Oz talked to drug users in Kensington and community activists in Germantown as he continues to focus on crime in Philly

Editor’s Note: This article has been updated to include Sheila Armstrong’s paid role in Mehmet Oz’s Senate campaign.

Mehmet Oz walked along the perimeter of McPherson Square with a crowd of news cameras trailing him, as dozens of bystanders, several doing drugs, exchanged confused glances.

“It’s the Wizard of Oz,” a shirtless man sitting in the park yelled.

“Hey, Dr. Oz, I’m from Delaware, too,” a woman beside him said.

In five hours spent campaigning in the city, Oz focused on drugs and crime, which he’s put at the center of his U.S. Senate campaign. He cast himself as someone there to listen and to problem solve, though he offered few concrete solutions to the entrenched and complicated issues of poverty, drugs, and crime visible on his three stops throughout the day.

“He’s doing what every modern politician has done for decades,” said Chris Rabb, a Democratic state representative who attended Oz’s morning campaign event in Germantown “in protest.” “It’s not uncommon. You heard nothing about a single policy that makes it safer to live in Philadelphia. It’s glad-handling and fake empathy.”

Accompanied by people who work in the Kensington community passing out Narcan, the brand name of opioid overdose antidote Naloxone, Oz asked questions about the opioid crisis while at its epicenter.

“Are there more drugs now?” he asked at one point. “How often do they sell the drugs?”

Manuel Berry, 31, told Oz about losing his job during the COVID-19 pandemic, getting evicted from his Bristol home, and how he now lives on the streets with his wife, who is also using fentanyl.

“If you want help, we’ve got help,” Oz said. Later, Oz rode with Berry and three other people to Rock Chaplain Ministries, which connects people with detox resources. Though drug treatment access has improved, a recent study showed many people don’t get help.

Oz has come to Kensington several times, including once earlier this summer and in 2017 with his former daytime TV talk show. During that stop, Oz interviewed Steve Johnson while the man injected himself with heroin on camera.

This time, Oz swept in with a similar TV style, at one point bending down to pick up a needle to show to the cameras.

“Where are the police?” Oz said. “Are they allowed to do their job?”

Throughout his walk, Oz passed by people who live on the street and publicly use drugs. Some wandered over to him and told their personal addiction stories.

Republicans have long campaigned against crime in Philly, and recently have used Kensington as an example of mismanagement by the Democratic city and liberal policies. Politicians have often dropped into the most struggling areas of the city to try and use scenes of suffering as evidence for new leadership. Oz’s trip to Philadelphia likely had less to do with getting votes in some of its most impoverished neighborhoods and more to message to people outside of the city.

Some of his points were aimed at Philadelphia, though. Oz released a “plan to fight for Black communities,” on Monday, which includes support for community policing, “justice for Meek Mill,” expanding charter schools, and ending so-called “sanctuary cities.” On overdose deaths, Oz says he’d prioritize border security and more funding for detox programs.

There are significant differences in drug policy between him and Fetterman, who slammed the plan as “pandering.”

”This guy has no real principles or core beliefs, and he’ll say anything to get himself elected,” Fetterman said in a statement. “This is the same thing Dr. Oz has been doing for the past 20 years. He’s putting on a show for the cameras, saying whatever will benefit himself personally — regardless of whether he believes it, or whether it’s true.”

Earlier in the day, Oz met with a small group of community members in Germantown to talk about gun violence. Sheila Armstrong, whom The Inquirer later learned is a paid staffer on Oz’s campaign, broke down in tears talking about her nephew and her brother who were shot and killed in Philadelphia. She said she also prays for the 19-year-old man who was arrested for her nephew’s murder.

“We got babies killing babies,” she said. “There’s more hate in this city than love.”

Armstrong is Oz’s Philadelphia regional director, working on African American outreach, the campaign told The Inquirer on Oct. 11.

Don Jackson, who runs a youth technical training program for students in the city, said he likes that Oz, a multimillionaire, “can’t be bought.”

“I don’t see John Fetterman having any kind of meetings like this in the community, except for the fact that maybe he’ll talk about prison reform.”

Rabb said he attended the Germantown event to hear how Oz was pitching himself to his community, though he doesn’t support him. When the event ended, he made that clear by ripping up Oz’s flier and quickly leaving the room.

Several people at the event talked about poverty as a root cause of violence, and about the minimum wage. Asked about the minimum wage later in the day, Oz indicated he thinks it’s too low, though he wouldn’t say if he’d support raising it. He pivoted to talking about bringing more high-paying energy jobs to the city.

“The minimum wage should increase to match the economic needs of the communities,” Oz said. “But ... my goal is not the minimum wage. I don’t think you can raise a family of four on even $15 an hour. We need high-paying jobs.”

Some attendees left unsure how they’d vote but grateful Oz had come to hear them.

“Democrats, typically they just come in with platitudes,” said James Elam, a lawyer and entrepreneur. “I always joke that the Democratic platform for Black people is, we won’t lock as many of you up. That’s kind of the whole thing. ... There has to be things done to fix what’s happened.”

Elam, a registered Democrat, said he’s thinking more seriously about supporting Oz but still didn’t find Oz’s answers particularly compelling.

When Oz was asked what he as a senator could do to help the city’s violence problem, he talked about school vouchers and bringing more energy jobs to Philadelphia. Elam noted Oz didn’t talk much about gun control or cracking down on illegal guns.

“He seemed like a relatively reasonable person, but what he didn’t say stands out as much as what he did say,” Elam said. “I want to hear something, a vision, a thought. Now maybe it’s because he was here to hear from the community but he had, honestly, no thoughts about how to make the streets safer.”