Trump rallies for Oz, Mastriano in Pa. amid midterm worries

Larry Mitko voted for Donald Trump in 2016. But the Republican from Beaver County in western Pennsylvania says he has no plans to back his party's nominee for Senate, Dr. Mehmet Oz _ "no way, no how."

Mitko doesn't feel like he knows the celebrity heart surgeon, who only narrowly won his May primary with Trump's backing. Instead, Mitko plans to vote for Oz's Democratic rival, John Fetterman, a name he's been familiar with since Fetterman's days as mayor of nearby Braddock.
"Dr. Oz hasn't showed me one thing to get me to vote for him," he said. "I won't vote for someone I don't know."
Mitko's thinking underscores the political challenges facing Trump and the rest of the Republican Party as the former president heads to Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania, on Saturday for his first rally of the general election season. While Trump notched a long list of wins in GOP primaries this summer, many of the candidates he elevated were inexperienced and polarizing figures who are now struggling in their general election races, putting control of the Senate _ once assumed to be a lock for Republicans _ on the line.

They include Oz in Pennsylvania, author JD Vance in Ohio, venture capitalist Blake Masters in Arizona and former football star Herschel Walker in Georgia.
"Republicans have now nominated a number of candidates who've never run for office before for very high-profile Senate races," said veteran Republican pollster Whit Ayres. While he isn't writing his party's chances off just yet, he said, "It's a much more difficult endeavor than a candidate who had won several difficult political races before."
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