PHILADELPHIA — Dr. Mehmet Oz was all smiles heading into Election Day — but his mood soured by election night.
The celebrity heart surgeon and TV talk show host lost his high-stakes Senate race to Pennsylvania Lt. Gov. John Fetterman in one of the most closely watched and expensive contests in the country and in state history. Fetterman, who had a stroke in May, had been polling ahead of Oz for most of the race, but Oz made up tremendous ground following their televised debate. On Tuesday morning, the men were locked in a statistical dead heat.
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The winner would likely tip the balance of power in the Senate and decide the fate of President Joe Biden‘s legislative agenda. There was a lot on the line, and for a while, it looked like the political newcomer might eke out a win.
So, how did a promising night turn into a washout?
Most analysts the Washington Examiner spoke to postmortem said it came down to muddled messages, missed opportunities, and the inability of Oz to connect to everyday Pennsylvanians.
“In addition to an increasing political divide, there is a cultural divide that often pairs together,” David McLaughlin, political strategist and host of the Kudzu Vine podcast, told the Washington Examiner. “The Pennsylvania U.S. Senate race was intriguing because it pitted a ‘Carhartt Democrat’ versus a ‘Brooks Brothers Republican.’ I think there were a lot of rural GOP-leaning Pennsylvania voters that thought even though they don’t agree with John Fetterman on many issues, he was more like them than Mehmet Oz.”
Political commentator Jonah Goldberg joked that “Pennsylvanians thought a Senate candidate being from New Jersey was a bigger problem than a Senate candidate having a stroke.”
Conservatives this cycle have expressed concern over the quality of candidates like Oz, a political newcomer who tried to project a folksy vibe but to many came off as insincere.
Fetterman and his allies worked overtime to paint Oz as a wealthy, out-of-touch candidate who didn’t know how to empathize with struggling Pennsylvanians.
Political strategist Nathan Calvert told the Washington Examiner that former President Donald Trump’s endorsement, which helped Oz win his primary, was ultimately his Achilles’ heel in the general election.
Calvert said Oz’s team “didn’t establish his identity well enough” and that voters may have tied Oz directly to Trump without looking at his platform and the issues that were important to him.
In the final days of the campaign, Oz’s team worked to distance the candidate from the polarizing former president, but it was apparently too little, too late.
“You have a first-generation immigrant, wildly successful, potential first Muslim U.S. senator, graduated medical school from the University of Pennsylvania, also has a degree from Wharton — and so you look at his resume and you go, ‘Wow, that’s a great candidate,'” Calvert said. “I think so much of that primary was about Trump and not enough about Oz. I don’t know if there was a way to mend the damage that was done through the primary branding.”
Calvert added that the takeaway for Team Oz should be “a lesson of missed opportunity” and that Oz’s background and pedigree would have made Republicans proud to have him in office.
Oz conceded Wednesday morning. Joe Calvello, Fetterman’s communication manager, tweeted that the doctor had called the senator-elect around 9:30 a.m.
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In a statement, Oz also thanked his supporters but cautioned, “We are facing big problems as a country, and we need everyone to put down their partisan swords and focus on getting the job done. With bold leadership that brings people together, we can create real change.”
As of midday Wednesday, three Senate races had not been called in Arizona, Georgia, and Nevada. Whichever party picks up two will control the upper chamber of Congress.
