Former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo slammed Pennsylvania U.S. Senate candidate Mehmet Oz’s (R) ties to Turkey as raising “national security concerns,” The Hill reports.

Said Pompeo: “Not only did he not engage in the American process but he engaged in the Turkish political process. That raises in my mind a lot of judgments about his priority.”

Oz’s campaign quickly denounced the remarks as akin to dual loyalty “tropes used against Catholics and Jews.”

ABC News reports Oz actually cast a ballot in Turkey’s 2018 presidential election.

“Voters in Pennsylvania knew almost nothing about David McCormick and Mehmet Oz as political figures when the men started running for the Republican nomination to the Senate a few months ago. Since then, more than $37 million in largely negative advertising from the two candidates and their allies has gone a long way to filling the gaps,” the Wall Street Journal reports.

“As a result, the contest features two front-runners with highly successful professional résumés but political profiles speckled with ad-driven doubts that have prevented either one from taking command of the race, polling and interviews with voters show.”

“Mehmet Oz and David McCormick have been all over Pennsylvania television, but rarely on the same stage together,” the Philadelphia Inquirer reports.

“That changes Monday night, when the top Republican candidates for U.S. Senate debate, a face-off airing on TV stations statewide and streaming online.”

Pennsylvania U.S. Senate candidate David McCormick (R) claims he’s running to challenge “the weakness and wokeness that you see across the country,” but the Daily Beast finds he championed inclusive policies while leading an investment firm.

“As the former CEO of the largest hedge fund in the world, Bridgewater Associates, McCormick boasted about his company’s inclusiveness, which extended to full paid coverage for gender transition surgery and earned a perfect score as an LGBTQ-friendly workplace. McCormick also wrote at length about Bridgewater’s diversity and inclusion programs more broadly, which he took credit for spearheading and nurturing.”

Pennsylvania U.S. Senate candidate David McCormick (R) has pledged to “fight the woke mob,” but not long ago he once called for “solidarity by denouncing and eradicating structural bigotry,” Vice News reports.

Wrote McCormick on LinkedIn shortly after George Floyd’s murder in May 2020: “Racism and discrimination more broadly thrive not just in overt actions but also in omissions and willful ignorance. Benefiting from a system that quietly discriminates—without acknowledging it and helping to repair it—only propagates that system.”

Pennsylvania U.S. Senate candidate Dr. Mehmet Oz (R) “has little-known, but close ties to the heirs of the DuPont chemical fortune who are financially backing Oz’s Senate run,” CNBC reports.

“A turbulent few weeks and hard-hitting attacks have done little to change one of the persistent realities of Pennsylvania’s Democratic primary for U.S. Senate: John Fetterman has a crucial money lead,” the Philadelphia Inquirer reports.

“The lieutenant governor has more than three times as much money as U.S. Rep. Conor Lamb for the final month of the primary.”

A new Franklin & Marshall College Poll in Pennsylvania finds John Fetterman (D) has pulled ahead as the Democratic U.S. Senate frontrunner over Rep. Conor Lamb (D), 41% to 17%, while 26% are still undecided.

Said pollster Berwood Yost: “If you are a candidate, you want to be in Fetterman’s position. He seemed to solidify his advantage. It doesn’t seem like Lamb is making any inroads in his name recognition.”

The Republican U.S. Senate primary, meanwhile, is still anyone’s race, with 43% of voters still undecided on which candidate they’ll support.

“Pennsylvania Republican Dave McCormick’s U.S. Senate campaign raised more than $4.3 million in the first three months of the year,“ Axios reports.

“That substantial haul leaves McCormick in a strong position to compete ahead of a May 17 primary in which his chief rival, celebrity doctor Mehmet Oz, scored former President Trump’s endorsement last week.”

“A source close to the campaign said it will be reporting additional self-funding from McCormick.”

Pennsylvania U.S. Senate candidate David McCormick (R) is out with a new ad attempting to portray challenger Dr. Memhmet Oz (R) as a liberal who praised Hillary Clinton, Dr. Anthony Fauci and China.

The spot ends with Oz dancing with Michelle Obama.

“Pennsylvania Senate hopeful Mehmet Oz won the Donald Trump primary by securing the former president’s endorsement over the weekend,” NBC News reports.

“Now, Oz’s Senate campaign says it plans to spend at least $1 million to make sure Pennsylvania Republicans know about it — betting that by bolstering awareness of the endorsement, his poll numbers can be buoyed.”

“Pennsylvania voters won’t choose their Senate nominees for more than a month but already almost $80 million has been spent on television by candidates and their aligned super PACs in the race,” CNN reports.

“That total makes Pennsylvania the most expensive Senate race in the country, leading Arizona ($64 million) and Georgia ($62 million) in total ad spending to date.”

“Republicans are registering formerly Democratic voters at four times the rate that Democrats are making the reverse conversion in the battleground state of Pennsylvania, a warning sign for Democrats as they try to keep control of the U.S. Congress,” Reuters reports.

“The Republican gains in Pennsylvania, home to a critical U.S. Senate race, follow a pattern seen in other states that could have competitive contests in November’s elections, as high levels of disapproval with President Joe Biden’s handling of his job are helping narrow the long-held advantage held by Democrats in numbers of registered voters.”

Pennsylvania U.S. Senate candidate Mehmet Oz (R) and his wife “have assets worth between at least $104 million and $422 million, and possibly more, the report shows, enough to make him one of the wealthiest members of the Senate, if he’s elected,” the Philadelphia Inquirer reports.

Oz has boasted about taking on the Big Tech “cartel,” but he’s got millions invested in Amazon, Google and Microsoft.

Joshua Green: “So far, David McCormick is succeeding in what’s shaping up to be one of the strangest and most expensive Senate primaries in U.S. history. His chief competitors thus far are cardiothoracic surgeon and TV personality Dr. Mehmet Oz and Carla Sands, a wealthy widow who served as Trump’s ambassador to Denmark. All are jockeying for Trump’s favor and pushing what McCormick for his part calls an ‘America First agenda.’ With the primary slated for May 17, a recent Fox News poll found McCormick beating Oz 24% to 15%, with Sands and two other candidates in single digits.”

“Whether or not McCormick’s success persists, it has already revealed something important about Republican politics, and about the business world’s relationship to Trump. Ever since the violent Jan. 6 insurrection, a group of Republicans, led by Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, has pushed the idea that Trump’s influence has diminished and that the GOP is moving in a new direction. Pennsylvania’s primary proves otherwise: Everyone’s clamoring for the former president’s seal of approval.”

“The empty podium at stage right took a lot of hits on Sunday,” the Philadelphia Inquirer reports.

“From the opening moments of Pennsylvania’s first Democratic Senate debate, U.S. Rep. Conor Lamb and State Rep. Malcolm Kenyatta lobbed attacks at their missing primary opponent: the front-runner, Lt. Gov. John Fetterman.”

“In 90 minutes of jabs and jokes, both men — especially Lamb — argued that Fetterman’s decision to skip the debate was an insult to voters and a red flag for his candidacy in a critical Senate contest.”