Dr. Mehmet Oz announced his decision in an op-ed published on Tuesday.
Dr. Oz is running for Senate.
The TV personality and surgeon announced his candidacy for a Pennsylvania Senate seat in an op-ed titled "Why I'm Running to be a Senator From Pennsylvania," published by Washington Examiner on Tuesday. Dr. Oz, 61, began his announcement by sharing that "we are angry at our government and each other."
"We have not managed our crises as effectively as past generations. During the pandemic, I learned that when you mix politics and medicine, you get politics instead of solutions. That’s why I am running for the U.S. Senate: to help fix the problems and to help us heal," he states, before sharing his experience as growing up as a child of immigrants and his career.
"The reality of our challenges has crystallized during the pandemic. Over 750,000 in the United States have died from the virus, a devastating toll for families and communities. Many of those deaths were preventable," he writes. "COVID-19 became an excuse for the government and elite thinkers who controlled the means of communication to suspend debate. Dissenting opinions from leading scholars were ridiculed and canceled so their ideas could not be disseminated."
Dr. Oz continues by sharing his opinions on the government's policies and decisions amid the pandemic. He then gives his thoughts on what should be done and what he hopes to do if elected.
"We must confront those who want to change the very soul of America and reimagine it with their toxic ideology. We need to fight for the benefit of our descendants. We have fumbled the baton we’re supposed to pass to our children. And I want to pick up that baton and start racing toward our promising future," he writes, before concluding, "I’m running for the Senate to empower you to control your destiny, to reinvigorate our great nation, and to reignite the divine spark that we should always be seeing in each other."
The news comes days after Matthew McConaughey announced that he would not run for governor of Texas. Dr. Oz also joins Caitlyn Jenner in taking a step toward a political career. The former athlete recently ran for governor of California.
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