Tuesday's Pennsylvania senatorial debate between Republican nominee Dr. Mehmet Oz and Lt. Gov. John Fetterman halted Democrats' plans to "run the clock out" on the Democratic nominee's narrow lead in the race, Oz told Fox News.
Oz said the debate was actually the first time he had ever met Fetterman, accusing the Democrat of hiding from the press and from voters' direct questions.
The Republican nominee said Fetterman's radical policies do not match "Pennsylvania values" and that his reclusive campaign strategy was wrong from the standpoint of Keystone voters.
"I'll tell you, their game plan was to run the clock out. And I have been chasing down John Fetterman since the general election started today. He has never answered a question from a voter on the campaign trail, hasn't answered a press gaggle… he never obviously talked to me before I met him for the first time last night," Oz said.
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"And all I wanted to do was have him defend what I think are these eccentric and extremist ideas that would hurt Pennsylvanians."
Host Sean Hannity said Fetterman seemed to be taking a similar campaign tact to that of President Biden, which he noted proved successful as the similarly reclusive Pennsylvania-born Democrat often evaded live events, instead appearing virtually from his Greenville, Delaware, basement.
Oz later said Fetterman notably "flip-flopped" on his stance on fracking – a key industry in what is the nation's third-largest energy-producing state.
Debate moderators Lisa Sylvester and Dennis Owens played clips of Fetterman from the mid-2010s when he denounced fracking, while the candidate maintained he supports and always supported fracking.
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"I have to say his answer [to Sylvester and Owens] seemed almost lazy, like he didn't think he had the answer for things that he's tweeted out in the past," Oz said, adding that it appears many Democrats simply want Fetterman to win to have another statistic toward a Senate majority, regardless of radicalism or other considerations.
"It is upsetting that there's going to be a duplicitous effort to hide his inability to defend his extreme positions. But he raised $2 million yesterday after the debate from Democratic donors who just want to support him becoming the 51st senator. They know he can't perform because he can't answer these questions about his eccentric positions," he said.
Oz underlined he was not referring to Fetterman's visible complications from the aftermath of his stroke, saying that the focus is and should be on issues the lieutenant governor has switched viewpoints on and those pertaining to criminal justice and other issues that are outside the mainstream.
"They're certainly out of touch with Pennsylvania values, and he has not been able to defend his dangerous policies. So last night, I just put them out there. You know, why is it that you seem to care more about the criminals than the innocent? You wrote yesterday at least 25 times to free murderers over the objections of other parole board members and the families," he said.
"He couldn't answer that," he went on, noting his endorsement from the FOP among other groups.
