Pennsylvania Senate candidate Kathy Barnette is raking in "big money from never-Trump groups" who would rather win an argument than do what's best for the Republican Party, Dr. Mehmet Oz said of his rival candidate in a Newsmax interview Thursday.
"People just do not like President [Donald] Trump's endorsement of anybody, myself included, and they've been coming at me hard, but now they've supported Kathy in an effort to undermine my candidacy," Oz said on Newsmax's "John Bachman Now." "They're wrong to do it. They're sacrificing our party to win an argument. We need to keep this seat, and I'm clearly the best person to accomplish that."
His comments come as Trump has warned Pennsylvania Republicans against voting for Barnette, who is enjoying a last-minute surge as the state's primary approaches this coming Tuesday, reports The Hill.
Trump raised questions about Barnette's military record and many of her past statements. She is in a statistical deadlock with Oz and former hedge fund manager Dave McCormick in the race, after receiving several major endorsements and ad buys, including from the Club for Growth and the anti-abortion Susan B. Anthony List.
Oz pointed out that Barnette has made comments in support of Black Lives Matter and others "attacking the founder of our country, George Washington, and she attacked President Trump as well."
"She said lots of things [that] are going to be very difficult for her to walk back with Republican primary voters, and I got to say part of the reason that she [is] surging is they've got a lot of big money from never-Trump groups."
Barnette has also questioned Oz's pro-life stance, including in a recent candidates' debate, but Oz told Newsmax that "folks in Pennsylvania are smart."
"They understand there was $35 million of attack ads on me again, all from outside the state, primarily part of that Washington revolving door with Wall Street," he said. "They see through it but it absolutely leaves a scar because people are going to believe some of the stuff they hear."
He insisted that he is "strongly pro-life" and believes that life starts at conception.
Oz also pointed out that he's strongly supportive of the Second Amendment, another attack that has come up.
"The NRA gave me their highest grade for a non-elected official," said Oz. "Ted Nugent just texted me. He'd already endorsed me a while back to make sure people knew that I was supportive of every constitutional effort to support guns because it's written there, right there on the Second Amendment; it is there to protect the other amendments. Every law-abiding American citizen should be allowed to buy and own a gun of their choice."
Oz, meanwhile, called it "very concerning" that there are shortages of baby formula being reported nationwide.
"It's preposterous that here we are, you know, in a in a very evolved time in our history, and we are rationing baby formula," he said. "It makes no sense. It's like [what] we're experiencing here in Pennsylvania, where we have energy prices skyrocketing, yet we have it right here beneath our feet ... Washington's getting it wrong, and it starts with putting the right people there."
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Sandy Fitzgerald ✉
Sandy Fitzgerald has more than three decades in journalism and serves as a general assignment writer for Newsmax covering news, media, and politics.
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