John Fetterman beat Mehmet Oz in Pennsylvania’s Senate race Tuesday evening, marking a crucial victory for the Democratic party in one of the nation’s battleground states.
“It’s official. I will be the next U.S. Senator from Pennsylvania,” Fetterman tweeted. “We bet on the people of Pennsylvania – and you didn’t let us down. And I won’t let you down. Thank you.”
The Pennsylvania Lt. Governor will assume his position as Senator after serving as the mayor for Braddock, PA — a term that he carries with him through nine dates tattooed on his right forearm, which each one representing a date on which “someone died violently” during his term as mayor.
“I’m just so proud of the race that we ran,” Fetterman said in the moments following his projected win. “T campaign has been about fighting for everyone who’s ever been got knocked down that ever got back up.”
The highly anticipated race has been fiercely fought by Fetterman and Oz, whose back-and-forth sparring on social media captured the attention of many since the spring — with many jabs hinging upon Oz’s Pennsylvania candidacy.
In May, Fetterman suffered a stroke that forced him to cut back on public appearances while he recovered, and left lingering auditory processing issues that have prompted the Lt. Governor to a use closed captioning device during recent in-person interviews and appearances.
Ahead of the election, Oprah, who made Dr. Oz a household name by hosting him numerous times for five seasons on “The Oprah Winfrey Show,” endorsed her protégé’s opponent. Though Winfrey had previously refrained from offering an opinion on Oz running for office — saying in Dec. 2021 that it was “up to the residents of Pennsylvania to decide who will represent them” — she took a stronger stance to support Fetterman.
“I said it was up to the citizens of Pennsylvania,” she said as she hosted “A Virtual Voting Conversation.” “But I will tell you all this, if I lived in Pennsylvania, I would have already cast my vote for John Fetterman for many reasons.”
