Dr. Mehmet Oz, who rose to fame on ABC’s daytime television program The Dr. Oz Show, has said he is considering running for Congress in Pennsylvania.
“I’ve made a commitment not to run for office again,” Oz told NewsRadio 950 WABC-AM in New York on Sunday. “But my wife and I talked and we said, why not? I think we’d do a pretty good job.”
Oz has not formally announced his candidacy, but he has suggested he will jump into the race soon to challenge Democrat Rep. Mike Doyle, according to a recent NPR story.
He recently told the York Dispatch that he is making the announcement soon.
In April 2017, he was criticized by Republicans and Democrats for giving weight-loss treatment to a college student who was being treated with medication for opioid addiction.
Oz has not responded to requests for further comment.
A district that Doyle’s won in 2012 by a vote of 61 percent to 39 percent currently leans Democratic by a margin of 12 points according to the Cook Political Report.
Oz, 47, told WABC that he has a 12-year-old daughter and a 7-year-old son, that he travels around the country “to preach and work on education reform.”
“I did see a vacant seat when Mike Doyle retired and this is an opportunity to play a little bit of politics,” he told WABC, according to a transcript provided by WABC.
Oz is considered a health-media star for explaining common-sense ways to help readers and viewers who have weight problems.
His show premiered in 2008 and, at its peak, had more than 10 million viewers. The organization backing Oz’s health-media-avatar (he does not consider himself a health-newsperson) is behind the website http://www.knowyourmedicine.org.
Oz has said his personal qualifications include having served in Iraq.