Former President Donald Trump is backing a New Jerseyan for the Republican nomination for U.S. Senate in Pennsylvania
Trump endorsed Dr. Mehmet Oz, a Cliffside Park resident, for an open Senate seat.
“I have known Dr. Oz for many years, as have many others, even if only through his very successful television show. He has lived with us through the screen and has always been popular, respected, and smart.,” Trump said. “He even said that I was in extraordinary health, which made me like him even more — although he also said I should lose a couple of pounds.”
This is Trump’s first early endorsement of a U.S. Senate candidate from New Jersey. In 2018, he didn’t endorse Bob Hugin until Election Day and never endorsed Rik Mehta in his run against Cory Booker in 2020.
Oz voted in New Jersey as recently as November 2020 and his voter registration remains active in the state, although the Philadelphia Inquirer reported that he registered to vote from his in-laws’ address in Bryn Athyn, Pennsylvania last year.
Overall, Oz has been a relatively consistent voter in New Jersey’s general elections, voting in all but five of the state’s 21 general elections since 2000. He skipped voting in 2002, 2003, 2007, 2009, and 2017, meaning that he missed 2002’s highly competitive U.S. Senate election and two of the last three gubernatorial elections.
Out of the 22 Republican primaries the state has held since the turn of the millennium, however, Oz only voted in three: the 2008 presidential primary, 2009, and 2016
The incumbent, Republican Patrick Toomey, is not seeking re-election.
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