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| Photo Credit: AP. |
PHILADELPHIA (AP) — As Sheila Armstrong grew emotional in recounting how her brother and nephew were killed in Philadelphia, Dr. Mehmet Oz — sitting next to her inside a Black church, their chairs arranged a bit like his former daytime TV show set — placed a comforting hand on her shoulder.
Later, he
gave her a hug, and said, “How do you cope?”
Two days
later, on a stage 4 miles away, Oz’s Democratic rival for Pennsylvania’s U.S.
Senate seat, John Fetterman, stood with Lee and Dennis Horton and spoke of his
efforts as lieutenant governor to free the two Black men from life sentences.
“Almost 30
years in prison, condemned to die in prison as innocent men, and I fought to
make sure they come out to their families,” Fetterman told the crowd.
Black voters
are at the center of an increasingly competitive battle in a race that could
tilt control of the Senate, as Democrats try to harness outrage over the
Supreme Court’s abortion decision and Republicans tap the national playbook to
focus on crime in cities.
They are
perhaps the Democratic Party’s most loyal supporters. About 9 in 10 Black
voters nationally went for Joe Biden in 2020, according to AP VoteCast, an
expansive survey of more than 110,000 voters nationwide. In Pennsylvania, the
support was similar, at 94%.
There’s no
evidence of a looming mass defection to Republicans like Oz. But if he can peel
off even a small share — or a critical mass of Black voters choose not to vote
— it might prove consequential in a race that polls show as close.
In
Philadelphia, where Black voters are the largest bloc in the swing state’s
biggest Democratic bastion, some activists question Democrats’ outreach and
fret about turnout.
Charles
Ellison, the executive producer and host of Reality Check, a daily public
affairs program on Philadelphia’s prominent Black-themed WURD radio, said
Democrats lack a unified message tailored for the Black community and didn’t
undertake a long-term investment in Black voter outreach.
“There’s
just not this realization that’s occurring that Pennsylvania is a national
battleground and Philadelphia is the cornerstone in that,” Ellison said. “And
the only way you’re going to get Philadelphia and the only way you’re going to
get Pennsylvania is through maximum Black voter turnout.”
Fetterman
may benefit from this year’s governor’s race.
In it,
Democrat Josh Shapiro’s campaign said it is investing $3 million in Black voter
outreach while his opponent, Republican Doug Mastriano, has drawn criticism
from members of his own party for focusing almost exclusively on his right-wing
base.
Shapiro is
also making regular visits to Black churches and businesses, has rolled out a
platform to expand pathways to jobs and create wealth in Black communities, and
endorsed a Black man, Austin Davis, for lieutenant governor.
In the
Senate race, millions of dollars in Republican attack ads aired on TV in
Philadelphia before Fetterman — who spent much of the summer off the campaign
trail recovering from a stroke — held his first public political event there in
late September.
For Oz,
crime is a primary thrust. He has held two public safety-themed town halls in
Black communities, suggesting that Democrats have failed to protect them from violence
and drugs.
Republicans
frequently point to gun violence in Philadelphia and have sought to undercut
one of Fetterman’s avenues of appeal to Black voters: his efforts as lieutenant
governor to free the over-incarcerated, rehabilitated or innocent. Republicans
cast it as freeing dangerous criminals to roam the streets.
Fetterman
and Democrats call that a lie and fearmongering that underestimates support
among Black voters for giving second chances. And they say Black voters know
they can trust Fetterman to support the things they care about, like voting rights
legislation in Congress.
Plus, Oz is
former President Donald Trump’s endorsed candidate.
“I think
most Black people would say he was one of the worst presidents for Black people
in our lifetime,” said Sharif Street, the state Democratic Party chair and the
first Black person to hold the position. “I don’t think a TV commercial can
override what people know to already be true.”
At
Fetterman’s rally at a recreation center in northeast Philadelphia, at least a
half-dozen Black supporters introduced Fetterman.
One of the
speakers, the Rev. Mark Tyler, said Fetterman supports things that Black voters
care about, such as bringing jobs to “America’s poorest big city,” ending
environmental racism and supporting stronger funding for city schools.
Fetterman also supports criminal justice reform and ending gun violence, Tyler
said.
“He did it
as a mayor in Braddock and understands what it is to have to sit and stand with
grieving Black families after such a tragic incident,” Tyler said.
As Fetterman
stood onstage with the Hortons — brothers who had their life sentences commuted
after nearly 30 years in prison, and now work for Fetterman’s campaign — he
took aim at Oz’s attacks for his work to free the men. Oz’s campaign has called
the Hortons “convicted murderers” and Fetterman “the most pro-murderer
candidate for the Senate in the entire country.”
The Hortons
were convicted of second-degree murder in a fatal shooting during a robbery in
a Philadelphia bar — crimes they maintained they didn’t commit. Despite
opposition from the victim’s brother, Gov. Tom Wolf freed the men in late 2020,
noting they had served 27 years after turning down plea deals for 5 to 10
years.
“What does
it say about a person’s character if they will fight to make sure innocent men
will die in prison versus a man that will fight to make sure that they’re able
to get back with their families?” Fetterman asked the crowd. “That’s the
choice.”
Oz-allied
groups have also aired TV ads reviving a 2013 incident in which Fetterman — as
Braddock’s mayor — grabbed his shotgun and pursued a jogging Black man whom he
suspected had been involved in gunfire nearby. No one was charged in the
incident and Fetterman has said he didn’t know the man’s race before he
confronted him.
Oz’s town
halls take a softer tone, where the heart surgeon-turned-TV talk show host says
he is there to listen and find solutions to problems that Democrats have let
fester.
“The best
thing a doctor does is listen. You can’t fix a problem you don’t hear. So I’ve
spent a career heeding that and trying to understand what people are trying to
say because then you can really get to the answers,” Oz said. He’s also touted
his work to raise money for scholarships for Black medical students.
Love
Williams, a 25-year-old registered Democrat who came to Oz’s event at the
invitation of a friend, said he wasn’t sure he’ll vote this fall after feeling
like Biden has underdelivered for Black people.
Asked by
Williams what he’d do to help his community, Oz said he’d push for more tax
dollars for private schools and to open liquefied natural gas export stations
in the city to bring wealth into the community.
Williams
said afterward that he wasn’t sold on Oz — or Oz’s ideas, either.
The event,
he said, came off as “just a political stop for one politician.”
Levy
reported from Harrisburg, Pennsylvania.
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