DV Journal

After weeks of warm and fuzzy introductory television ads, David McCormick made it official last week. He is a Republican candidate for the U.S. Senate in Pennsylvania.

The wealthy CEO of Bridgewater Associates, a Connecticut hedge fund, McCormick’s ads present him as a likable, regular guy.

McCormick has introduced himself to the public by mentioning his family’s Christmas tree farm in Bloomsburg and highlighting his military service. He attended West Point and served as an Army paratrooper in the 82nd Airborne in Iraq during the First Gulf War, where he received the Bronze Star.

His latest videos talk about hunting deer, bailing hay, playing football, and wrestling in high school. He also wrestled at West Point and was co-captain his senior year.

“Now I’m running to the U.S. Senate to fight the woke mob hijacking America’s future,” McCormick says in one video. “Saving the Pennsylvania we love means fighting for it. Now let’s go.”

“All Pennsylvanians are enduring the disastrous policies that Joe Biden and the Democrats have unleashed on our nation, and I cannot stand by and let it continue,” McCormick said in a press release. “As a combat veteran, I watched the Biden administration’s disastrous handling of our withdrawal from Afghanistan, and the way he has continued to project weakness to the world.

“At the same time, in my business career I’ve seen wokeness damage our great companies and hurt good people. Weakness and wokeness are on the march across all of society. They are threats to our country’s future and antithetical to who we are as Pennsylvanians.

“I am running for Senate to stand up to the movement of weakness. I owe all of my success to the American values I learned on my family’s farm in Bloomsburg. I know what it takes to win. I’m battle-tested, Pennsylvania true. And that’s how the people of Pennsylvania can rest assured that I will never let them down.”

After serving in the Army, McCormick earned a Ph.D. in international affairs at Princeton. He then joined and led a successful tech business in Pittsburgh before taking positions in the George W. Bush administration.

He served as U.S. Treasury Under Secretary for International Affairs and also on the National Security Council and in the Department of Commerce.

He was also CEO and president of two publicly traded software companies and was a consultant at McKinsey & Co.

In addition, McCormick has been a trustee for the United Service Organizations (USO), the Alexander Hamilton Society, and Carnegie Mellon University. He and his wife, Dina, also support a “wide range” of charities, according to the campaign website.

With Sen. Pat Toomey (R-Pa.) not running for reelection, McCormick joins a crowded field of contenders in the GOP primary. Two other wealthy candidates have moved to Pennsylvania to run for the seat, Dr. Mehmet Oz and former ambassador Carla Sands. Oz, who is well-known for his television show,  jumped into the lead, according to a December poll. However, that poll also showed nearly 51 percent of voters are undecided, so the race remains fluid.

“I’m not completely convinced that Pennsylvania voters, particularly Republican voters, are going to embrace these wealthy candidates who lack a decades-long relationship to the state. Still, the ability to self-fund a race makes these candidates theoretically viable. And every new candidate in the race means that the odds of needing to get a majority of the vote to win declines,” said Berwood A. Yost, director of the Floyd Institute for Public Policy and Center for Opinion Research at Franklin & Marshall College. “The smallest winning share of the vote in a primary for governor or Senate since 1926 was 31.2 percent in the 1994 Democratic primary. The lowest share in that time period for a Republican Senate primary was 36.4 percent in 1980 when there were eight candidates running.”

“The upshot is that a well-funded candidate may only need around a third of the primary vote to win, which improves the chances that one of these recent out-of-state candidates will win,” said Yost. “But in the end, what will probably matter most in this race is which candidate former President Donald Trump chooses to endorse.”

While Trump has not yet endorsed McCormick, bestselling author Sean Parnell endorsed his fellow veteran. Parnell, who dropped out of the Senate race due to accusations made by his estranged wife in a messy divorce case, had obtained the coveted Trump endorsement early on.

At least two of the other Republican contenders have disparaged McCormick, Oz, and Sands as outsiders. Kathy Barnette, an author and Fox News commentator who lives in Huntingdon Valley, called the three “carpetbaggers” during a recent rally for Sen. Doug Mastriano (R-Franklin), who is running for governor. Barnette repeated the accusation during a recent debate for Senate candidates in western Pennsylvania.

“Joe Biden phoned it in from his basement. These very wealthy people are going to phone it in from their penthouses. They have no intention of really spending time with you,” Barnette said.

Also at that debate, Montgomery County businessman Jeff Bartos quipped, “Being a lifelong Pennsylvanian is a distinguishing characteristic in this campaign for the United States Senate in Pennsylvania.”

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Philadelphia lawyer George Bochetto, who was the Pennsylvania Boxing Commissioner from 1995 to 2002, did not pull any punches against his opponents during a recent interview about his decision to enter the crowded GOP U.S. Senate primary race.

The well-known local attorney is joining a field that includes a celebrity doctor, a former ambassador, a wealthy hedge fund executive, a Montgomery County businessman, and a Fox News commentator—and that’s just on the Republican side. Another large group has also lined up seeking the Democratic nomination.

Bochetto, 69, called Dr. Mehmet Oz “an individual who has gotten rich off selling magic coffee beans to little old ladies on daytime TV.”

Bochetto is putting up $1 million of his own money to launch his campaign. He says he will have enough money to “get my message out.”

“I don’t need to raise $30 million to run a primary campaign,” he said. “And if Oz and (David) McCormick and (Carla) Sands think they can just buy the election, they ought to go talk to Mike Bloomberg.”

Bloomberg, one of the wealthiest men in America, spent millions in a failed bid to win the Democratic presidential primary in 2020.

Bochetto most recently garnered headlines for his defense in court of Philadelphia’s Christopher Columbus statue from those would like to tear it down. He said one reason he is running is to prevent the country from falling to left-wing “woke” mobs.

“I’m all for an Indigenous People’s Day but not canceling Christopher Columbus Day to do it,” said Bochetto. “Why can’t we do both? We have St. Paddy’s Day.”

“I’m running to stand up to these crazy movements that are really tearing down the values and the cultures of our country,” he said.

“The woke mob and the left are truly taking this country on a disastrous course,” said Bochetto. For example, “The murder rates are sky high. We have George Soros-backed DAs who refuse to carry out their oaths of office.”

And since President Joe Biden took office, inflation has gotten out of control.

“Inflation hurts the middle class the most,” he said. “They’re the ones who have to go to the grocery store and buy their food. They’re the ones who have to pay for their own fuel at the filling station. They’re the ones who have to do their own home repairs and pay for them. And the skyrocketing inflation hurts them the most.”

“If we can get a Republican-controlled Senate we can start passing sensible legislation as a group,” he said. “We can start rejecting all these inflationary spending policies that the Biden administration and the Democrats are currently engaged in. Their solution to how to pay for $3.5 trillion in giveaways is to just print more money. Printing more money is highly inflationary. Paying people to stay home instead of working is highly counterproductive, highly inflationary. These are policies that must be rejected,” Bochetto said.

“And we’re only going to reject them if we elect people like myself to go to Washington and take control of the situation and make sure our fundamental values and our fundamental principles of American government are implemented.”

Asked about foreign policy, Bochetto said, “China absolutely represents the greatest existential threat to the United States. And we cannot be electing anybody to the Senate from Pennsylvania who is business partner with the Chinese Communist Party,” (a swipe at McCormick, who has been CEO of Bridgewater Associates, which has investments in Chinese businesses).

Temple University Professor Robin Kolodny, who chairs the political science department, said the large field of candidates with no decisive frontrunner tends to draw more people into the fray.

“As of now, our window for candidates to file petitions to get on the ballot (2,000 signatures) opens on February 15 and closes March 8,” she said. “It is one thing to put out a press release saying you are running.  It is another thing to have all the paperwork in by March 8. Candidates who do not win a major party nomination will still be able to petition to get on the ballot for November as an independent.”

A December poll found Oz 10 points ahead of Fox News commentator Kathy Barnette, who was in second place. However, that poll, by the Trafalgar Group, showed nearly 51 percent of Republican primary voters were undecided.

Kolodny pointed out the last time Republican voters nominated a celebrity it did not end well in the general election. That was in 2006, when Ed Rendell beat Pittsburgh Steelers football legend Lynn Swan and was re-elected governor, with 60 percent of the vote to Swan’s 40 percent.

“Here’s the issue with non-political celebrities: Are those who know them also consistent voters?  It turned out not to be that way for Lynn Swann who invested heavily in advertising on ESPN,” said Kolodny.

Local lawyer and pundit Christine Flowers praised Bochetto.

“Having grown up in the Philadelphia legal community and surrounded, as a child, by legendary lawyers (including my own father Ted Flowers), I have an instinctual sense of what greatness in the profession means,” Flowers said. “To me, there are very few living Philadelphia attorneys who are worthy of the title ‘Philadelphia Lawyer’ in the tradition of Andrew Hamilton, but I have no hesitation in saying that George Bochetto is one of them.

“He took on the City of Philadelphia with its bigoted crusade to silence the Italian American community and rob us of our history, in Columbus,” said Flowers. “He took on all of those who believe that certain cultures and communities can be silenced, at a time when silencing is a popular tactic. And he has been extremely successful. George Bochetto is everything a Philadelphia lawyer should be, and once was.”

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It’s a columnist tradition to write an “end of year” piece about the preceding 12 months, and put everything into focus and context. Many folks try and give a positive spin to catastrophic events, prompting the thought:  can you ever have too much hope? Others are matter of fact in their examination, while still others would find something to complain about even if Jesus came back to earth, gave everyone a blanket absolution and distributed loaves and fishes like Oprah delivering cars in her heyday. (It’s a joke. I already went to confession. Lighten up.)

I used to write that sort of column, obviously lacking in both creativity and ideas, but this year I decided to do something different. This year, I am going to focus on the one event that, for me, synthesized pretty much everything that’s been happening over the past 365 days.

I’ll call it The Good, the Bad and the Ugly, and it refers to December 28th, the day that this country lost three of its most notable citizens. Each of them represents an aspect of this country that defines our complications, our virtues and our vices.

On that day, we lost John Madden, Harry Reid and Sarah Weddington.

The first two are fairly well known, and don’t really need an introduction. The last is not a household name, but she’s very familiar to those of us who fight for the lives and dignity of unborn children.

Let’s start with The Good.

John Madden is an example of the best this country has to offer in terms of human beings. He was big, brash, honest, authentic, funny, warm, and deceptively simple. This was a cross between Yogi Berra and Tom Brady, someone who had the gentle approachability of a loveable goofball but the steel-trap mind of a killer (or Super Bowl champion). Very few individuals personify the greatest game, football, the way that Madden did. For Philadelphians, we might hold out for John Facenda and that voice. For old-timers, it might be Vince Lombardi or even Tom Landry and their bespoke sobriety on the sidelines.

But Madden crossed generations, which is understandable since he’d been playing, talking about, coaching or simply breathing football since before I was born (and I just turned 60). He was a championship coach, an Emmy-winning broadcaster, a creative genius in the video game world and someone who loved the game with every sinew of that substantial body. To see someone who was so passionate about something so American, and know that he lived a life filled with grace and gratitude, is its own unique sort of blessing. He was, indeed, The Good.

It’s perhaps unfair to call Harry Reid “The Bad.” The former senate majority leader and longtime senator from Nevada was actually a very effective legislator, and someone who, in his own way, served the country that he loved. There’s nothing particularly “bad” in that. However, Reid was also a forerunner of that type of partisanship that morphed into what we see today. He was the sort of Democrat who wanted to win at all costs, did not brook opposition, could not work “nicely” with his colleagues on the other side, and who was as intransigent in his own way as Donald Trump showed himself to be years later. Reid was the Jurassic version of today’s “Squad,” just with more gravitas and less hair. I don’t mourn his loss as much as I mourn the loss of the civility he helped, in his own way, to destroy.

Which brings me to the ugly, the very, very ugly. Sarah Weddington was a woman of outward beauty, which contrasts so sharply with the body of her life’s work. Weddington’s name is well known in Pro Life circles, because she was the woman who, as a young lawyer in Texas, argued the case for legalizing abortion before the Supreme Court. She was successful, and the decision in Roe v. Wade is largely attributable to her legal skills as well as her legal dishonesty.

The case should never have come to the high court, since it was already moot by the time it was in the hands of the justices. Norma McCorvey, the nominal “Jane Roe,” was no longer pregnant at the time that the case was argued. There was no “pregnant woman” seeking an abortion before the court. There was no longer a “case and controversy” before the court, meaning that the whole thing was what we lawyers call “moot.” But Weddington ignored that, pushed on, and was the driving force behind the decision in Roe.

Harry Blackmun gets the credit (or the blame) for penning the majority decision, but had it not been for Weddington, who actively pursued this case so abortion would finally be legalized, we would not be here 49 years and millions of lost lives later. The great irony of Weddington’s death is that it fell on the Feast of Holy Innocents, a day that Catholics venerate in memory of the babies murdered by Herod when he learned that the Christ Child had been born. How fitting. I like to think those babies are at the Gates of Heaven, asking St. Peter to forgive Weddington, and let her in.

So this day, in the last week of a very difficult year, is what I think represents the arc of our lives in 2021. The Good, the (not so) Bad, and the Ugly.

That’s life.

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Is there a doctor in the house? Or the U.S. Senate race?

Republican 2022 Senate candidate Dr. Mehmet Oz objected to The Philadelphia Inquirer’s newly announced policy not to use his title “Dr.” when writing about him.

Oz released a video, saying, “Last week The Philadelphia Inquirer had me on their front page as Dr. Oz. This morning they just announced no more ‘doctor,’ even though I’m a practicing physician, taking care of patients. I’ve done thousands of heart surgeries. They don’t want to call me ‘doctor’ anymore. I won’t be canceled.”

For years Associated Press style called for journalists to use Dr. on first reference to a medical doctor, dentist, optometrist, osteopath or podiatrist and then their last name in the remainder of an article. People who hold a doctorate degree have “Ph.D.” after their names, not a Dr. before—a practice that irks some academics.

However, publications can and do make their own rules. Which is what The Inquirer has, somewhat oddly, chosen to do in this case.

What do local doctors think of the brouhaha over Oz’s title?

“The New York Times has similar policies. The exception seems to be Martin Luther King,” said Dr. Robert Michaelson, a retired physician living in Montgomery County. “The Inquirer doesn’t label Valerie Arkoosh as Dr. and fortunately many news outlets don’t often mention that Rand Paul is a physician. The former Senate majority leader, Bill Frist, was a cardiac transplant surgeon and rarely was that mentioned. However, ‘Dr. Oz’ is also his show’s name.”

Dr. Robert Sklaroff, an oncologist and hematologist practicing in Philadelphia said, “Regardless of how a public figure chooses to ‘self-brand,’ journalists must report what that person says and/or does by applying standards that are identical to those invoked for all similarly-situated people. For example, “doctors” Barrasso and Paul are portrayed as “senators,” while each may be subsequently identified as a physician when discussing medical issues. They are not subtly disrespected when their activities are communicated without reference to their academic degrees, so Dr. Oz should not feel miffed if his well-earned title is omitted from news articles.”

Two other Delaware Valley doctors, both Democrats, are also vying to become their party’s Senate nominee: Arkoosh, who chairs the Montgomery County commissioners, and Dr. Kevin Baulim, who works in a Philadelphia ER.

“I feel very strongly about it,” said Dr. Kevin Baumlin. “My opinion is Dr. Arkoosh and I worked hard to get our doctorate in medicine. So did Dr. Oz. You can’t take away our salutation for one and not for the others. It was inappropriate that they used doctor for Oz and not for us.”

Rachel Petri, a spokesperson for Arkoosh, said, “ While Oz has been peddling fake diet pills and unproven COVID-19 treatments, Val’s been putting her medical degree to good use leading Pennsylvania’s third-largest county through COVID-19 and I can assure you Val has spent zero time thinking about use of her honorific in the paper. If Dr. Oz thinks that’s where his focus should be, that says everything you need to know about his priorities in this race.”

But medical title or not, Oz’s name recognition has given him an advantage over lesser-known politicians and he has changed the dynamics of the Senate race with his entry into the fray.

Echelon Insights ran an ad test of Oz’s first TV spot using Creative Optimizer, their self-serve ad-testing platform.  Using a randomized control trial, the company found that Dr. Oz’s ad pushed him to 50 percent support among Pennsylvania Republicans.

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Currently, four physicians are serving in the United States Senate, and TV celebrity Dr. Oz has made headlines with news that he hopes to join them.

But another local physician, Dr. Kevin Baumlin, has also thrown his stethoscope into the ring. Baumlin, a Democrat who works in a Philadelphia emergency room, hopes to change healthcare and society as a whole.

“I wasn’t really planning on running for Senate,” Baumlin told Delaware Valley Journal. “We started a not-for-profit just before COVID. That was going to be our legacy project. We’ve been very successful in our lives and we wanted to do something good to give back as we transition to the next part of our lives and careers.”

What pushed Baumlin to run for Senate are his concerns about issues like healthcare. As a physician, one of Baumlin’s top priorities is reforming Medicare and improving the care older adults receive.

“The issues I want to work on are federal-level issues,” Baumlin explained. “So, from a health care perspective, I want to work on fixing Medicare. Number one is to get homecare services included as a benefit. So you get at least four hours of care [for your older adult family members]. My parents are in their 80s and I’m 57 and my mom has some health problems and getting her homecare so my dad can go to his golf game is a big topic of conversation. It’s $25 an hour, out of pocket, and it’s not covered by Medicare.”

According to a Genworth survey, between now and 2030 more than 10,000 people will turn 65 every day. In addition, seven out of 10 people will need long-term homecare and, according to Medicare’s website, that type of long-term care isn’t covered.

It’s not just Medicare and older adult care that Baumlin wants to improve. He hopes to tackle the cost of healthcare for all Americans.

“I want to work on legislation to make healthcare portable and affordable,” Baumlin said. “By that I mean have no copays and no deductibles. Because that’s what makes young families go broke. Literally.

“If you make $34,000 a year and you have a $9,000 deductible, that’s 20 percent of your income. How can you budget for that? Because all of that money has already been budgeted out. There’s no extra $500 a month hanging out so you can pay your minimum for your $9,000 deductible. It’s just not in anyone’s budget. And that’s not okay and we need to fix that.”

Ending fracking is also a big concern that Baumlin hopes to address. He sent a letter to one of his opponents in the Democratic primary, Montgomery County Commissioners Chair Dr. Val Arkoosh, urging her to join him in opposing the practice that has created thousands of jobs and millions of dollars of revenue for the state.

“As medical health professionals, we have both seen first hand the dangerous impacts fracking has had on Pennsylvania families living within a one-mile radius of a fracking site,” Baumlin wrote to Arkoosh, an anesthesiologist. He said that he will “make it a priority to end fracking on day one” if he’s elected.

Senators do not have the power to end policies like fracking.

Baumlin also wants to raise the minimum wage.

“All the parents deserve to have a job where they make $15 to $20 an hour so they can work one shift instead of two. So they can be home to help with homework and things like that,” he said.

And, Baumlin says he believes changes to the education system are needed to bring about fundamental changes to our society.

“We need to work on how education is funded,” Baumlin said. “So that we decrease the inequitable society we have and fund urban areas and urban schools so that we can raise people up with a good education and give them the foundations they need so that they can succeed and right the wrongs of the past. To me, that’s social justice.”

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Shortly after Dr. Oz announced he was running for the Senate, he made a house call on my radio show. After that interview, I think Oz has some important issues to resolve, but he exhibited an asset that makes him a contender. He brings a fresh outsider vibe and a populist approach to the issues.

Prior to my show, it seemed The Philadelphia Inquirer had installed the Dr. Oz desk as it rolled out article after article attacking him, particularly on his place of residence. It seemed fixated on his failure to actually live in Pennsylvania and will use that as a launch point to try to portray him as a rich guy dilettante. Of course, when people like Hillary Clinton strolled into a New York Senate seat, there didn’t seem to be the same level of scrutiny.

The Inquirer even tracked Oz’s social media and pointed out it still frequently shows him at his North Jersey mansion. I questioned him twice on this and he went through a list of connections that he has to Pennsylvania, including his time getting his MD and MBA at the University of Pennsylvania’s School of Medicine and Penn’s Wharton School. My listeners as far as I can tell don’t care about his residency. They seem intrigued by something else.

Oz at least initially is bringing a certain freshness and outside the usual political stale box quality to this race. It is not quite Trumpian, but it has some of the same appeals. Oz’s story is a great immigrant success story, there is a Hollywood glitz, and it is attached to the proposition that he has achieved everything in life and now wants to use his skills to serve.

In the interview, Oz attacked critical race theory, cancel culture, and the Communist Chinese Party. I was impressed as he detailed the challenges we face from China. I sensed he has work to do in filling in his knowledge of specific issues affecting people in our area.

I think’s Oz’s medical gravitas plays well given the prominence of COVID and policies affecting our ability to deal with it. Oz has challenged the government by suggesting that it has overdone the issues involving COVID and have unnecessarily limited personal freedom.

He said on his website, “Elites with yards told those without yards to stay inside- where the virus was more likely to spread. And the arrogant, closed-minded people in charge closed our schools, shut down our businesses, and took away our freedom.” Given Oz’s medical background, that is an area that can work with voters in a Republican primary.

Of course, the biggest question I have with each Republican Senate candidate that I interview is can they overcome media bias and beat the Democratic candidate? The gold standard for Republican winners is they must be able to energize the conservative base of the party while also not scaring off voters in the Philadelphia suburbs. Pat Toomey is the model for that kind of blend.

I think Dr. Oz at this point lacks Toomey’s tremendous command of policy details, but I don’t think he would scare off suburban voters. Also, whoever the Republican candidate is who becomes the nominee will have the good fortune of probably facing Pennsylvania Lt. Gov. John Fetterman, who apparently thinks legalizing marijuana is the burning issue in this upcoming race.

In the end, Dr. Oz might fizzle out quickly despite celebrity, money, and connections. For now, I don’t think he is harming anything in this key Senate race. Who knows: Oprah might even visit the state.

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Dr. Mehmet Oz parachuted into a crowded field running for the 2022 Republican nomination for Senate in Pennsylvania.

The famous television doctor, who cut his TV chops with the wildly successful television personality Oprah Winfrey and hosted his own program, “The Dr. Oz Show,” will use those communication skills in his new career–political candidate.

Oz, 61, who now claims Bryn Athyn as his home, lived until recently in northern New Jersey. The cardiothoracic surgeon who invented a heart valve practices at Presbyterian-Columbia Medical Center in New York.

But Oz is no stranger to Pennsylvania. He graduated from the University of Pennsylvania Medical School and the Wharton School at Penn, after earning his undergraduate degree at Harvard University.

In a campaign video, he said he is running for the seat being vacated by GOP Sen. Pat Toomey as “a conservative who will put America first, one who can reignite our divine spark, bravely fight for freedom and tell it like it is.”

And Oz also cited the COVID-19 pandemic that showed America “our system is broken. We lost too many lives, too many jobs, and too many opportunities because Washington got it wrong. They took away our freedom without making us safer and tried to kill our spirit and our dignity.”

“Dr. Oz now needs to demonstrate to Pennsylvania Republicans that he cares about them and wants to represent them, and the rest of the state, in the U.S. Senate,” said Christopher Nicholas, a veteran Republican strategist based in Harrisburg. “Regardless of party, it’s a hard slog running a statewide race here across our 45,000-plus square miles.”

Professor Berwood A. Yost, director of the Floyd Institute for Public Policy and the Center for Opinion Research at Franklin & Marshall College, agreed Oz will need to convince Pennsylvania voters that his political positions, now mostly unknown, align with theirs.

“Dr. Oz undoubtedly has strong name recognition and, more importantly, personal wealth that he can use to run a competitive campaign,” said Yost.  “I assume that he will be attacked for being a non-resident, which I think can be a real liability among the state’s voters. That said, a large primary field means that any candidate can win with a small portion of the vote, so his name recognition and personal wealth make him viable at this moment.

“In trying to assess his candidacy, there are two main things we just don’t know yet about him,” said Yost. “The first unknown is where he stands politically and how those positions will resonate with Republican primary voters. The second unknown is how he fares as a campaigner. Dr. Oz has never run for office and running a statewide campaign in Pennsylvania isn’t easy.”

Democrats were quick to sharpen their claws.

“We went four years with a deranged TV personality in the White House and it almost brought our democracy to its knees,” said state Rep. Malcolm Kenyatta (D-Philadelphia), who is himself among those running for the Senate. “Pennsylvania and our country damn sure can’t afford six years with a deranged TV personality representing us in the U.S. Senate.”

Dr. Val Arkoosh, chair of the Montgomery County board of commissioners, shared a similar tweet: “We’ve seen what happens when TV personalities gain power & @DrOz is the last thing we need when we face real challenges. I’m Dr. Val Arkoosh and I’m the real doctor running in #PASEN.”

But even before he chose to run for office, Oz faced criticism from those who claim some of the products he’s touted on his TV show have no medicinally effective use and are not backed by research. And several Delaware Valley physicians were skeptical when asked to comment previously on Oz’s potential candidacy.

Oz, whose parents immigrated to America from Turkey, has been married to his wife, Lisa, for 36 years. The couple raised four children, Daphne, Arabella, Zoe, and Oliver, and has four grandchildren. Oz grew up in Wilmington, Delaware, where his father was a thoracic surgeon.

Meanwhile, other Republicans who are vying for the Senate include businessman Jeff Bartos, author Kathy Barnette, and lawyer Sean Gale —all Montgomery County residents. Carla Sands, who served as ambassador to Denmark under President Donald Trump, is also a contender.

And rumored to be waiting in the wings are David McCormick, a hedge fund CEO, and former Chester County Congressman Ryan Costello.

Among the Democratic contenders already in are Lt. Gov.  John Fetterman, U.S. Rep. Conor Lamb, and Philadelphia ER Dr.  Kevin Baumlin.

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Republican frontrunner Sean Parnell announced Monday he is suspending his campaign for the U.S. Senate. Parnell was faced with a judge’s decision to award the custody of his children to his estranged wife amid a bitter divorce case with allegations of abuse.

Republican Sen. Pat Toomey’s retirement is attracting numerous candidates from both parties. And the 2022 Pennsylvania Senate race also has drawn national attention with the control of the now 50-50 Senate in the balance. Some pundits have claimed Pennsylvania’s open seat is the most likely to flip from Republican to Democrat.

When former President Donald Trump endorsed Parnell, a bestselling author and former Army Ranger who ran for Congress against Conor Lamb, it catapulted him to the front of the crowded field vying for the Republican voters’ nod in the May 17, 2022 primary.

And with Parnell, who lives in western Pennsylvania out of the way, the candidates from the Southeast will have more room to run.

“It means the Trump endorsement is up for grabs again,” said Robin Kolodny, chair of the political science department at Temple University. “It’s unclear who will get it as several other candidates have close ties to Trump. Parnell’s image problems just can’t survive a 10 person field.”

“Expect a few more people to drop out before the February 15 filing deadline,” Kolodny added.

Veteran Republican political strategist Christopher Nicholas said, “Parnell’s announcement shakes up an already unsettled GOP primary here. It appears as though other candidates will enter the race and it will give Ambassador (Carla) Sands another opportunity to try to hoist the Trumpy banner in the primary.”

“I thought that President Trump’s endorsement of Parnell made him the frontrunner for the Republican nomination,” said Berwood Yost, director of the Center for Opinion Research at Franklin & Marshall College. “This undoubtedly changes the race and I think we’ll need to see whether the former president endorses another candidate before we make any guesses about who is the current frontrunner. At the moment, none of the remaining candidates seems to have any notable advantages over the others.”

Jeff Bartos, the Montgomery County businessman and a Republican candidate for Senate, declined to comment about Parnell’s situation. However, Bartos’ campaign was the first to fire shots at Parnell as his messy divorce situation became public.

In September, the Bartos campaign launched a statewide digital ad campaign against Parnell.

“Sean Parnell has a long, well-documented, and disturbing history when it comes to his treatment of women. Sean’s vile actions and attitudes have already cost him his guns, and his home,” said Conor McGuinness, campaign manager for Bartos, at that time. “Enough is enough. We have to hold Sean Parnell accountable for his actions – and if we don’t, it will cost Pennsylvania and our nation dearly.”

Montgomery County author and Fox TV commentator Kathy Barnette, a Republican who is also the running, said, “Now more than ever, we need to focus on what’s in front of us.  Democrats have shown us exactly who they are and what they mean when they say they want to ‘fundamentally change’ our nation.  We reject their change.  That’s why it is vital we select a true conservative to fill this Senate seat in Pennsylvania.  We must elect a candidate who can relate to the hard-working people of Pennsylvania.  Farmers, steelworkers, small business owners – all need a senator who understands their plight with rising gas prices, food prices and the cost to heat their homes.  We are living in serious times and we must focus.

“We must elect a candidate who will passionately defend our American values.  The Republican Party cannot continue to put forward the same-old, cookie-cutter Republican and expect to win this Senate seat,” said Barnette, promising to be that candidate.

Sands, who served as ambassador to Denmark under Trump, did not respond to a request for a comment. However, Sean Gale, a Montgomery County lawyer and Senate candidate, did not hesitate to take a jab at Parnell.

“To be honest, Sean Parnell was a flawed candidate from the very start. Putting aside his scandals and courtroom drama, Sean Parnell never had a path to win both the May primary election and November general election,” said Gale. “Pennsylvania needs a Republican candidate for U.S. Senate who can rally conservative voters in central and western Pennsylvania while simultaneously appealing to Independent voters and soft Democrats in southeastern Pennsylvania.  In truth, I’m the only Republican candidate in the 2022 Senate race who has the unique ability to not only energize and turnout the base, but reduce the margin of defeat in the City of Philadelphia and its deep blue surrounding suburbs. I appeal to voters across the political spectrum because I’m not afraid to expose corruption and fecklessness in my own party.”

Meanwhile, celebrity Dr. Mehmet Oz is rumored to be considering entering the race, with buzz that he plans to buy a house in the Philadelphia suburbs. Others said to be contemplating a bid include David McCormick, a hedge fund CEO, and former Chester County Congressman Ryan Costello. And some in Trump’s orbit are now championing McCormick.

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Carla Sands served as U.S. ambassador to Denmark under President Donald Trump. Now she wants to be Pennsylvania’s next U.S. Senator, and she tells Delaware Valley Journal she’s going up with a $1 million television and digital ad buy beginning Nov. 17 as part of her bid to become the GOP nominee.

In the ad, Sands says she is the one who can stand up to Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (AOC).

Sands, who grew up in Camp Hill near Harrisburg, followed her father and grandfather in the chiropractic practice. She married businessman Fred Sands and, after he passed away, ran the business he started, becoming chair and CEO of Vintage Capital Group. Prior to becoming an ambassador, Trump appointed Sands to his Economic Advisory Council.

“As a businesswoman, I have had to go up against some formidable opponents and have shown I know how to hold my own. We need conservatives in Washington with the backbone to stand up to Nancy Pelosi and Alexandria Ocasio Cortez and their radical, socialist agenda,” said Sands. “I’m running for Senate to fight for Pennsylvanians – not to make friends with the swamp. Just like in business, I will take on anyone who stands in the way of my mission. Pelosi and AOC don’t intimidate me.”

In an editorial for DVJournal, Sands contends President Joe Biden is weak on foreign policy issues and that weakness makes the U.S. less safe.

“But now, as America is beset by enemies, we have a president all too eager to cave to our enemies abroad and those destroying our way of life from within. Americans across our country and our soldiers abroad are paying the price for this new leadership in Washington,” Sands wrote.

In a previous editorial, Sands took on the “one size fits all” public education system and advocated for school choice.

“For too long, our school system has operated in a manner that placates unions and is specifically inhibitive of competition. Introducing a competitive factor to how we fund education has the potential to be a major catalyst for change. As your senator, it’s my hope to work toward that change,” Sands wrote.

Incumbent Republican Pat Toomey is retiring. Other Republicans running for the Senate seat include author Sean Parnell, businessman Jeff Bartos, author Kathy Barnette, and lawyer Sean Gale —  all Montgomery County residents.

Democratic contenders include Lt. Gov.  John Fetterman, U.S. Rep. Conor Lamb, Montgomery County Commissioner Dr. Val Arkoosh, Philadelphia Dr.  Kevin Baumlin, and state Rep. Malcolm Kenyatta.

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Reports that TV star Dr. Mehmet Oz plans to run for the U.S. Senate in Pennsylvania as a Republican had tongues wagging this week.

Doctors have served in Congress, so it would not be unprecedented.  Currently, several Republican doctors are serving in the Senate including Rand Paul of Kentucky, Bill Cassidy from Louisiana, Kansan Roger Marshall, and John Barrasso of Wyoming.

In the House, doctors Larry Bucshon, a thoracic surgeon, represents Indiana, and Michael Burgess, an OB/GYN represents Texas.

Sen. Pat Toomey, a Republican who currently serves Pennsylvania, is not running for reelection, leading to a long list of candidates, both Democrat and Republican, who are vying for Toomey’s seat.

But if he decides to run, Oz wouldn’t be the only doctor in the race.

Democrats Val Arkoosh, chair of the Montgomery County Commissioners and an anesthesiology specialist, is a doctor. Kevin Baumlin, chair of Pennsylvania Hospital’s emergency department, is also running.

“We have many great candidates for the Senate and governor positions and in the final analysis the people of Pennsylvania will make the ultimate decision and select the candidates they believe can represent them at the highest level of leadership excellence,” said Dr. Nche Zama, a cardiothoracic surgeon from the Poconos, a Republican who is running for governor.

Dr. Robert Sklaroff, who practices hematology, oncology, and internal medicine and is affiliated with Nazareth Hospital, said of Oz, “It seems he has not reflected the fundamental views of the Republican Party, both regarding domestic policy (having supported a lot of progressive Democrats) and foreign policy (having supported Turkey’s Islamist President Erdoğan). From a medical perspective, he has hawked ‘miracle cures’ that aren’t based upon peer-reviewed data. My major concern is election integrity and he has never—to my knowledge—addressed violations of election integrity in 2020 which, in my humble opinion, continues to be the major threat to democracy.”

On a lighter note, Dr. Bob Michaelson, a retired Montgomery County resident, said, “I guess Dr. Oz (meets) the constitutional qualifications of being at least 30 years old, a U.S. citizen, and a resident of his state. Being a public TV personality seems to have worked for others. I don’t know how well he would legislate, but I would prefer the Wizard of Oz in most cases.”

And forensic pathologist Dr. Jonathan Briskin said, “I think he should stay on TV.”

Oz, if he decides to enter the race, would face a crowded field including author and veteran Sean Parnell, who was endorsed by former President Donald Trump; former ambassador Carla Sands; Montgomery County businessman Jeff Bartos; TV personality and author Kathy Barnette; and Montgomery County lawyer Sean Gale on the Republican side. Democrats include Lt. Gov. John Fetterman, U.S. Rep. Conor Lamb, and state Rep. Malcolm Kenyatta.

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