'A harsh reality': Dr. Oz bombards Republican voters with panicked fundraising pleas

If Democrats are able to flip any GOP-held seats in the U.S. Senate, their best opportunity may be in Pennsylvania — where Republican Mehmet Oz has been trailing Democratic Lt. Gov. John Fetterman in the battle for the seat presently held by two-term GOP Sen. Pat Toomey. Fetterman’s single-digit leads over Oz in polls released in September aren’t necessarily insurmountable, but according to the Daily Beast’s Roger Sollenberger, Dr. Oz’s recent fundraising e-mails reflect a mood of panic in his campaign.

Sollenberger, in an article published by the Beast on September 22, explains, “If Pennsylvania senatorial hopeful and former TV doctor Mehmet Oz wants his supporters to know one thing, it’s that he’s a bad fundraiser who has always been losing to his opponent. At least, that’s the overwhelming message in the more than 100 fundraising texts and e-mails the Oz campaign has delivered just in the last month. The Oz campaign has sent 23 fundraising e-mails since last Monday alone.”

Sollenberger reports that “every one of them has bad news, saying directly or on a linked donations page that Oz is either missing fundraising goals, trailing Democratic opponent John Fetterman in dollars raised, or losing in the polls.” A fundraising e-mail sent on September 19, Sollenberger notes, warned, “Democrats are STILL MASSIVELY outraising Republicans.” And another read, “Right now, Democrats are FLATTENING Republicans in Senate races across the country.”

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A CBS News/YouGov poll released in mid-September showed Oz trailing Fetterman by 5 percent, but a poll by the Republican pollster the Trafalgar Group also released around that time showed Fetterman ahead of Oz by only 2 percent. In a Monmouth poll released in mid-September, likely voters favored Fetterman over Oz by 10 percent.

Sollenberger says of the Oz campaign’s panicked, overwrought e-mails, “While this may be a gimmick, it’s also grounded in a harsh reality. And it’s not just about Oz. GOP candidates vying for the Senate have been outraised by their Democratic counterparts in a number of races critical to who will control the Senate heading into 2024 — Ohio, Georgia, Arizona and Nevada.”

Oz and Fetterman, who has been recovering from a stroke, are scheduled to hold a debate in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania’s state capitol, on October 25.

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