It’s an emerging theme in Pennsylvania’s costly and nasty GOP U.S. Senate primary: out-of-state frontrunners Mehmet Oz and David McCormick keep getting called out for campaign rhetoric that doesn’t line up with their actual records.
Here are two new examples from the past week:
- Last week, WESA reported that McCormick is misrepresenting and exaggerating his record on “job creation” in a way that would “give false impression” to voters. After the article was posted, McCormick was forced to change claims posted on his website. Elsewhere on the campaign trail, McCormick has claimed that he never outsourced jobs, even though he used to brag about his outsourcing experience.
- Over the weekend, CNN highlighted Oz’s record of promoting health care access and defending Obamacare and provisions that help to ensure every American has health care coverage. Since running for Senate, Oz has sought to shore up his conservative credentials — and his campaign told CNN he now opposes Obamacare — suggesting and alignment with Senate Republicans like Ron Johnson, who are still calling for Republicans to repeal Obamacare, a move that would gut coverage protections and regulations on insurance companies while driving up costs for consumers.
Oz and McCormick’s campaign trail rhetoric has repeatedly been exposed as effectively fraudulent and at odds with their respective records.
Campaigning for Senate, Oz has talked tough on economic nationalism and challenging Big Pharma, but taken flak for previously producing his licensed products overseas and for taking millions from Big Pharma. And he’s faced criticism for his past support for abortion rights on health and humanitarian grounds, but since running for Senate firmly said he’s anti-abortion and supports the Supreme Court overturning Roe.
And McCormick has faced scrutiny for trying to complete a “MAGA Makeover.” He now claims he would put American workers first if elected, but he opposes Buy American requirements to support American workers and manufacturers. And he has a long record of praising and doing business with China — something that he’s now simply trying to pretend never happened.
Published: Mar 14, 2022 | Last Modified: Mar 22, 2022