Dr. Mehmet Oz spent his whole Trump-backed campaign for Senate in Pennsylvania dogged by questions about his residency, having lived in New Jersey and having only a tenuous connection to the state in which he was running. That accusation of carpetbagging put him on the defensive throughout the election and was a key factor in his loss to Democratic Lt. Gov. John Fetterman.
Now, polling suggests that if Oz wanted to restart his political career in New Jersey, it would go even worse for him, wrote Jonathan D. Salent for NJ.com on Tuesday.
"Oz, who moved to Pennsylvania from New Jersey to run for U.S. Senate with the support of former President Donald Trump last year, was trolled throughout his campaign by Democratic nominee John Fetterman in the state that really, really doesn’t like outsiders to run for public office," wrote Salent. "But if Oz should want to run from his palatial home in Cliffside Park, New Jerseyans won’t welcome him either. Less than one-quarter, 24%, said they would welcome his candidacy, while almost two-thirds, 66%, said they would not. Even among Republicans, a bare majority, 51%, favored him running for office."
As the report noted, if Oz wanted to try another Senate run, he could theoretically challenge Sen. Bob Menendez, a Democrat up for re-election in New Jersey next year. New Jersey has not elected a Republican for Senate since 1972, although two Republicans briefly served in appointed roles since then to fill vacancies.
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In addition to accusations of carpetbagging, Oz's campaign was dominated by mockery of remarks and actions that were portrayed as out of touch, including a video he posted of himself shopping at a local supermarket for ingredients for "crudités", getting the name of the store wrong, and complaining about the price. He also came under fire after reports surfaced about the excessive abuse of dogs in a medical research laboratory he ran at Columbia University.
Fetterman, meanwhile, faced his own challenges on the campaign trail after suffering a stroke during the primary that temporarily impaired his auditory processing and made it difficult for him to participate in the Senate debate — although Oz's campaign created further problems for itself after one of his aides publicly mocked Fetterman's health, saying he's be fine if he "had ever eaten a vegetable in his life."
