Pennsylvania GOP Senate nominee Dr. Mehmet Oz has shrugged off months of Democratic attacks that he's a carpetbagging out-of-towner by pointing to the house he and his wife bought last December in the well-to-do Philadelphia suburb of Bryn Athyn.
"I'm proud to own property in Pennsylvania," he has said on the trail when asked about the needling from his opponent, Lt. Gov. John Fetterman, over his longtime residency in New Jersey, where he lived before becoming a candidate.
"It is unheard of in the residential setting," said Bob Tintner, a Philadelphia-based real estate lawyer, noting that the provision is seen mostly in commercial sales.Oz's campaign cast it another way. "It's a beautiful property and they didn't want the property developed in any way that would harm the church," campaign spokeswoman Brittany Yanick told ABC News.
Reached by phone, the treasurer of the Academy of the New Church, Duane Hyatt, told ABC News that the church "insisted on" a right of first refusal in the Oz deal. Hyatt said it was something the organization typically does when it sells properties to ensure they are first in line to get it back. Oz has personal ties to the Academy of the New Church's affiliated General Church of the New Jerusalem , a Christian denomination based on the works of the theologian Emanuel Swedenborg.
Oz and his wife purchased the property last December, according to the deed of sale, a month after Oz announced his candidacy. It is a home "they have been hoping to buy for quite a while," Yanick, the campaign spokeswoman, told ABC News.
Malaysia Latest News, Malaysia Headlines
Similar News:You can also read news stories similar to this one that we have collected from other news sources.
GOP goes to court again over Pennsylvania mail-in ballotsThe GOP's filing late Sunday went straight to the state Supreme Court, with barely three weeks left before Election Day. The court does not have to take up the lawsuit.
Read more »
Don Bolduc is having it both ways with Senate majority at stakeThe anti-establishment candidate who was supposed to end Republicans’ chances of flipping a New Hampshire Senate seat is still hanging on, thanks to Mitch McConnell’s cash.
Read more »
Jim Jordan plots 'big moments' for GOP influence in the majorityJim Jordan made his name on Capitol Hill by nudging his own party from the right while pushing Democrats even harder. He may well return to that dynamic next year in a GOP-controlled House.
Read more »
Democrats see opening to neutralize GOP education messagingAlthough messages around race and masks in schools excited the base, the Republican National Committee has found those issues don’t drive independents.
Read more »
Freedom Caucus chair floats potential probe of Biden's approach to Ukraine peace talksGOP criticism of Biden's approach to the conflict has splintered.
Read more »