Pennsylvania, a key swing state, held primary elections Tuesday. Here’s what to know about the results:
Did Dr. Oz win?
In the Republican U.S. Senate primary, television host Mehmet Oz and hedge fund CEO David McCormick remain neck-and-neck with about 95% of the vote counted.
Oz, who’s hosted “The Dr. Oz Show” since 2009, was endorsed by former President Donald Trump. Trump held a rally for Oz in Greensburg, Pa., and recorded robocalls for his campaign.
But McCormick is far from a never-Trumper. He campaigned on a foreign agenda he called “America First” and said he would have welcomed Trump’s endorsement.
Pennsylvania law mandates an automatic recount for statewide races if the margin of victory is less than or equal to 0.5% of the vote, according to Ballotpedia.
Who is John Fetterman?
Pennsylvania Lt. Gov. John Fetterman beat out the more moderate Rep. Conor Lamb, D-Pa., to represent Democrats in November’s U.S. Senate race.
Fetterman was hospitalized and had a procedure to implant a pacemaker on Election Day Tuesday after suffering a stroke last week. He voted by emergency absentee ballot and his wife, Gisele, delivered a victory speech on his behalf.
“There’s nothing John likes more than being on the campaign trail and the time off has been hard on him,” she said. “He didn’t even want to go to the hospital, he didn’t want to miss the events we had planned. But I insisted and as usual, I was right, and I’m so glad I made him go.”
Fetterman received a masters of public policy in 1999 from Harvard and became mayor of Braddock, Pa., outside Pittsburgh, in 2005. He held the office until he became lieutenant governor in 2019 after running on a ticket with Gov. Tom Wolf.
Fetterman campaigned on issues including a $15 minimum wage, legalizing marijuana at the federal level and protecting the right to an abortion.
The race is open, with the retirement of two-term Republican Sen. Pat Toomey, and it’s rated as a toss-up race by the nonpartisan Cook Political Report.
Who’s running in the gubernatorial race?
Republican and state lawmaker Douglas Mastriano won his party’s primary for governor, and will face off against Democrat Pennsylvania Attorney General Josh Shapiro.
Because Pennsylvania’s governor appoints the commonwealth’s top election official, Secretary of State, this a crucial race for election integrity in a swing state then-candidate Joe Biden flipped in 2020.
Shapiro has made protecting the right to vote and making it easier to vote major planks in his platform, while Mastriano denies that Biden won the 2020 election and has made false claims about the 2020 results.