Pennsylvania
Is Dr. Oz Going To Make The Pennsylvania Senate Race About Marijuana?
Although it’s nonetheless unclear whether or not movie star tv physician Mehmet Oz or former hedge-fund CEO David McCormick would be the Republican nominee on this fall’s U.S. Senate race in Pennsylvania — within the ongoing recount, Oz held onto a lead of lower than 1,000 votes as of Tuesday morning — neither man has stop the marketing campaign path.
Just some days after the first, the Donald Trump-endorsed Oz tried to stake out a place which may separate him from his presumptive opponent, John Fetterman, the state’s Democratic lieutenant governor.
If Fetterman helps legalizing marijuana—and he positively does—that’s one thing Oz opposes, as he advised Newsmax’s Greg Kelly.
NEWTOWN, PA – MAY 17: Republican U.S. Senate candidate Mehmet Oz greets supporters after the … [+]
Getty Photos
“You realize, there are usually not sufficient Pennsylvanians to work in Pennsylvania, so giving them pot in order that they keep house is just not, I don’t assume, a perfect transfer,” mentioned Oz, who added that marijuana could also be a “hindrance” to giving Pennsylvanians again their “mojo.”
Oz’s marketing campaign didn’t reply to requests for remark. However taking the deserves of his assertion apart, as political technique, selecting to attract a line at marijuana legalization is questionable.
In response to some observers, utilizing hashish as a culture-war wedge problem — one thing Trump by no means did — in a state the place Republican lawmakers are backing legalization and the place polling has revealed as much as 60 p.c help for legalization amongst voters is an unforced error. It might additionally become a large present to Fetterman, a longtime legalization advocate whom Politico described as perhaps the nation’s “most outspoken pro-weed politician.”
“Oz is certainly attempting to distinguish himself within the election, and I believe it reveals how out-of-touch he’s with Pennsylvania voters,” said Chris Goldstein, a regional organizer with the Nationwide Group for the Reform of Marijuana Legal guidelines (NORML) energetic in Pennsylvania.
“His assertion to this point is just not going to win over a majority of Republican voters—that’s going to show them proper to Fetterman,” Goldstein mentioned. “Actually, Fetterman has to spend much less [on campaigning] with Oz making these statements.”
“It’s like he’s campaigning for Fetterman.”
LEMONT FURNACE, PENNSYLVANIA – MAY 10: Pennsylvania Lt. Gov. John Fetterman campaigns for U.S. … [+]
Getty Photos
Although Pennsylvania’s Democratic Gov. Tom Wolf has been thwarted in efforts to legalize hashish to this point, he has help from some state Republicans. These embrace state Sen. Mike Regan, a former law-enforcement officer, who chaired hearings in Harrisburg earlier this spring exploring legalization.
Final fall, a Franklin & Marshall School ballot of 522 registered voters revealed 60 p.c help for legalization, the very best stage of help because the query was first requested in 2006.
Different polls are much less sanguine. A March ballot performed by WHTM, Emerson School, and the Hill confirmed solely 48.5 p.c of voters supporting legalization, with 35.9 p.c opposed. Nonetheless, that very same ballot discovered 15 p.c of respondents have been nonetheless undecided—and, a majority of unbiased voters are in favor of legalization.
HARRISBURG, PENNSYLVANIA, UNITED STATES – 2021/01/14: Flags grasp from the balcony outdoors of … [+]
SOPA Photos/LightRocket by way of Getty Photos
Fetterman’s marketing campaign didn’t reply to a request for remark. But when Oz does proceed to beat an anti-weed drum, it will make the retired coronary heart surgeon an outlier amongst outstanding Republicans.
“Oz is outdoors the Pennsylvania Republican Social gathering for positive… however this additionally reveals how he’s out of contact with among the Trump loyalist base,” added Goldstein, who name-dropped controversial former Trump advisor Roger Stone, Florida U.S. Rep. Matt Gaetz, and former Home Speaker John Boehner as simply three outstanding Republicans who endorse legalization.
As a matter of coverage, hashish could also be a fait accompli in Pennsylvania, the place medical hashish has been accessible in dispensaries since 2018. No state has ever un-legalized medical marijuana, which is normally adopted a number of years later by leisure hashish. Whereas it’s true that hashish is a low precedence for many voters, it’s nonetheless a usually in style coverage place.
So what’s Oz doing? He could also be considering on his ft, arising with methods to hit Fetterman which might be a departure from digs at his sartorial selections. But when he retains it up, he could remorse it.
“I believe clearly any Republican dealing with Fetterman in November should deal with hashish,” Goldstein added. “The query for them is, will they let Republican hashish customers vote for a Democrat as a result of they don’t have anything higher to supply?”
 "Trump to hold rally in Erie as Pennsylvania becomes key 2024 battleground")
Of the seven competitive states that both Trump and Vice President Kamala Harris, his Democratic rival, have a realistic shot at winning, Pennsylvania is the most populous and awards the most votes in the Electoral College, which in turn is used to select the overall winner of the election.
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Donald Trump, the Republican presidential candidate is set to hold a rally in Pennsylvania today, his fourth campaign stop in the state this month. Erie, located in the northwest corner of Pennsylvania, will host the former president at 2 pm local time.
This rally comes one month after his running mate, US Senator JD Vance held a similar event in the same city. Trump has another rally scheduled in western Pennsylvania for October 5.
Pennsylvania has emerged as a crucial battleground state in the 2024 election, with many of Trump’s allies considering it the most important state to win. The state’s significance stems from its large population and the substantial number of electoral votes it awards, making it a critical factor in determining the overall winner of the election.
In fact, among the seven competitive states that both Trump and Vice President Kamala Harris have a realistic chance of winning, Pennsylvania stands out as the most populous and electorally valuable.
Trump allies broadly believe that if the former president beats Harris there, he is likely to return to the White House. But if Trump loses to Harris in Pennsylvania, the vice president has the inside track, in their opinion.
In a reflection of the stakes, Harris and Trump have spent hundreds of millions of dollars on ads in Pennsylvania in the months before the election, more than any other state in both gross and per capita terms.
Erie, the site of Trump’s rally, is a battleground inside a battleground. Erie County is one of two Pennsylvania counties that favored Trump in the 2016 election against Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton before favoring President Joe Biden against Trump in 2020.
Trump narrowly won the state and the election overall in 2016, before losing both in 2020.
This time around, Pennsylvania is again competitive, according to surveys. Harris leads Trump by 1.6 percentage points in the state, according to an average of polls maintained by polling and analysis website FiveThirtyEight. That difference is well within almost all polls’ margin of error.
Trump’s next rally in Pennsylvania, on Oct. 5, will take place in Butler, about 100 miles (160 km) south of Erie. That town was the site of a failed assassination attempt on Trump in July. A bullet grazed the former president’s ear.
With inputs from agencies.
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