McCormick Prospects Advance as Mastriano Declines Pennsylvania Senate Run

Pennsylvania state Senator Doug Mastriano’s Thursday announcement he won’t seek the Republican nomination to challenge Democratic U.S. Senator Bob Casey next year vastly boosts potential GOP hopeful Dave McCormick’s prospects. 

“I know this will be disappointing for some,” Mastriano said of his decision in a Facebook Live broadcast. “At this moment, the way things are, I am not running for the U.S. Senate seat that is going to be vacated by Casey. We need to beat him.”

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Oz Pennsylvania Senate Campaign Blasts Fetterman for Hiring Two Convicted Murderers

Pennsylvania Republican Senate candidate Mehmet Oz’s campaign on Thursday excoriated his opponent, Democratic Lieutenant Governor John Fetterman, for bringing on two convicted murderers as campaign staffers. 

The celebrity surgeon and the National Republican Senate Committee cited Federal Election Commission filings indicating the lieutenant governor’s campaign employs Lee and Dennis Horton, who were both convicted of second-degree murder in 1993, having been found to have aided Robert Leaf in a theft-related killing of a man before fleeing the scene. 

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Cook Report Signals Trouble for Oz, Though Fetterman’s Had a Rough Return to the Campaign Trail

The Cook Political Report this week changed its description of the Pennsylvania Senate race from “toss up” to “lean Democrat,” signaling trouble for Republican candidate Mehmet Oz, even as Democrat John Fetterman struggles with his return to the campaign trail. 

Cook’s shifting outlook on the Senate contest is partly a response to figures on the FiveThirtyEight data-analysis website showing that Oz, a celebrity doctor, trails Fetterman, the lieutenant governor, by an average of 11.5 percentage points. 

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Fetterman’s Anti-Fracking History a Vulnerability in Pennsylvania Senate Race

John Fetterman handily won campaigns for mayor of heavily Democratic Braddock, PA in the 2000s and 2010s and won two statewide Pennsylvania primaries, one for lieutenant governor in 2018 and another for U.S. senator this year. His history of opposing hydraulic fracturing (or “fracking” to extract natural gas didn’t burden him in those races. 

But now the Democratic lieutenant governor faces a general election for U.S. Senate against Republican celebrity surgeon Mehmet Oz. And although Fetterman now says he does not support prohibiting fracking, his past support for a fracking ban promises to complicate his appeal to working Keystone Staters on whose livelihoods fossil-fuel development depends. 

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Barnette Hints at Potential Endorsement of Pennsylvania GOP Senate Nominee Oz

Kathy Barnette, a Republican former U.S. Senate candidate from Pennsylvania, hinted on Monday at possibly supporting primary winner Mehmet Oz, something she previously refused to do. 

An Army Reserve veteran, political commentator and former adjunct finance professor who lives in Huntingdon Valley — a Montgomery County town neighboring Bryn Athyn where Oz lives — Barnette earlier balked at voting for the celebrity surgeon. On Primary Election Day, May 17, the eventual third-place finisher declared she had “no intentions of supporting globalists,” referring to Oz and fellow top-tier candidate Dave McCormick.

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Pennsylvania Lieutenant Governor Fetterman Was Diagnosed with Heart Irregularities in 2017

Pennsylvania Lt. Gov. John Fetterman (D), a candidate for U.S. Senate, released a statement Friday indicating serious unaddressed health problems preceded the stroke he suffered in the days leading up to the May 17 primary.

Fetterman called the heart clot which caused the stroke “preventable,” as he recalled he should have heeded medical advice following a visit to University of Pittsburgh Medical Center East in 2017. He went to the hospital to have this then-swollen feet examined. After assessing Fetterman’s foot condition and vital signs cardiologist Ramesh R. Chandra diagnosed him with an irregular heartbeat, atrial fibrillation (which means the heart’s upper chambers beat inconsistently with the lower chambers) and a decreased heart pump.

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Pennsylvania Senate Nomination Could Hinge upon Mail-In Ballot Decision

The determination of Pennsylvania’s unsettled Republican Senate nomination battle between Mehmet Oz and Dave McCormick could depend on a federal court decision regarding undated mail-in ballots.

As of Sunday afternoon, Oz held 418,535 votes to McCormick’s 417,465, putting the former ahead by far less than the 0.5 percent maximum gap that triggers an automatic recount. While over 99 percent of all ballots cast in the election have been counted, an ongoing dispute about whether undated absentee ballots should be deemed valid has the potential to erase Oz’s lead.

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New Trafalgar Poll: Barnette Reaches Second in Pennsylvania Senate Race

A new poll shows the GOP primary race for U.S. Senate from Pennsylvania continues to be tight, but with Kathy Barnette now inching ahead of David McCormick to reach second place behind Mehmet Oz.

Barnette, an army veteran and political commentator, is polling at 23.2 percent. Oz, the celebrity surgeon, received 24.5 percent and former hedge-fund executive McCormick got 21.6 percent.

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Mastriano and McSwain Tie for First in Pennsylvania Leadership Conference Gubernatorial Straw Poll; Barnette Wins Senate Poll and Schillinger Takes First for Lieutenant Governor

William McSwain and Doug Mastriano

  HARRISBURG, Pennsylvania— In a straw poll of conservative activists from across Pennsylvania last weekend, Kathy Barnette, Doug Mastriano, Bill McSwain and Clarice Schillinger finished ahead for the statewide offices they’re seeking. About half of the nearly 800 attendees from all around the Keystone State (and a few from nearby states) participated in the annual survey at the Pennsylvania Leadership Conference (PLC) in Camp Hill, just across the river from Harrisburg. Information-technology expert Scott R. Davis oversaw the survey and discussed the results with attendees Saturday afternoon. Barnette, a veteran and political commentator, earned 35 percent of votes cast for that office at the gathering throughout Friday and Saturday. Her fellow Montgomery Countian, real-estate developer Jeff Bartos, came in second with 17.8 percent. Former Ambassador Carla Sands and former hedge-fund executive David McCormick both received roughly 14 percent and celebrity surgeon Mehmet Oz got 12 percent.  “I did have the opportunity to listen to the majority of the [GOP] Senate candidates,” Davis said, “and I will echo what I heard before I stepped on the stage. And each and every one of these candidates is going to be better than the candidate the other side puts up.”  Pennsylvania will hold…

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Former Trump-Endorsed Candidate Sean Parnell Backs Dave McCormick in GOP Senate Race

Sean Parnell, a former candidate for U.S. Senate who was endorsed by former President Donald Trump, backed recently-declared candidate Dave McCormick in the same race.

McCormick will take on former lieutenant governor contender Jeff Bartos, political commentator Kathy Barnette, former ambassador to Denmark Carla Sands, and cardiac surgeon Mehmet Oz, and multiple other candidates.

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