Of:
Emelie Svensson
Published: Less than 2 hours ago
Updated: Less than 40 min ago
NEWS
PHILADELPHIA. Two years ago they decided the presidential election.
Now the key state of Pennsylvania can once again seal the fate of Trump and Biden.
- We are raking the arena for 2024, says voter Michelle Goodsir, 55.
The celebrity doctor steps onto the stage out in rural Pennsylvania, in front of a cheering audience.
- On election day, I want you to ask ten people: Are you satisfied with the direction in which the country is heading?
Candidate Mehmet Oz, 62, pauses.
- If they answer yes - take the car keys! Because they can't drive in that condition, he continues, flashing a dazzling Hollywood smile.
The people in front of him — Pennsylvanians — aren't just deciding their own futures in Tuesday's midterm elections.
They can vote the direction of the entire United States.
Oz is the Republican candidate for Senate in the key state. His name and face became world famous when TV queen Oprah Winfrey dubbed him expert doctor on her talk show many years ago.
Now he is pitted against his exact opposite in America's fateful Senate election. Democrat John Fetterman, 53, a six-foot-tall, tattooed, hoodie-wearing, working-class candidate — endorsed by Oprah.
But TV doctor Oz has another heavyweight behind him: Donald Trump.
And the former president's thumbs up is enough for many voters who made it to the campaign rally north of Philadelphia.
Spectators get ready to listen to Dr. Oz Photo: Nora Savosnick
The message: It's all Biden's fault
During the meeting, Oz hammers home the Republicans' main message for the midterm elections: The economy is in shambles, crime is at an all-time high, the situation on the border with Mexico is catastrophic.
It's all Biden's fault, they claim. And with Fetterman as a senator from Pennsylvania, things would get even worse.
In the mid-term elections, Democrats have tried to paint Republicans as a threat to the country's democracy. Election deniers. Many do not accept that Biden is the country's legitimate president.
But Mehmet Oz instead tries to point the finger at his opponent Fetterman, claiming that it is the Democrat who is a radical extremist.
While he himself stands for sense and balance.
Dr. Oz in a conversation with a voter. Photo: Nora Savosnick
Voter Elizabeth Loudon, 50, who voted for Oz, agrees with that narrative.
- We love Dr. Oz! He is brilliant. Not just a doctor - but a heart surgeon. He's popular, otherwise he wouldn't have had a TV show for 13 years. Then everyone liked him. He has common sense, she says on the way to the campaign meeting.
For a long time, Fetterman, a Democrat, led by far over Oz according to opinion polls. But the candidates' popularity figures have slowly converged.
Just in time for election day, it couldn't be more even: 47 to 47 percentage points, according to the election analysis site Fivethirtyeight.
On the one hand, Trump's public support for Oz has given him a real boost in public opinion, and on the other hand, Fetterman suffered a stroke last spring. He still has some speech difficulties and hasn't been able to be very active on the campaign trail.
As the rivals dueled in the first public televised debate, the continuing health problems became apparent.
Fetterman stammered, sometimes repeating himself.
Here, Democrats realized that the key race was in danger.
Now the key state of Pennsylvania can once again seal the fate of Trump and Biden. Photo: Rebecca Blackwell/AP
Republican wave
When Americans go to the polls again, things look bleak for the Democrats.
A Republican wave is predicted to sweep through the country.
Republicans are likely to win power in the House of Representatives.
The battle for the Senate will be an electoral thriller.
If the Republicans take power in both houses, it is a nightmare scenario for Biden. Then it will be even more difficult for him to push through his policy in the future.
In this year's congressional elections, Fetterman-Oz is likely the most important race, which could tip power in the Senate either way.
The result can also be an indication of how the swing state votes in the next presidential election.
That Pennsylvania is the hottest battleground became clear when three presidents flocked to the state this weekend — Obama, Biden, Trump — to give a final boost to their candidates.
And they already have their sights set on 2024.
On Monday evening, Trump gave his strongest hint yet that he will run for president again.
"I will make a very big announcement on Tuesday, November 15 at Mar-a-Lago in Palm Beach, Florida," Trump said at a campaign rally in Ohio.
Republican voters cheer for Dr. Oz. Photo: Nora Savosnick
"We will rake the arena"
At the Oz meeting, many voters rejoiced at Trump's hint.
- We will rake the arena for him before 2024 here if Dr. Oz wins, says Michelle Goodsir, who voted for Trump twice before.
Pennsylvania father Josh Ropelje, 30, has also cast his vote for Trump in the past. But wouldn't do it again. He wants to see something new, and thinks Trump has dragged America's democracy down into depravity.
Biden is also doing a poor job. Oz then? Not good either. He is way too commercial.
- But I vote for the Republican, regardless of who it is. Because I don't think our country is moving in the right direction.
Oz voter Elizabeth Loudon is cheering that a potential Trump candidacy could be around the corner.
- Oh, please! He must save our country. Everything he said he would do, he has done. He is not a lying politician. He is successful. He is an oracle! Everything he promises comes true.
Mehmet Oz's attacks on Biden resonate with the audience.
But during the rally, Oz never mentions Trump. Nor claims of voter fraud, like many other Make America Great Again candidates.
Oz balances the Trump agenda and the image of himself as a centrist, which can attract centrist voters.
Mehmet Oz, 62, during his speech in Philadelphia. Photo: Nora Savosnick
Pennsylvania is ground zero
The criticism against Oz concerns, among other things, that, according to Democrats, he was a quack as a TV doctor. And for statements that abortions should "be a decision made between a woman, a doctor - and local politicians".
But also because he actually lives in New Jersey and has no knowledge of Pennsylvania.
- They say that Doctor Oz is not from here. I don't care if you're from Mars! If you have good ideas, values, are smart, have good politics – that's what we want, says Elizabeth Loudon.
She emphasizes that Pennsylvania is ground zero in American politics.
Trump has, according to sources for Rolling Stone magazine, plans to challenge the results in the midterm elections. Just like in the 2020 presidential election.
And he starts – in Pennsylvania.
If the result between Fetterman and Oz is even - which is predicted to be - sources say Trump's plan is to quickly call into question the integrity of the election.
But the focus on Pennsylvania should be more about his own future rather than party loyalty. The state is seen as "a dress rehearsal for 2024", says a source.
Oz voter and Trump cheerleader Elizabeth Louden shrugs off Pennsylvania's wave champion status.
- Sometimes we are red, sometimes blue. And this time? I know what I'm keeping my fingers crossed for!
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