Toomey Blames Trump for Lost PA Senate Seat – ‘Had to Insert Himself’ with Ultra-MAGA Candidate

Outgoing Sen. Pat Toomey (R-PA) said Thursday on CNN’s “Situation Room” that it is former President Donald Trump’s fault Republican Mehmet Oz lost the Pennsylvania Senate seat to Democrat John Fetterman.

Toomey said, “I think Dr. oz ran a very good campaign. I actually think he was a very good candidate in a lot of ways. So the question that I think arises is why did a good candidate running a good race in what should be a very good environment not prevail in a state like Pennsylvania, which is very, very competitive, always close, or almost always close? And I think a big part of the reason was that at the top of the ticket in the gubernatorial race, we had an ultra-MAGA candidate who never appeared to even attempt to expand beyond a hardcore base that was very, very committed to him. But he ended up losing in an epic beatdown. And it’s very, very hard for candidates who are down ballot. So our gubernatorial Republican lost by like 14 points. Dr. Oz kept his race to within three. It’s really hard when that’s what’s happening. By the way, we had three House seats that I thought we had a very good chance of picking up in Pennsylvania. We lost all three of those. Again, I think it was a combination of a real problem at the top of the ticket but also President Trump inserting himself into the race. He came to Pennsylvania, you know, late. I think it was the Saturday before the election.”

He added, “We were in a cycle, we were at a time when it’s good for Republicans for the race to be about President Biden, who is not popular, whose policies have failed, and instead President Trump had to insert himself, and that changed the nature of the race, and that created just too much of an obstacle. By the way, it’s not just Pennsylvania. All over the country, there’s a very high correlation between MAGA candidates and big losses.”

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