PHILADELPHIA — In his U.S. Senate primary campaign, Republican Mehmet Oz clung close to former President Donald Trump, wielding his endorsement to help sway Republican voters.The surrogates, and locations, point to a political reality that Oz and nearly every Pennsylvania Republican faces: Trump’s voter base, on its own, almost certainly isn’t enough to win statewide.
But after rallying again with Trump Saturday in Northeastern Pennsylvania, Oz this week has featured a different brand of allies. In Philadelphia Tuesday, he was joined by Sen. Pat Toomey, a fiscal conservative who broke with Trump after the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol riot. In Delaware County Thursday, he brought in Nikki Haley, the former South Carolina governor and Trump’s ambassador to the United Nations. And this Saturday, he’ll rally in Bucks County with help from Sen. John Kennedy, a wise-cracking Louisianan.
Instead, Republicans hoping to overcome Democrats’ shrinking — but still notable — voter registration edge need to hold a substantial portion of Trump voters while also showing some strength in the moderate, suburban areas that have swung hard against the GOP since his 2016 election.
