2A ❚ TUESDAY MAY 17, 2022 ❚ USA TODAY
ELECTIONS
Oz, Fetterman, Trump testing their
star power in Pennsylvania primary
Political outsiders
and celebrities see
recognition can be
blessing and curse
David Jackson
and Candy Woodall
USA TODAY
WASHINGTON – When
Donald Trump talks about why
Dr. Mehmet Oz should be a U.S.
senator, he cites Oz’s medical
background, his conservative
views – and his celebrity.
“His show is great,” Trump
told supporters May 6 at a rally
in Pennsylvania, site of a pri-
mary Tuesday.
The former president en-
dorsed Oz in early April as “bril-
liant and well-known.”
“He has lived with us
through the screen and has al-
ways been popular, respected
and smart,” Trump said.
Dr. Oz is the latest celebrity
to try to turn fame into a politi-
cal career. The list ranges from
old-time radio hosts to movie
and television stars, such as
Ronald Reagan in the 1980s.
In the age of former reality-
television President Trump, the
question of celebrity as a politi-
cal qualification – and what
that means for governance and
even democracy – has taken on
added meaning.
Oz is in the midst of a tight
Republican primary race with
opponents arguing that being
the host of a television talk
show does not qualify one to be
a senator.
The Republican victor will
face a challenging fall election
contest with the winner of
Tuesday’s Democratic primary.
Lt. Gov. John Fetterman,
who is leading Democratic
polls, became a statewide polit-
ical celebrity by running as an
outsider throughout his career.
He doesn’t vie for party en-
dorsements. He bucks cam-
paign traditions by opting for
shorts over suits.
Rescue dogs, social media
He has more than 200,000
individual donors and a spouse
and rescue dogs with more
than 175,000 social media fol-
lowers. That’s in addition to his
own social media presence
with more than 600,000 fol-
lowers.
Fetterman leads U.S. Rep.
Conor Lamb in the latest Frank-
lin & Marshall College Poll by
almost 40 percentage points in
the Democratic race for U.S.
Senate.
Fetterman spoke with USA
TODAY on Thursday, a day be-
fore he was admitted to a hospi-
tal in Lancaster for a stroke.
His wife, Gisele, said Sunday
that they caught symptoms
early and sought medical care
quickly Friday.
The Fettermans said a full
recovery is expected, and John
added that he expects to win
the primary Tuesday.
Fetterman and Oz would not
be front-runners in their par-
ties without their fame, accord-
ing to Mike Mikus, a veteran
Democratic strategist in Penn-
sylvania who supports Lamb.
“I’m not saying that in a nas-
ty way,” he said. “Long before
Fetterman ran for Senate, he
was very good at promoting
himself, even getting national
press when he was the mayor of
Braddock. And if Oz was not a
TV celebrity, he wouldn’t get
the Trump endorsement.”
The Pennsylvania primary is
the latest stage for celebrity
politics, a long-running phe-
nomenon that involves “a shift
in our political and our cultural
values,” said Kathryn Cramer
Brownell, an associate profes-
sor of history at Purdue Univer-
sity and author of “Showbiz
Politics: Hollywood in Ameri-
can Political Life.”
Mehmet Oz, a Republican
candidate for U.S. Senate in
Pennsylvania, takes part in a
forum in Newtown, Pa., on
May 11. MATT ROURKE/AP
“This is part of a more open
political landscape,” Brownell
said. “It’s more media-driven,
and it’s more performative.”
Brownell said celebrity poli-
tics has its positive aspects –
“celebrities have used their
fame to draw attention to is-
sues and raise money for
causes” – and negative ones: In
part, she said, it “allows politi-
cians to bypass critical ques-
tions from the press.”
Problems with celebrities
carry over if they are elected,
she said.
“Trump’s celebrity status
helped him win the election,
but his obsession with his own
ratings undermined his ability
to actually govern,” Brownell
said.
Oz, the surgeon who par-
layed his many appearances on
Oprah Winfrey’s talk show into
a program of his own, is vying
for the Senate as a political out-
sider, a frequent role for celeb-
rity candidates.
Oz’s opponents, including
businessman David McCor-
mick and conservative com-
mentator Kathy Barnette, cast
Oz as a carpetbagger who
knows nothing about Pennsyl-
vania.
“He’s been liberal, a Holly-
wood liberal, for his entire ca-
reer,” McCormick, once the
owner of the world’s largest
hedge fund, said on Fox News.
Barnette, a frequent com-
mentator on Fox News, said
during a candidate forum in
March that Oz “pretended to be
a liberal while working beside
Oprah and Michelle Obama.”
Trump said he believes the
doctor is the Republicans’ best
bet to win a general election –
largely because he was a televi-
sion star.
“You know, when you’re in
television for 18 years, that’s
like a poll, that means people
like you,” Trump said during a
rally in North Carolina on
April 9.
Oz has approached the cam-
paign the way previous celebri-
ties have, as a fresh voice to try
to reform a corrupted system.
Noting that Republican
presidents Ronald Reagan and
Trump had Hollywood roots,
Oz said in one video ad, “Like
me, they were conservative
outsiders who fought the es-
tablishment.”
Oz believes his celebrity is
“helpful to his campaign
because he has always used
that platform to empower indi-
viduals,” said campaign com-
munications director Brittany
Yanick. “He is proud of his
career.”
Over the years, the success
of some celebrity candidates
has reflected general distrust of
more traditional politicians,
researchers said. Others have
had their celebrity status work
against them.
“People look at celebrities
differently than they do other
candidates,” said Mark Harvey,
the author of “Celebrity Influ-
ence: Politics, Persuasion, and
Issue-Based Advocacy” and
director of the MBA program at
the University of St. Mary in
Kansas.
In some cases, Harvey said,
voters see familiar celebrities
Pennsylvania Lt. Gov. John
Fetterman, greeting people
May 10 in Greensburg, Pa., is a
Democratic candidate for the
U.S. Senate. KEITH SRAKOCIC/AP
as “more credible than politi-
cians.”
Mikus puts it this way: “Vot-
ers don’t like a phony.”
Celebrity candidates, per-
haps because of their experi-
ence connecting with audi-
ences, typically have a better
chance connecting with voters,
he said.
Oz has managed his Penn-
sylvania campaign stops like
episodes of his TV show, re-
creating the format of the show
with television-like sets.
Fetterman has campaigned
in all of Pennsylvania’s 67
counties, including stops in
bars and bingo halls in the most
conservative areas.
Mikus said the Democrat
has the edge on authenticity.
“Fetterman comes across as
the real deal. What you see is
what you get. Oz has been all
over the map on issues,” he
said.
On air and on the trail
First-time candidates who
made their names in other
endeavors have another advan-
tage over run-of-the-mill poli-
ticians, Harvey said: high name
recognition.
Celebrities also tend to have
big money or at least the ability
to raise big money from their
fans.
There are also drawbacks.
In addition to a lack of politi-
cal experience, celebrities have
said and done things that could
look bad in the heat of a cam-
paign.
McCormick and other oppo-
nents dredged up a litany of
televised Oz comments por-
traying him as favoring abor-
tion rights, opposing gun
rights, backing President Ba-
rack Obama’s health care plan
and saying nice things about
China, all anathema to Trump
Republican doctrine.
Trump’s endorsement of Oz
drew criticism from many con-
servatives. Some people booed
Oz when he took the stage at
this month’s rally with Trump.
As for so many before him,
fame has been “a blessing and a
curse” for Oz, said Berwood
Yost, director of the Floyd Insti-
tute for Public Policy and the
Center for Opinion Research at
Franklin & Marshall College.
“He’s, of course, well-
known, but he has a record of
taking positions on air that
make some voters doubt his
conservative credentials,” Yost
said. “He’s not particularly
well-liked among the Republi-
can faithful.”
With his 6-foot-8-inch stat-
ure, Fetterman is used to stand-
ing out and getting media at-
tention as the “tattooed mayor”
with a goatee and gym shorts,
but he cringes at the thought of
being a celebrity.
“I couldn’t be further from
that,” he said in an interview
with USA TODAY. “I’m just a
regular guy. I’m a guy who can’t
even get his kids to clean their
rooms.”
His wife, Gisele, also shies
away from being called a celeb-
rity. “We’re just parents of three
kids who want the world to be
better for them and everyone
else,” she said.
NEWS
For all the downplaying of
their status, analysts said
Voters, however, took it very
seriously and overwhelmingly
Pennsylvania’s second couple elected O’Daniel.
have a big influence in the “For years, he’s been talking
state. to us on the radio,” a farmer said
“They’re a new version of a during the 1938 campaign.
power couple,” said Christo- California, the home of
pher Borick, a pollster at Muh- Hollywood, has launched many
lenberg College in Allentown. a celebrity political career.
“They have a synergy about Actress Helen Gahagan
them. They have similar views, Douglas won election to the
but how they frame them is U.S. House in 1944. She tried for
quite different in style but ulti- the Senate in 1950 but lost the
mately complementary. She election to a more traditional
has helped his campaign tre- politician, Richard Nixon.
mendously.” Over the past six decades, as
The Fettermans know Gisele television became increasingly
is an asset. John’s supporters powerful in politics, more for-
frequently wear shirts that say mer actors ascended the politi-
to “vote for Gisele’s husband.” cal ladder, especially in Califor-
“She’s everyone’s favorite, nia: George Murphy became
from my parents all the way U.S. senator; Ronald Reagan
down to every room we’re in,” became governor, then presi-
he said. dent; and Arnold Schwarze-
“I think you just get a pack- negger won a recall race in
age with us,” Gisele Fetterman 2003 to become governor.
said. “You get all of us.” Before Oz, Pennsylvania’s
That includes their three most notable celebrity candi-
children and two rescue dogs, date was probably Lynn
she said. Swann, the former Pittsburgh
Fetterman has campaigned Steelers star and football
on the idea that he doesn’t look broadcaster whom the Repub-
like a typical politician and, licans nominated for governor
more importantly, he doesn’t in 2006. Swann lost the elec-
act like one. tion to incumbent Democrat Ed
“When I talk to people who Rendell.
aren’t engaged around politics, Celebrities have run and
they like Fetterman because he won up and down the ballot,
is different,” said Democratic from Carmel-by-the-Sea, Cali-
strategist J.J. Abbott, former fornia, Mayor Clint Eastwood
press secretary to Gov. Tom to U.S. Rep. Sonny Bono, R-
Wolf. “He has a brand that he’s Calif., to U.S. Sen. Al Franken,
not your typical politician and D-Minn.
seems more approachable.” This year, former football
star Herschel Walker – a former
‘Pass the biscuits, Pappy’ contestant on Trump’s “Celeb-
rity Apprentice” – is running for
In many ways, celebrity poli- a Senate seat in Georgia.
tics has been around as long as
American politics. Pennsylvania race
Famous people often vied
for political office in previous Whether Trump’s or Oz’s
centuries, particularly military celebrity can help win a Senate
heroes such as Andrew Jack- seat remains to be seen.
son and Ulysses S. Grant. Polls show a too-close-to-
During the 20th century, ce- call race among Oz, McCormick
lebrity politics evolved in con- and Barnette.
nection with the rise of mass The fall election is likely to
media, especially radio and be tough. Pennsylvania is a
motion pictures. battleground state that could
In the 1930s, W. Lee “Pappy” decide whether Republicans or
O’Daniel, a Texas flour compa- Democrats win a majority of
ny executive and the founder of the U.S. Senate.
a swing band, became famous The Senate campaign in
with a music radio show that Pennsylvania is likely to be one
opened with a mountain tune of the most expensive on rec-
that included the catch phrase ord and possibly one of the
“Please pass the biscuits, Pap- most vicious, as both parties
py.” vie for a seat that could swing
Going into politics, O’Daniel the power of Congress.
won election in 1938 as gover- Though celebrity candidates
nor of Texas. In 1941, he won a have a name-recognition ad-
special election to the U.S. Sen- vantage in the primary, they
ate over a field that included also have more exposure in the
congressman and future presi- general election.
dent Lyndon Johnson. “There’s no doubt that ce-
LBJ biographer Robert Caro lebrity has opened a door for Oz
wrote that reporters treated and Fetterman here,” Borick
O’Daniel’s gubernatorial cam- said. “It doesn’t come without
paign “as a joke.” cost once you’re in the door.”
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