Democrats highlight contentious Pennsylvania Senate primary ahead of Oz, McCormick reunion

The Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee (DSCC) is launching a mobile billboard around Pittsburgh reminding voters of the contentious GOP Senate primary in Pennsylvania as Republican nominee Mehmet Oz and former candidate David McCormick reunite for an event on Wednesday. 

The billboard, which was first seen by The Hill, highlights McCormick’s criticisms of Oz during the primary earlier this year. 

“Has flip-flopped on every major issue we’re talking about in the campaign,” reads one McCormick quote hitting Oz. 

Another quote says Oz has been “part of the Hollywood machine for decades,” while another calls Oz a “phony” and accuses him of having “absolutely no credibility.” 

 “As Oz and McCormick hold an event together, we’re happy to remind Pennsylvanians how McCormick really feels, in his own words,” DSCC spokesperson Patrick Burgwinkle told The Hill. 

Oz and McCormick are set to appear alongside each other for a national security panel near Pittsburgh hosted by Trump-era State Department spokesperson Morgan Ortagus. While the event is not a campaign event, it marks their first appearance together since the contentious primary earlier this year. 

The intraparty contest was marked by a myriad of attacks from the two Republicans. McCormick ended up losing to the celebrity doctor by less than 1,000 votes after a recount took place. 

“It’s now clear to me with the recount now largely complete that we have a nominee,” McCormick said when he conceded in June. “Tonight is really about all us coming together.”

The ad marks one of the latest to be launched amid the war of words between the two camps. On Wednesday, a political committee supporting Oz rolled out a 30-second ad geared toward Black voters highlighting a 2013 incident in which Democratic Senate candidate John Fetterman pulled a gun on a Black jogger he mistakenly thought committed a crime.

In a statement to The Hill responding to the billboard, the National Republican Senatorial Campaign Committee cited the new ad from the pro-Oz group.

“There’s an ad right now about Fetterman chasing an unarmed black man with a gun, which his Democrat opponents have said was a terrible incident, and you guys are covering a DSCC billboard?” the NRSC said in a statement. “While Fetterman stumbles through his manufactured 3-4 minute speeches once a week, Oz is coalescing the Republican Party around him heading to November. You are going to hear McCormick talk today about how critical it is to win this seat.”

Pennsylvania’s Senate race is gearing up to be one of the most closely watched races of the midterms. Recent polling shows Fetterman leading Oz. The nonpartisan Cook Political Report recently moved the race’s rating from a “toss-up” to “lean Democratic.” 

Updated at 9:35 a.m