Democratic U.S. Senate candidate John Fetterman speaks during a rally in Erie, Pennsylvania, August 12, 2022.
Quinn Glabicki | Reuters
Democratic Governor John Fetterman of Pennsylvania will defeat Republican Dr. Mehmet Oz in a pivotal race for the Senate that could prove a decisive blow in the the battle for control of the upper house of CongressNBC News projects.
With 90% of the votes counted, Fetterman leads Oz 49.4% to 48.1%, a difference of about 66,000 votes, according to NBC.
Fetterman will successfully step down from GOP Senator Pat Toomey, transferring the Republican-held Senate seat to Democrats.
Democrats, who hold the slimmest Senate majority possible heading into Election Day, are considering flipping seats in the key swing state, where the President Joe Biden beat the former president Donald Trump two years earlier.
The ruling is expected to deal another blow to Trump, who backed Oz in a fraught GOP primaries and has campaigned for him in general.
“It’s official. I will be the next US Senator from Pennsylvania,” Fetterman tweeted early Wednesday morning.
“We bet on the people of Pennsylvania – and you didn’t let us down,” Fetterman’s tweet said.
An Oz spokesperson did not immediately respond to CNBC’s request for comment on NBC’s projections.
Oz, a famous doctor who invested millions of dollars of his own money in his first campaign for elected office, pursued Fetterman in the polls throughout the race – even after a The stroke took the Democratic candidate off the beaten track for three months.
A wealthy TV presenter lived in New Jersey until a year before launching his campaignOz has struggled to dismiss accusations of being an out-of-contact carpet seller and having little connection to Keystone State.
Fetterman’s campaign sought to illustrate this point at every opportunity, knocking Oz down for accused of possessing many properties or complain about the price of vegetables for a plate of “crudites”.
Polls show Oz turned a profit in the final weeks of the race, as his campaign bombarded Fetterman with allegations of softening to crime and being left too far to get to Pennsylvania. But Oz still has a high unfavorable rating heading into Election Day.
Before midnight on Tuesday, Oz told a crowd of his supporters that “when all the votes are counted, we believe we will win this race.”
This is breaking news. Please check back for updates.
