PITTSBURGH — In a race defined by the authenticity of two vastly different candidates, Republican U.S. Senate contender Mehmet Oz, deemed an out-of-touch millionaire by his eager critics, is leaning into his own story to audiences across the state, warning that the American dream that propelled him to a long career is much harder to achieve today.
In an interview with the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette late last week en route to a fundraiser with Sen. Pat Toomey, Oz, the cardiothoracic surgeon and longtime TV celebrity who is facing Democrat John Fetterman in the November election, hit back against one of the most oft-repeated narratives in the race: that he's so exorbitantly wealthy that he cannot possibly understand the plight of everyday Pennsylvanians.
Like he does often on the trail, Oz said his father was born on a dirt floor and immigrated to this country, where the younger Oz lived the American dream. Work hard and help your fellow Americans and you'll succeed, he recalled. His upbringing, he said, was fundamentally important in his medical practice and in his "appreciation of how challenging it is to thrive in America" today.
