Donald Trump's support in Pennsylvania has not been as overwhelming as in Ohio.
While JD Vance prevailed with some comfort, Doctor Oz, supported by Trump, was unable to celebrate his nomination on Tuesday.
The equality is maximum, with a difference of a few hundred votes, much less than those that remain to be counted in counties whose scrutiny will not be known until this Wednesday.
Doctor Oz, 61, has been behind Dave McCormick all Tuesday night, but has been closing the distance in the scrutiny and after midnight he has taken the lead.
The third candidate, who may have subtracted votes from Doctor Oz, has been left off the hook.
By 1:00 a.m. in Pennsylvania, both Oz and McCormick each had 31.2% of the vote, close to 400,000 ballots, but with a few hundred more votes for Oz.
Kathy Barnette had 24.8%.
More than 25,000 votes remained to be counted, according to estimates.
Mehmet Oz, of Turkish descent, a non-practicing Muslim, has displayed support for Trump throughout the campaign.
Oz was a cardiothoracic surgeon, a TV star who slipped into alternative or pseudoscientific treatments, and later a Senate candidate.
Despite Trump's support, he aroused such reluctance among his own that he was booed by his supposedly own at a rally he gave on May 6 with the former president in Greensburg.
Many consider him a parachutist, since he did not live in Pennsylvania until he presented his candidacy.
In addition, they reproach him for being tolerant of abortion, critical of
fracking
to extract oil and in favor of greater control of weapons.
The last endorsement he has received has been from the winner of the Ohio primary, JD Vance.
What Vance has done with his best intentions is to deny that Doctor Oz is a RINO
(
Republican In Name Only
)
.
Oz rivals McCormick, whom Trump has defined as a "Wall Street liberal Republican," someone to the liking of "the special interests of the Washington establishment."
His problem, in Trump's eyes, is that "he may seem like a nice guy, but he's not MAGA," in reference to Make America Great Again, Trump's motto, which could be translated as "let America [for the United States] be great again." big".
Throughout the campaign, his rivals have accused him to the ridiculous of being devoted to Chinese interests.
He having matched Oz despite having Trump against him is quite a feat.
Doug Mastriano celebrates his victory in the Republican primary for governor of Pennsylvania.Carolyn Kaster (AP)
Doctor Oz also had an extreme Trumpist in front of him, almost more of a Trumpist than Trump himself.
Kathy Barnette had been rising in the polls, but she couldn't resist being spotlighted.
Her homophobic and Islamophobic tweets have outweighed her tremendous personal story.
Trump has already warned that she could never win in the November election, the real goal, and that seems to have convinced the Republican base, but her good result has been, according to observers, at the expense of Doctor Oz, especially, complicating her nomination. .
Barnette was campaigning hand in hand with gubernatorial candidate Doug Mastriano, who was backed by Trump, who with 20% scrutinized was in the lead.
Mastriano insistently communes in public with the hoax that Trump won the 2020 elections, but the presidency was stolen from him.
If he becomes governor, he would have a prominent role in the elections.
He will compete with Attorney General Josh Shapiro, who has won the Democratic nomination.
the Democratic challenger
Also on the Democratic side, the clear winner in the Pennsylvania primaries for the Senate has been John Fetterman, lieutenant governor of the state with a casual air who has been giving rallies in a sweatshirt and shorts.
Fetterman suffered a heart attack over the weekend for which he had to be hospitalized and yesterday it emerged that he would need a pacemaker.
None of that served to erode his advantage.
He has won since the hospital and it was his wife who went to the celebration party on Tuesday night.
Fetterman is more leftist than other candidates and, therefore, he can drive away some moderate votes, unless he manages to make that informal style weigh more, little given to scaring anyone and that makes him a better candidate.
Democrat John Fetterman, winner of his party's primary for Senate in Pennsylvania, with admirers at a campaign rally.Michael M. Santiago (AFP)
The Pennsylvania primary is especially important because it could define the outcome of the November election.
The Senate, the most powerful chamber of the US Congress, is now tied at 50 between Republicans and Democrats.
In the elections of November 8, 36 of the 100 seats are renewed, but of them there are very few in which the result is not sung.
Republicans have their eye on Nevada, Arizona and Georgia, while the two states where Democrats see themselves with some chance of stealing a seat from their rivals are Pennsylvania and Wisconsin, where Joe Biden beat Donald Trump in the presidential election. of 2020. Therefore, the profile of the candidate can be decisive.
Farewell to Cawthorn
In the rest of yesterday's primaries there was less excitement and less room for surprises.
Republican Ted Budd, Trump's pick in the state, will run for the Senate in North Carolina.
It also shows the strength of Trump, since it was a very crowded campaign, but in addition, Budd had the support of other interest groups and, very prominently, the so-called Club for Growth.
It is a State that has been voting consistently for the Republicans, but in which the difference is smaller than in others.
Democrats have little hope for their candidate Cheri Beasley, a former state Supreme Court justice.
In North Carolina there was perhaps more interest in a district primary for a candidate for the House of Representatives.
Until now Congressman Madison Cawthorn was running for re-election and for that he had to pass the revalidation of his own party after a string of scandals that have exposed what many consider a double standard.
After accusing other congressmen of inviting him to orgies, he appeared in compromising photos.
In addition, he is the protagonist of a whole battery of scandals that have put republican patience to the test.
His battle with Chuck Edwards has been very close, but he has lost.
Scandals can still take their toll on the Trump-era GOP.
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