Retiring Republican Sen. Pat Toomey lashed out at Pennsylvania gubernatorial candidate Doug Mastriano on Thursday, accusing him of dragging Mehmet Oz’s candidacy into the race to replace Toomey in the Senate. The outgoing senator made the remarks in an interview with CNN’s Erin Burnett. Toomey began by saying he thought Oz “ran a very good campaign.” “So the question I think is being asked is, ‘Why did a good candidate, running a good race, in a very good environment, not prevail in a state like Pennsylvania — which is very, very competitive?’” Toomey said. . “I think a big part of the reason was that at the top of the ticket, in the governor’s race, we had an extremely MAGA candidate who never seemed to even try to expand beyond a die-hard base that was very, very committed to him. But he ended up losing in an epic beatdown.” Toomey said it’s “very, very difficult” for a down-ballot Republican to win with someone so unpopular at the top of the ticket. He pointed out that Oz’s loss to Democrat John Fetterman was relatively narrow compared to Mastriano’s margin over Democratic candidate Josh Shapiro. Toomey, who has been a vocal critic of former President Donald Trump and the shift in the Republican Party under his leadership, blamed the former president for his involvement in the selection of candidates across the country. “This is a huge problem, and I think my party has to face the fact that if loyalty to Donald Trump is the primary criterion for selecting candidates, we’re probably not going to do very well,” he told Burnett. Some background: Trump-endorsed Mastriano came to national attention for his strong election denial and appearance in Washington on January 6, 2021. As the election wore on, he did little to offset his far-right positions or reach out to groups beyond his base of supporters, CNN’s Chris Cillizza wrote. Oz, meanwhile, focused on bringing “balance” to the Senate in the final days of the race — giving himself a moderate voice that could navigate the extremes within the two parties.
