Dr. Mehmet Oz — the Republican nominee for Pennsylvania’s Senate race — ditched all branding related to former President Donald Trump, whose endorsement helped catapult him to success in the primary election.
David McCormick, a former hedge fund executive and Bush administration official, conceded the tight primary race to Oz, a television host and cardiologist, earlier this month after a mandatory recount began to show Oz emerging victorious.
According to a Tuesday report from Axios, Trump was a “near-ubiquitous fixture” in the Oz campaign’s advertisements, with a series of issue-centered videos about gun rights, abortion, and energy beginning with the phrase “endorsed by President Trump.” On social media, Oz’s cover photo was a banner image of himself alongside Trump, his Twitter account “mentioned Trump more than 70 times,” and his team ran Trump-centered ads on Google and Facebook.
However, according to Axios, Oz has not mentioned Trump on Twitter since May 17 — the day of the Republican primary. The cover photo now says, “Thank you, Pennsylvania” on a solo photo of the candidate, and the website no longer features a pop-up fundraiser window featuring Trump. Oz has also reportedly stopped running the Trump ads on Google and Facebook.
