The aftermath of the 2020 presidential election was contentious. Whether a Republican sided with former President Donald Trump or not has become a major issue ever since.
Dr. Mehmet Oz, the television doctor turned GOP Senate candidate for Pennsylvania, said he "would not have objected to" certifying the Electoral College votes had he been a Senator at the time, the Washington Examiner reported. However, Oz said he would not have voted in favor of Trump's impeachment.
"I would not have voted in favor of impeaching President Trump," Oz told an NBC reporter at a Philadelphia press conference Tuesday. He was appearing with retiring Sen. Pat Toomey (R-PA), whose seat Oz is vying for against Democratic candidate Lt. Gov. John Fetterman.
"I think the president was already leaving office by then," Oz added. Toomey had voted to impeach Trump in the aftermath of the Jan. 6 riot at the U.S. Capitol and blamed his assertions about the election for the dustup.
While Oz stopped short of siding with Toomey on the impeachment, his opinion on certifying the results broke from Trump and his loyalists who believed the election was stolen and should've been contested. Trump had endorsed Oz in the Pennsylvania primary.
Oz's candidacy has been rocky ever since his narrow victory. The editorial page of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette accused Oz of "ragging the race deeper and deeper into the muck" because he raised concerns about the effects of Fetterman's stroke that happened during the primaries.
However, even his critics contend that Fetterman's new limitations are cause for concern. "If Mr. Fetterman is not well enough to debate his opponent, that raises serious concerns about his ability to serve as a United States senator," the editorial said.
Oz is not the most promising Republican candidate, but he's certainly better than the Democratic alternative. Perhaps it's time for others to move away from fighting Trump's fight in the media and instead focus on hitting back where it hurts the most: at the ballot box.