Who is Mehmet Oz, the Republican running for Senate in Pa.?

Mehmet Oz — best known as the TV celebrity “Dr. Oz” after rising to fame with help from Oprah — is now trying his hand at politics, running in one of the most high-profile and consequential elections in the country.

Oz, the Republican nominee for U.S. Senate in Pennsylvania, won an endorsement from former President Donald Trump to propel him to victory in an expensive and brutal GOP primary decided by fewer than 1,000 votes. The cardiothoracic surgeon ran then as a self-described “conservative outsider,” in Trump’s mold, banking on his name recognition and personal wealth to power his campaign.

In the general election, Oz is trying to expand his appeal, hoping to hold Trump supporters but also reach more moderate voters who are crucial to the GOP’s chances in Pennsylvania.

In a largely personality-driven campaign, Oz has attacked his Democratic rival, Lt. Gov. John Fetterman, for being soft on crime and too liberal. But he has faced sharp questions about his longtime residency in New Jersey — where he lived for more than 30 years before moving to Pennsylvania ahead of his Senate run — and his position on abortion, now one of the most crucial issues facing voters.

Born in Cleveland to Turkish immigrants and raised in Wilmington, Del., Oz, 62, is both an accomplished surgeon and showman. He appeared on Oprah’s show as a health expert before spinning off his own daytime series, The Dr. Oz Show, starting in 2009. He parlayed that into lucrative endorsement deals, frequent media appearances, and a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.

Oz went to Harvard University, where he played football and water polo, and graduated from the University of Pennsylvania’s medical and business schools.

Most of his professional career was spent in New York — he has practiced at New York-Presbyterian Hospital and was director of the Integrative Medicine Center at Columbia University’s Irving Medical Center. In 2018, he became an emeritus professor and special lecturer at the medical center.

He earned respect as a surgeon — winning awards and securing patents for innovations — but has also been long criticized for promoting questionable miracle diet pills and other medical advice that other doctors have blasted as inaccurate and unscientific.

Oz lived in North Jersey for decades and owns a home in Palm Beach, Fla., but says he has been renting his in-laws’ home in Montgomery County since late 2020. He bought a property in the same county, in Bryn Athyn, late last year, though he remains at his in-laws’ while his new home is renovated, according to his campaign.

» READ MORE: Does Mehmet Oz live in Pennsylvania?

His campaign has said he moved to Pennsylvania in late November or early December 2020 — weeks after the state’s incumbent Republican senator, Pat Toomey, said he wouldn’t seek reelection.

Oz, when asked about his residency, points out that he went to graduate school in Philadelphia and got married there, and that his wife’s family has long ties to Montgomery County. He frequently tells audiences he grew up near Kennett Square or south of Philadelphia — without mentioning that it was in Delaware.

Oz has emphasized crime while campaigning in the general election, though mostly as an issue to use to attack Fetterman. He has offered few specifics about his own plans on crime or other issues, other than to say he would oppose President Joe Biden’s agenda.

During the GOP primary, he staked out conservative positions on both abortion and fracking. On abortion, he says he opposes the procedure except in cases of rape, incest, or to save the mother’s life. He hasn’t answered directly when pressed on how he would vote on a GOP proposal to ban abortion nationwide after 15 weeks, saying only that he thinks the issue should be left to the states. He has said he would have opposed several major bills passed by the Democratic congress, including the American Rescue Plan and Inflation Reduction Act.

His campaign hasn’t answered when asked how Oz would have voted on the bipartisan gun bill passed over the summer, but he opposes most tougher gun laws, including universal background checks and red-flag laws.

He has emphasized support for fracking, calling for fewer regulations, more drilling and expanded export facilities. A spokesperson said he wants “energy dominance in the world. This means fast-tracking completion of pipelines, resuming oil and gas leasing on federal lands, and creating a permitting and regulatory framework that promotes investments in greater energy production.”

» READ MORE: Mehmet Oz’s new hometown is a private, religious community where opinions on him are split

Trump, who knew Oz personally from their time in the world of TV, delivered perhaps the most significant endorsement in the GOP primary, putting his weight behind Oz and calling him “Pro-Life, very strong on Crime, the Border” and the Second Amendment.

Oz also won over famous conservative voices including Fox News host Sean Hannity and musician Ted Nugent.

In the primary, he used those endorsements to counter criticisms from Republican rivals who, pointing to his past comments on issues like guns, abortion, and fracking, said Oz wasn’t actually conservative.

Since the primary, Oz has campaigned with more traditional Republicans such as Toomey and Nikki Haley, the former South Carolina governor and U.N. ambassador under Trump. He recently campaigned in Western Pennsylvania with Sen. Tom Cotton (R., Ark.) and has touted endorsements from the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and the Philadelphia Fraternal Order of Police, the city’s main police union.

» READ MORE: Donald Trump just endorsed Mehmet Oz in the Pa. Senate race, potentially shaping the GOP primary

The vast majority of the money for his campaign so far has come from his own pocket. Of the $34.8 million his campaign had raised through the end of September, the date of the latest public reports, $21.3 million was from Oz himself. (He had his largest fund-raising quarter in the period that included July, August, and September).

A super PAC supporting Oz has also received significant support from GOP mega-donor Jeff Yass, and several major energy interests.

Oz would be the first Muslim elected to the Senate and has dual citizenship with Turkey, which he says he maintains to care for his ailing mother.

Facing criticism from Republican opponents, Oz during the primary said he would renounce his Turkish citizenship if elected.

There’s no rule against having dual citizenship in the Senate, and while Fetterman has relentlessly challenged his ties to Pennsylvania, the Constitution’s residency requirements are loose.