During an interview this week with FOX News host Laura Ingraham, Dr. Mehmet Oz tried to explain why a Democratic challenger for a Pennsylvania U.S. Senate seat has received far more donations than him.
“The Democrats have, very cleverly, taken all these issues that come up over the summer,” said Oz. “And they’ve used these as excuses to raise money from the Democratic loyalists.”
He was referencing issues such as reproductive health care and gun control. This summer, the U.S. Supreme court – which was packed with three conservatives by former President Donald Trump during his one term in office – overturned abortion protections in the Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health decision and blocked gun control measures with the New York State Rifle & Pistol Assn., Inc. v. Bruen decision.
According to recent polls, both decisions go against public opinion on abortion and gun control. Without Republican support, efforts to codify abortion rights failed. However, some bipartisan gun legislation has been passed in the wake of multiple mass shootings this year, including one on South Street in Philadelphia.
Oz, a celebrity doctor, has had his own T.V. show, has published books and received an endorsement from Trump. His challenger, John Fetterman, was mayor of Braddock, Pa., where he started a GED program for students in the community and serves as the lieutenant governor of Pennsylvania.
“Pennsylvania is our best chance to add a Democrat to the Senate,” reads a notice on Fetterman’s campaign fundraising page. “But our campaign is going up against [a lot] of GOP money.”
According to a Saturday report in the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, Fetterman’s total donations from individuals and committees were $9.9 million as of Friday, per Federal Election Comission reports. Oz donations came in at only $1.1 million, though the Post-Gazette said he attempted to fill in the gap by loaning his campaign another $2.2 million.
Additionally, the outlet said that Fetterman has five times as much cash on hand as Oz.
“It’s true of all the senate races across the county, the Democrats are out-donating,” Oz said.
Indeed, a CNN report this Saturday said “Democratic Senate candidates in key battleground states continue to rake in massive amounts of campaign money,” outraising Republican candidates. It is unclear whether this fundraising will help Democrats this November overcome the historical trend of first term presidents’ parties performing dismally during midterm elections.
When Fetterman won the Democratic primary in May, NBC News reported that he plans to “take his populist economic message all over Pennsylvania, including the reddest parts of this ultra-competitive commonwealth.”
During Oz’s interview, Ingraham seemed to indicate that successful fundraising put Fetterman’s populist messages into question.
“He’s not a real populist, he’s a pretend populist,” Oz told Ingraham. “In fact, many folks think because of the ways he dresses with his hoodies and his shorts that he’s been working his whole life. It’s quite the opposite, he’s not worked in the private sector.”
As far as fundraising goes, Oz said that the Republican National Senatorial Committee is stepping in to help his campaign and that the Republican National Committee has been “wonderful.”
“Interestingly, when Republicans get mad we go out and mow the lawn. Democrats, when they get mad, donate money to their party,” said Oz, before encouraging viewers to donate to his campaign. He then told Ingraham that he doesn’t think he needs to raise as much as Fetterman.
“Because I’m a better candidate,” he said.
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