Oz left the Oprah show after five years and 55 episodes to start his own television program, The Dr. Oz Show, which ran for 13 seasons before moving from New Jersey to Pennsylvania to run for the Senate. Until now, Winfrey had said she would leave the election up to Pennsylvanians, but she changed that position in an online discussion about voting in next Tuesday’s election. “I said it’s up to the people of Pennsylvania and of course, but I’ll tell you all this, if I lived in Pennsylvania, I would have already voted for John Fetterman for a number of reasons,” Winfrey said, before continuing. to urge listeners to vote for Democrats running for governor and Senate in various states. She did not mention Oz by name during the mock event held with the OWN Vote coalition, an initiative launched two years ago to encourage and provide resources for the electoral process to black women. Winfrey has previously campaigned for candidates including former President Barack Obama, as well as Georgia gubernatorial candidate Stacey Abrams. During the pandemic-hit 2020 campaign, he participated in a mock event for Joe Biden. Front Burner22:42 How middlemen could shape US policy for years On Tuesday, the US holds its midterm elections. That means all 435 seats in the House of Representatives are up for grabs, as are about a third of the Senate seats. These in-betweens are important. It’s the first major election since Joe Biden became president, since rioters stormed the Capitol, and since Roe v. Wade was overturned. The results could influence American politics for years to come. Today, CBC Washington correspondent Paul Hunter talks about some of the tight games and what makes them so consistent.
Trump backs Oz
The Pennsylvania Senate seat is considered one of the key races to determine control of the House, which is currently 50-50 but is controlled by Democrats because of Vice President Kamala Harris’ vote to break any ties. Polls now show a close race between Fetterman and Oz, a celebrity heart surgeon backed by former President Donald Trump. WELCOME TO https://t.co/ZSYnEiNTZz —@JohnFetterman In a sign of how high the stakes are, Trump will return to Pennsylvania on Saturday to campaign for Oz, while President Biden as well as Obama will campaign for Fetterman on the same day. The two candidates had their only debate last week. Fetterman, who is recovering from a stroke suffered in the spring, used captions posted over the moderator to help him process the words he was hearing, leading to occasional awkward pauses and struggles to communicate. Oz also stumbled at times. Fetterman’s campaign and national Democratic groups have since poured money into television ads featuring a clip of Oz speaking, in which he says, “I want women, doctors, local political leaders” to decide the fate of a woman’s right to an abortion. The seat is being vacated by retiring Republican Sen. Pat Toomey. According to a recap on her website of the virtual event, Winfrey also endorsed Democratic Senate candidates Mandela Barnes (Wis.), Cheri Beasley (North Carolina), Catherine Cortez Masto (Nevada) and Val Demings (Florida), as well as Abrams and Beto. O’Rourke in their gubernatorial bids in Georgia and Texas, respectively.
