After 91 percent of votes were counted as of early Wednesday morning, Fetterman lead Oz with 50 percent of ballots cast to the Republican’s 47.6 percent, while Libertarian candidate Erik Gerhardt had garnered 1.4 percent support.
The Associated Press has called the race in favor of Fetterman, but it will take time for the official results to be announced.
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After his win, Fetterman addressed his supporters and said: “I am so humbled. Thank you so much, really. We launched this campaign almost two years ago, and we had our slogan, it’s on every one of those signs right now—every county, every vote.
“Every county, every vote. And that’s exactly what happened. We jammed them up. We held the line.”
Supporters of Fetterman and Dr. Oz’s critics have relished in his defeat and joked about the result.
Late-night chat show host and comedian Jimmy Kimmel shared a picture of a smirking Oprah Winfrey imposed over Game of Thrones character Cersei Lannister as he captioned the picture: “Oprah watching Dr. Oz go down in flames.”
Last week Oprah Winfrey announced her endorsement for Fetterman in the Pennsylvania race.
Author Kashana Cauley also tweeted: “Dr Oz furiously dips asparagus into salsa,” in reference to a campaign video of Dr. Oz’s that saw him shopping for crudités in a store.
Former senior executive at NBC Universal Mike Sington tweeted: “The John Fetterman victory party served crudite, in an awesome troll of Dr. Oz.”
Sports writer Ewan MacKenna tweeted: “Who thought parachuting a rich celebrity TV doctor, who promotes whatever he’s paid to as number one weight loss treatment and believes astrological sign defines your health, into a place he’s not from and doesn’t live, in a brutal recession, for key race was good idea? #droz”
Political commentator Brian Normoyle tweeted: “I shall sleep soundly knowing that Dr. Oz—that grifting, carpetbagging charlatan—will never see the US Senate floor as anything other than a tourist watching from the gallery.”
Freelance writer Peter Fox shared a gif mocking Dr. Oz and captioned it: “Looks like Dr Oz has to go back to where he’s actually from.”
Dr. Oz’s campaign headquarters also appeared to be empty as the race was called in favor of Fetterman—a detail social media users have highlighted repeatedly.
Several reports described Oz supporters streaming out of the Republican’s Election Night event in Newtown, Pennsylvania, after Fox News officially called the race for Fetterman.
Early Wednesday, CNN anchor Jake Tapper described Oz headquarters as looking like “a high school dance past midnight” and “not exactly the sight of a jubilant celebration.” Footage of the event space showed that most of the crowd had cleared out right after the Senate race was called.