HARRISBURG, Pa. — Republican Senate candidate Dr. Mehmet Oz scored a victory with the business community on Wednesday, earning the endorsement of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce.
The U.S. Chamber of Commerce is the largest lobbying group by spending in the country. It represents more than 3 million businesses, including Coca-Cola, Facebook and Pfizer.
Earlier this month, Axios reported the U.S. Chamber of Commerce made a $3 million contribution for the Pennsylvania race to the Senate Leadership Fund, a super PAC set up by Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell.
“Dr. Oz is committed to free enterprise solutions that will help the Commonwealth and the nation recover from the pandemic,” said U.S. Chamber of Commerce senior political strategist Ashlee Rich Stephenson.
Oz accepted the endorsement at Stephenson Equipment, Inc. in Swatara Twp. He cited the business as one of many that would benefit from lower taxes and regulations that he said stifled competition.
“I have confidence that we can actually have a budget that’s not based on reckless spending, appropriately distribute money to people who need it the most, and allow innovativeness and creativity to drive the future growth of our nation,” he said.
Oz said he had personal experience navigating the difficulties businesses face from developing a medical device to repair leaky heart valves, called MitraClip.
“It took me years and years to get these devices approved because of a regulatory process that was overburdensome, didn’t really, I don’t think, make it all that much safer, and certainly seemed to push innovation overseas, where without those blocking elements, you’d have more success, more rapidly and less expensively,” he said.
Gene Barr, the former CEO of the Pennsylvania Chamber of Commerce, also spoke in praise of Oz, though he specified the Pennsylvania Chamber does not formally endorse federal candidates.
The endorsement comes as Democratic opponent John Fetterman has racked in endorsements from unions, which have historically backed Democratic candidates. Major unions such as AFL-CIO and the Pennsylvania State Building and Construction Trades Council have endorsed him.
The Fetterman campaign did not respond to a request for comment on the U.S. Chamber of Commerce’s endorsement of Oz.