The approval came after months of backstage games by Oz and another leading Pennsylvania candidate, Dave McCormick, executive director of a hedge fund. Both Oz and McCormick entered the primary after Trump’s first nominee, Sean Parnell, dropped out of the race late last year.
“The great community of Pennsylvania has a great opportunity to save America by electing the brilliant and well-known Dr. Mehmet Oz to the United States Senate,” the statement said. “I’ve known Dr. Oz for many years, as well as many others, if only through his very successful television show. He has lived with us on screen and has always been popular, respected and smart.”
Trump also said he believed Oz “would be the most capable of winning the general election” and would perform well in Philadelphia and Pittsburgh.
Trump highlighted Oz’s education and his medical career in approval. He also told Oz, “He even said I was in exceptional health, which made me like him even more (although he also said I had to lose a few pounds!”).
Former First Lady Melania Trump has reportedly preferred Oz to other candidates, and in a statement, Trump said Oz would win the support of women.
“Women in particular are drawn to Dr. Oz for his advice and counsel,” the former president said Saturday. “I’ve seen this many times over the years. They know him, they believe in him and they believe in him.”
Despite the long-standing relationship between Oz and Trump, there were indications that McCormick had the advantage of gaining approval. His wife, Dinah Powell McCormick, was Trump’s chief national security aide at the White House. And a number of trusted Trump aides – including Hope Hicks and Stephen Miller – have signed up to help McCormick’s campaign.
Jeff Rowe, a leading Republican consultant working for McCormick, tweeted in response to Trump’s approval that his client “will be the next senator from the British Pennsylvania community.” And Parnell, who backed McCormick, tweeted: “I’m disappointed. Oz is the opposite of everything that made Trump the best president of my life – he is the most distant thing from America in the first place and would be very bad for the PA. “According to the Washington Post, Trump met with McCormick earlier this The former president told the Post earlier this week that he would approve the race in about a week.Oz, McCormick and other Republican candidates will face May 17 in the primary The Democrats will also have a competitive primary election for a Senate seat, and the race will be one of the most high-profile and probably one of the most expensive in the midterm elections in November. -the best chance for Democrats to take a seat held by the Republican Party.
“The primary election in the Republican Senate in Pennsylvania has already been nasty, expensive and brutal,” said Democratic Sen. Senator Campaign spokesman Patrick Burguinkel. “Now Trump’s approval will only intensify this internal party struggle, just as it happened in the Republican Senate primary elections across the country – leaving their final candidate badly damaged and out of step with the voters who will decide the general election.”
CNN’s Alex Rodgers contributed to this report.
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