HARISBURG, Pennsylvania – Former US President Donald Trump has backed Mehmet Oz in the crowded Republican Senate primary election in Pennsylvania, ending months of jockeys supporting him.
In a statement Saturday night, Trump said his decision was “all about winning the election” as he officially backed the famous cardiac surgeon, best known as the host of the daily TV show The Dr. Oz Show.
“The great Pennsylvania community has a huge opportunity to save America by choosing the brilliant and well-known Dr. Mehmet Oz for the United States Senate,” Trump said in part. “Dr. Oz is smart, tough and will never disappoint you, so he has my full and complete approval. Good luck, Dr. Oz. Our country needs you!”
Oz was vying for Trump’s approval in the May 17 primary against former hedge fund chief executive David McCormick, whose wife, Dina Powell, served on the Trump administration. The two worked hard to win the former president, who remains very popular among the Republican base and is courted by candidates in the primary competitions across the country.
At a conservative forum in Pennsylvania last weekend, candidates were asked if they would like Trump’s support for him to come to Pennsylvania to campaign for them.
“This is the easiest question we will get all day,” said one of the candidates, Jeff Bartos, a real estate investor. “Yes. 100%, yes.”
The decision disappointed McCormick, who met with Trump last week and had hired a number of former Trump aides for his campaign. Although he was almost unknown to voters before announcing his candidacy in January, he led a recent Fox News poll among Pennsylvania’s GOP primary voters.
Earlier, Trump backed Sean Parnell in the race, but Parnell withdrew his candidacy amid allegations of abuse by his estranged wife. The reversal raised questions about the vigor of Trump’s vetting process and fears among Republicans as to whether the former president supports candidates who may win their primary primary but are shuffling in the general election, which will determine which party controls the Senate.
This time, Trump has made it clear that eligibility comes first. In his statement, he noted that Oz is a well-known figure who “lives with us across the screen and has always been popular, respected and smart.”
“Perhaps most importantly, I believe that Mehmet Oz will be the most capable of winning the general election against a radical left-wing democrat who wants to do unimaginable harm to our country,” he added. “Women in particular are attracted to Dr. Oz for his advice and counsel. I have seen this many times over the years. They know him, believe in him and trust him,” he said.
When Oz interviewed Trump on his show in 2016, Trump told him at one point that his wife, Melania Trump, was a “big fan” of the show.
Oz also has a long personal history with Trump.
Oz said in a recent interview that he first met with Trump in 2004 or 2005, when he asked Trump to use his golf course as an event for the Oz charity. Trump agreed. They then met periodically at social events before Oz interviewed Trump about his health during the 2016 presidential campaign.
In conversations, Trump has often praised Oz for his positive attitude on the show. “He even said I was in extremely good health, which made me like him even more (although he also said I had to lose a few pounds!),” Trump said in a statement.
McCormick, meanwhile, has intervened deeply with party donors and officials in Pennsylvania and received approval from former Trump officials Sarah Sanders and Mike Pompeo. But he had to work to become a pro-Trump candidate for America in the first place.
McCormick has had strong ties to the Republican establishment since his days in the administration of US President George W. Bush. In 2015, McCormick raised funds for Jeb Bush, Trump’s rival in 2016.
This opened McCormick, who spent a decade as chief executive of one of the country’s largest hedge funds, on accusations by some conservatives that he was a “globalist,” a humiliating term adopted by Trump and others in his orbit to provoke an elite an international group that does not serve America’s best interests.
Meanwhile, McCormick and the super PAC who supports him have spent millions attacking Oz.
The commercials distinguish Oz’s long career on television and as a public figure, accusing him of being a liberal, citing, for example, his repeated public advocacy for Obamacare, the signed health care law of former President Barack Obama. They also accuse Oz of being too “Hollywood”.
Oz also took part in the carpet race. He lived in New Jersey for two decades, just before deciding to run in neighboring Pennsylvania, where his parents live.
Trump’s decision has drawn criticism from some critics of Oz, including Parnell, who backed McCormick.
“I have great respect for President Trump. “But I’m disappointed in that. Oz is the opposite of everything that made Trump the best president of my life – he’s the most remote thing from America in the first place and would be very bad for Pennsylvania.”
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