‘Dr. Oz’ bets Trump endorsement can catapult him in Pa. Senate race

Pennsylvania Senate hopeful Mehmet Oz won the Donald Trump primary by securing the former president’s endorsement over the weekend.

Now, Oz’s Senate campaign says it plans to spend at least $1 million to make sure Pennsylvania Republicans know about it — betting that by bolstering awareness of the endorsement, his poll numbers can be buoyed.

Starting Tuesday, Oz plans to air a new TV ad promoting the endorsement and bashing his chief GOP rival, David McCormick. The planned ad placement, the biggest for Oz’s campaign to date, could hit $1 million; advisers didn’t give an exact number.

Whereas endorsements by Trump once decided many Republican primaries, the lesson of 2022 may be that his support can make a difference — if a candidate pays to make sure voters know who his favorite is in a race.

“This endorsement of Dr. Oz is a game-changer in the GOP primary,” said Corey Lewandowski, Trump’s former campaign manager, who is neutral in the Pennsylvania primary. “Every candidate in the race and in races across America want President Trump’s endorsement.”

Recent polling indicates McCormick remains ahead in the seven-candidate Republican primary. And Trump doesn’t have the megaphone to push his endorsement after he was removed from Twitter and Facebook, leaving candidates like Oz to ensure that primary voters know whom the de facto leader of their party supports.

About 60 percent of primary voters in Pennsylvania said they were more likely to support a candidate whom Trump backs, according to a recent public poll by Emerson College, which reflects private campaign surveys in the state. Pennsylvania’s primary on May 17 will be won by the candidate with the plurality of the vote, so even a small shift in support could decide the winner.

The Trump endorsement race had been hard-fought.

Lewandowski noted that McCormick last week flew to Trump’s Mar-a-Lago club in Palm Beach, Florida, to try to stave off the Oz endorsement or get it himself. McCormick had also hired a bevy of Trump advisers to help his campaign and curry favor with the former president.

But by the time McCormick showed up Wednesday, Trump was already close to endorsing Oz, said two other Trump advisers, who said Trump wasn’t swayed by the arguments of those close to him who were backing McCormick. McCormick’s wife, Dina Powell, was Trump’s deputy national security adviser.