Donald Trump (left), Dr. Oz.Photo: MANDEL NGAN/AFP via Getty; Noel Vasquez/Getty
Despite Pennsylvania’s GOP Senate primary being too close to call, former PresidentDonald Trumpthinks Dr.Mehmet Ozshould go ahead and declare himself the winner.
“Dr. Oz should declare victory,” Trump wrote on his new social media platform Truth Social, echoing his own statement in the 2020 presidential election when he said, “Frankly, we did win,” before the vote counting was complete.
Trump’s remark came as Oz and his political opponent, former hedge fund manager David McCormick, are virtually tied in Pennsylvania’s Republican primary election for the U.S. Senate that’s still too close to call.
By Thursday morning, Oz had 416,785 votes and McCormick had 415,544 of 1.3 million votes counted, adifference of about 0.1 percent, which is close enough to trigger a statewide recount,the AP reports.
Both candidates appeared before supporters at election night rallies and acknowledged there will be a wait before either is declared the winner, who’ll then face the Democrat nominee, Lt. Gov.John Fetterman, in November.
“We’re not going to have resolution tonight,” McCormick said, according to the AP.
Oz expressed a similar sentiment but added, “When all the votes are counted, we will win,“according to CNN, and vowed to Trump: “I will make you proud.”
Trump endorsed the celebrity doctorin April, saying at the time he had “known Dr. Oz for many years, as have many others, even if only through his very successful television show. He has lived with us through the screen and has always been popular, respected and smart.”
MANDEL NGAN/AFP/Getty
As with the 2020 presidential election, Trump made a baseless accusation of fraud unfolding in Pennsylvania’s GOP primary.
“It makes it much harder for them to cheat with the ballots that they ‘just happened to find,” Trump also wrote Wednesday,according to Insider.
Since leaving the White House, Trump has continued making unfounded claims of victory in the 2020 presidential election, thoughJoe Bidenwon both the electoral and popular votes and has been in the White House for almost 500 days.
Despite Trump’s baseless allegations of wrongdoing, officials in nearly every state, including both Democrats and Republicans, have foundno evidence of widespread voter fraudin the election.
Likewise, there is no evidence of fraud in Pennsylvania’s GOP primary.
There are reportedly tens of thousands of votes that still need to be counted in Pennsylvania, including at least 22,000 mail ballots and an unknown number that were cast on Tuesday, according to the AP, which also reports that Oz has given no indication he intends to declare a premature victory.
source: people.com
