Celebrity doctor and pyramid scheme pitchman Mehmet Oz is likely to join Pennsylvania’s US Senate race, The Philadelphia Inquirer reports. Pennsylvania Republicans told the paper that Dr. Oz has already contacted top campaign aides and is ready to spend his diet pill money to win the race.
With Republican Senator Pat Toomey not seeking reelection, the Pennsylvania Senate seat is one of the country’s most critical races in deciding control of the Senate. Republican firebrand Sean Parnell was an early, Trump-backed frontrunner, but he recently suspended his campaign following accusations of domestic abuse from his estranged wife. Parnell left the race wide open between a sea of conservative candidates.
Dr. Oz could announce his candidacy as soon as this week. In anticipation, the longtime New Jersey resident recently switched his home address to Montgomery County, Pennsylvania, where his in-laws reside. Meanwhile, TMZ reports that he has made a multi-million dollar media buy that will be used to announce the launch of his campaign.
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A trained cardiothoracic surgeon, Dr. Oz first rose to fame as a regular guest on Oprah Winfrey’s talk show in the 2000s. He began hosting his own show in 2009, where he regularly promotes tips for living longer and losing weight that other physicians denounced as pseudoscience. His show was also the place where Donald Trump chose to disclose his “medical records” ahead of his own presidential run in 2016.
In 2020, Trump appointed Dr. Oz to sit on the President’s Council on Sports, Fitness, and Nutrition, and during the height of the pandemic, the good doctor regularly appeared on Fox News to tout the anti-malarial treatment hydroxychloroquine as an alternative treatment to COVID-19 (it is in fact not).
While Dr. Oz is intent on pursuing a career in politics, another notable celebrity candidacy ended before it even began. Yesterday, actor Matthew McConaughey announced he would not run for governor of Texas in 2022.
