Pennsylvania Man Says Meeting Dr. Oz Swayed Him From Voting for Him

A local recovery counselor in Kensington, Pennsylvania, said spending an hour with GOP Senate candidate Mehmet Oz put him off voting for him in the November midterms.

Justyn Payton, who was present at a local event Oz held in Johnstown, in southwest Pennsylvania, on Tuesday, where he addressed the opioid crisis in the country and in the state, told ABC's senior White House correspondent Mary Bruce that Oz's plans to address the spread of opioids convinced him not to vote for the celebrity doctor.

"Outside of securing the border, I didn't hear a plan," Payton told Bruce.

During the event, Oz blamed drug trafficking through the border and illegal immigration for the opioid crisis. Payton intervened to say that the problem preceded the current increase of fentanyl coming through the border.

The local recovery counselor said he was "pretty undecided" about whom to vote for before the event but "not after today," he added.

"You just spent about an hour on a panel with Doctor Oz. And that swayed you away from him?" asked him Bruce. "Absolutely," Payton replied, calling himself "insulted" over the fact that Oz left the room without replying to any question from the media or listening to any grieving family member who has lost a loved one to opioids, as there was no public audience.

Oz was in Johnstown meeting with law enforcement officers, legislators, doctors and recovery professionals to "understand on the ground what's really happening in Cambria County," he said.

It was not the first time Oz received criticism for his approach to those struggling with substance abuse and drug addiction.

The celebrity doctor turned politician, who's running for Pennsylvania's Senate seat against Democrat John Fetterman with former President Donald Trump's endorsement, sparked outrage on social media in late August for comparing Philadelphia's homeless struggling with substance abuse to "zombies."

"Go down to downtown Philadelphia—I see a little bit in Pittsburgh now too, but more in Philadelphia—there are whole blocks, multiple blocks and areas you can't go," Oz told a crowd gathered in Monroeville, near Pittsburgh, on August 29.

"There are addicts walking like zombies into the street with needles sticking out of their necks," he said.

Oz has focused his Senate campaign on crime and drugs, promising to help those struggling with substance abuse detox and pledging to address the opioid crisis in Pennsylvania and the country.

But many, including the New York Times, have highlighted how questionable his position might appear considering that Oz has dispensed dubious medical advice more than once during his career as a TV celebrity doctor, including potentially dangerous weight loss drugs.

Oz was considered, as of October 20, to have a 35-in-100 chance of winning Pennsylvania's Senate race, according to FiveThirtyEight.