There’s been a hot spotlight on this year’s Republican U.S. Senate primary race in Pennsylvania. The contest turned out to be so close that everyone still wonders who won. Celebrity doctor Mehmet Oz and his ideological adversary, Dave McCormick, remain tied for the victory while “spoiler” Kathy Barnette trails them both, solidly in third place.
Race ends in photo finish
On Wednesday, May 18, Pennsylvania election officials say the race for U.S. Senate remains “too close to call.” Thousands of mail in ballots will be the determining factor and they’re being tallied diligently, right now. Incumbent Republican Pat Toomey is retiring so the seat is a crucial one and hotly contested by everyone.
The millions showered down on the candidates paid for a whole lot of “negative advertising, mostly between Oz, the celebrity doctor backed by former President Donald Trump, and McCormick, a former hedge fund executive, and their allies.”
Political commentator Kathy Barnette threw a monkey wrench into the political machine by injecting herself into the race on a “Make America Great Again” platform. That’s something the Democrats will be paying close attention to, because it worked like a charm to disrupt the GOP.
Oz may be popular on TV but that doesn’t mean he’s deplorable enough for Trump supporters to stand behind. As CNN put it, the problem stems from “attempting to channel concerns about Oz’s conservative bona fides among Trump supporters.”
For a little while, it actually looked like Barnette might even win but that dream ended at dawn, to be replaced by the nightmare of a neck-and-neck tie.
Oz has a “razor-thin lead Wednesday morning,” which McCormick fans wager won’t hold through the day. This political race is looking a lot like the one run at Camptown – Doo-dah! doo-dah! “Gwine to run all night! Gwine to run all day! I’ll bet my money on de bob-tail nag, Somebody bet on de bay.”
A jump ball
McCormick advisers are clinging to the slim chance they have of winning, “based on how many uncounted absentee ballots there are and the margin by which Dave has won them so far.”
That’s why they’re “confident of victory.” According to a tweet by chief strategist Jeff Roe, “Dave will win this race.”
Meanwhile in the Oz camp, their spin doctors are prescribing a shot of courage by noting that he’s still ahead, if only by a little.
Ballots haven’t come in from Philadelphia, “where the candidate currently holds a double-digit edge, as well as several counties across the eastern edge of the commonwealth where he is leading McCormick.” They do admit it’s a close race. “It’s a jump ball,” one Oz adviser noted.
In related news, Pennsylvania Lieutenant Governor John Fetterman breezed through his Democratic primary race despite suffering a stroke last week. Even though he could have ongoing medical issues, he remains a better chance for the left than incumbent Connor Lamb. Meanwhile, Pennsylvania Republican candidate for Governor, Doug Mastriano, will represent the GOP side in November.
He’s the one who dropped into the Hagerstown Speedway saying hi to We The People back in March, letting everyone know where he stands on the really important issues.
