From Spotlight PA

David McCormick has conceded Pennsylvania’s GOP U.S. Senate primary to Mehmet Oz, the bow-out coming with an automatic recount well underway and McCormick gaining few votes in the process.

McCormick’s withdrawal, announced in a speech to supporters on Friday, means the Trump-endorsed Oz will face Democratic nominee and current Lt. Gov. John Fetterman in November.

The GOP quickly launched an attack ad, fact-checked by Politico here, that says Fetterman “sided with socialists, backed a government takeover of health care” and “embraced parts of the Green New Deal.”

Democrats, meanwhile, are tying Oz to former President Donald Trump and casting his campaign as yet another act of celebrity self-promotion. 

Among the biggest wildcards in the race: Fetterman’s health. On Friday, he revealed he had ignored doctor’s orders for years — leading up to a stroke that sidelined his primary campaign last month — and “almost died.”

THE CONTEXT: In a letter shared with news outlets, Fetterman’s cardiologist, Ramesh R. Chandra, revealed a previously undisclosed cardiomyopathy diagnosis, the reason doctors implanted a pacemaker with a defibrillator into Fetterman’s heart after his stroke. 

Chandra said Fetterman did not follow doctor’s orders after a 2017 appointment but should be able to campaign and serve in the U.S. Senate if he follows those orders from here on out.

The U.S. Senate seat is a must-win for Democrats and rated the most likely in the nation to flip despite strong midterm headwinds for the party.

The outcome will help decide partisan control of the chamber — and with it the potential future of federal policy around health care, abortion, guns, taxes, the U.S. Supreme Court, and other pivotal issues.

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