. Trump’s affection. This month, Mr. Trump chose Dr. Oz, highlighting his success as a TV show host while protecting himself from Mr. McCormick’s previous business deals in China.
Pennsylvania Democrats have their own contested primary election between John Feterman, vice governor and favorite; representative Connor Lamb; and Malcolm Kenyata, Philadelphia State Representative.
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