Oz declines to say whether he’ll back McConnell for Senate majority leader

Mehmet Oz, the Republican Senate nominee in Pennsylvania, declined to say Tuesday night whether he would support Sen. Mitch McConnell (Ky.) as the next GOP leader in the upper chamber if he wins in November and the party gains the majority.

During an appearance on Fox News’s “Special Report with Bret Baier,” the host asked Oz if he will support McConnell as the next majority leader if Oz were to win in the Keystone State.

“I look forward to being in the United States Senate and [am] happy to make that decision for the next leader of the United States Senate … it will be Republican,” Oz replied to Baier. 

“But you can’t make it tonight,” Baier pressed. 

“Not going to make it tonight,” Oz said.

McConnell said last month that he has “great confidence” in Oz despite a slew of recent polls showing Oz trailing his opponent, Pennsylvania Lt. Gov. John Fetterman (D).

“I have great confidence. I think Oz has a great shot at winning,” McConnell told reporters.

The Hill has reached out to McConnell’s office for comment.

Former President Trump, who endorsed Oz, held a rally in Pennsylvania on Saturday in an effort to boost the Senate candidate as well as GOP gubernatorial candidate Doug Mastriano. The former president used the occasion, his first public speech since the FBI’s raid at his Mar-a-Lago residence last month, to call out federal authorities and President Biden for a speech criticizing the MAGA wing of the party.

Oz also told Baier earlier in the program that Fetterman is “insulting” Pennsylvania voters by not disclosing his current medical condition. Fetterman, who has returned to the campaign trail after a lengthy absence following a stroke, is under pressure to participate in a televised debate with Oz. Fetterman said in a statement last week that he wouldn’t participate in a slated early September debate against Oz.