Well, the fundraising numbers are in and Dr. Oz’s campaign for Pennsylvania Senate appears to be nearing code red status.
The pro-Trump TV doctor has a little over $1 million in cash on hand after raising just $3.8 million last quarter, $2.2 million of which came from the candidate himself. In comparison, Oz’s Democratic opponent John Fetterman has $5.5 million in the bank after raising $10 million during the same three-month period.
Related: Dr. Oz’s Senate campaign is going even worse than anyone could have imagined
According to The Daily Beast, however, Oz has been siphoning “dark money” into his campaign through a super PAC made possible by Citizens United, the landmark 2010 SCOTUS ruling that allows for corporations and nonprofit organizations to make unlimited financial contributions to super PACs:
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The super PAC backing Oz is called American Leadership Action. Its dark money twin is called American Leadership Policy.
According to federal election reports, the American Leadership Action super PAC has raised more than $4 million and spent nearly $3.5 million supporting Oz through the primary, which he won last month after a recount.
The group has reported two donations from limited liability corporations. But it also received a $66,000 contribution from the nonprofit twin.
Those names aren’t a coincidence; it’s a team effort.
The biggest donor to the American Leadership Action super PAC is Dr. Oz’s father-in-law, Dr. Gerald LeMole, who has donated over $1.5 million, according to campaign filings.
So what does this all mean exactly?
Basically, Oz’s campaign is being primarily funded by himself and/or his father-in-law via a super PAC. Meanwhile, Fetterman’s campaign is being primarily funded by small-dollar donations.
Related: Dr. Oz has grocery store meltdown while buying ingredients for crudité, blames Biden for $6 salsa
The fact that Fetterman has almost five times more cash on hand and that he raised it from thousands of individual donors giving less than $200 does not bode well for the TV doctor, who just wrote another personal check for $500,000 to his own campaign on June 29.
Last week, Politico reported that Oz’s campaign was basically entering into a freefall:
Mehmet Oz is trailing in polls. A key Republican has yet to endorse him since the celebrity doctor won the GOP nomination for Pennsylvania Senate more than a month ago. And Oz has gone dark on the airwaves since May 21 — even as his Democratic rival John Fetterman burnishes his brand on TV as a political outsider, and paints Oz as a carpetbagger from New Jersey.
On top of that, according to the most recent Suffolk poll, Oz’s unfavorable rating is at 50%, compared to just 28% who view him favorably. The same survey also showed Fetterman ahead of him in a head-to-head race by almost 10 points.
Related: Dr. Oz is running a more abysmal campaign than Caitlyn Jenner did, if that’s even possible
Oz has spent the bulk of his time on the campaign trail making dog whistles to the MAGA crowd, bashing immigrants, praising anti-abortion laws, celebrating guns, fear mongering about election fraud, and vowing to take on “cancel culture” if elected to U.S. Senate in the fall.
Now, some tweets…
While you’re here, check out the cameo video Jersey Shore star Snooki recorded for Fetterman’s campaign trolling Oz, who moved from New Jersey to Pennsylvania earlier this year for the sole purpose of running for Senate there:
