Mehmet Oz is underperforming Trump in some of Pennsylvania in early returns
- Mehmet Oz is underperforming Trump in some rural Pennsylvania counties.
- Oz's struggles are notable since even Trump's higher numbers were not enough to win the state.
Pennsylvania Republican Senate nominee Mehmet Oz is underperforming some of former President Donald Trump's 2020 numbers in a few counties where most of the vote is in, a concerning sign given that Trump lost the state by just over 80,000 votes.
"This is Western Pennsylvania, small county ... but again Trump ran up huge numbers in Western Pennsylvania. Mehmet Oz is going to win Clarion County overwhelmingly but it's five points less than Trump got," MSNBC's Steve Kornacki said as he ticked off results across the Keystone State.
Kornacki pointed out that Oz is underperforming compared to Trump elsewhere too. In Bedford County, a rural county near the Maryland border, Oz received 80.7% of the vote compared to Lt. Gov. John Fetterman's 17%. But Oz's commanding performance is still not enough to match Trump's mark of 83.5%.
If Oz struggles across rural Pennsylvania, he'll have to make up his margin elsewhere. Under Trump, Republicans have found ways to boost their turnout in rural America — sometimes to the point of offsetting struggles in suburban America. Unlike Oz, Fetterman has the experience of having run and won a statewide race before. The lieutenant governor has also tried to cast Oz as an outsider, a New Jerseyan who has more in common with Hollywood, while Oz has tried to gain ground in the suburban areas by trying to portray himself as a centrist.
The race is one of the closest-watched Senate contests in the country. If Fetterman pulls off a victory, Republican hopes of retaking the majority would become severely imperiled.
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