Dr. Oz Press Conference Exposes Rifts Among Republicans in Pennsylvania

A press conference held Tuesday by Republican Senate candidate Dr. Mehmet Oz and Senator Pat Toomey demonstrated that while Republicans in Pennsylvania are unified on some issues, other fronts have left them divided.

While Oz said that he would back the full Republican ticket in the upcoming elections, Toomey did not commit to supporting Republican gubernatorial candidate Doug Mastriano, according to Politico reporter Holly Otterbein, who attended the conference. Mastriano has pushed Donald Trump's unproven claims of election fraud, the Associated Press reported, and has received a coveted endorsement from the former president. Toomey, who is not seeking reelection, was one of a handful of GOP senators who voted to convict Trump on an article of impeachment following the January 6, 2021, Capitol riot.

Oz, a celebrity surgeon who was also endorsed by Trump, risked alienating the former president and his loyal base on Tuesday by saying that he "would not have objected to" approving President Joe Biden's election victory if he had been in the Senate at the time.

"By the time the delegates and those reports were sent to the U.S. Senate, our job was to approve it, which is what I would have done," he was quoted by The Hill as saying.

Trump allegedly pressured former Vice President Mike Pence to overturn the 2020 election results, according to findings and testimony laid out by the House committee investigating the Capitol riot during one of its hearings over the summer.

These conflicting messages show that Pennsylvania Republicans may be facing several rifts on who and what they should back as both parties continue to push for support ahead of the key midterm elections in November. Democratic Senate candidate John Fetterman and Oz have been locked in a contentious race for the seat Toomey is leaving vacant, an important win for both sides seeking to secure a Senate majority. As of August 31, FiveThirtyEight's polling average showed Fetterman with support from 48.3 percent of voters compared to 40.2 percent supporting Oz, a lead of 8.1 points.

Oz and Toomey did agree when it came to criticizing Fetterman, Pennsylvania's current lieutenant governor, for failing so far to agree to participate in a debate.

"John Fetterman is either healthy, and he's dodging the debates because he does not want to answer for his radical left positions, or he's too sick to participate in a debate," Oz said.

Toomey also said that Fetterman's refusal to participate in a debate led him to doubt whether the Democrat could handle a seat in the U.S. Senate.

"In every campaign I ever ran, I did debates...it's an important part of the democratic process," Toomey said. "I'm here to issue a warning to Pennsylvania voters, you can't do your job as U.S. senator sitting at home firing off snarky tweets. It's a demanding job that requires lots of communication...and based off of what I've seen, I have my doubts whether John Fetterman is up to the job."

Fetterman announced in May that he had had a stroke but stressed at the time that he was "going to be ready for the hard fight ahead." After Oz's senior communications adviser Rachel Tripp recently told Insider that if Fetterman had "ever eaten a vegetable in his life" the stroke may have been prevented, Fetterman's campaign responded by saying that they "could never imagine ridiculing someone for their health challenges."

Fetterman campaign strategist Rebecca Katz told NBC News last month that Oz's debate demands were part of "an obvious and pathetic attempt to change the subject during yet another bad week."

"John is up for debating Oz—but we're not going to do this on Oz's terms," Katz said. "A millionaire celebrity like Dr. Oz is probably used to pushing people around and getting his own way, but he's not going to be able to bully John Fetterman."

Katz added that Fetterman "had a stroke 3 months ago, and the other is a professional television personality, so our eyes are wide open about whose strengths this plays to."

Newsweek reached out to Toomey's office and a Trump spokesperson for comment, but was not immediately able to locate a way to reach out to Oz's campaign.