John Fetterman Wins Pennsylvania Senate Seat Over Dr. Oz, Bettors Get It Wrong

Posted on: November 9, 2022, 08:54h. 

Last updated on: November 9, 2022, 03:34h.

Devin O'Connor @CasinoorgDevinO Read More
Expertise: Asia Pacific Gaming, Commercial Gaming, Legislation, Politics.

Pennsylvania’s Democratic Lt. Gov. John Fetterman managed to win over voters in the commonwealth despite delivering one of the worst debate performances in US history.

John Fetterman Dr. Oz Pennsylvania Senate race
Pennsylvania Lt. Gov. and Democratic US Senate candidate John Fetterman walks on the stage at his campaign’s watch party on Nov. 8, 2022. Fetterman prevailed in his Senate race against Dr. Mehmet Oz. (Image: Getty)

Fetterman has served under Gov. Tom Wolf (D) for the past four years. The former mayor of Braddock in the Pittsburgh suburbs was seen as the perennial front-runner for Pennsylvania’s vacant US Senate seat. He led throughout much of the election against Republican Dr. Mehmet Oz. But after Fetterman finally agreed to debate Oz after stalling a face-to-face meeting with his opponent throughout the campaign, all bets were seemingly off.

While Fetterman’s campaign said he had little lasting complications from his May stroke, the debate seemed to prove otherwise. The lieutenant governor struggled greatly during the October debate  to formulate his positions and rebuff Oz’s attacks with coherent sentences.

Fetterman’s poor performance led the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette editorial board into rescinding its endorsement of the lieutenant governor and backing Oz. PredictIt bettors also changed their thinking. After the debate, bettors put more stock behind Oz in Pennsylvania.

Around Election Day, Oz’s shares of succeeding Pennsylvania’s Republican Sen. Pat Toomey were trading at 63 cents. Fetterman was the underdog at 40 cents.

Early Vote Went Blue

The tide was with Oz heading into Tuesday’s election. But early voting and mail-in voting, which had been underway for weeks before Fetterman took the stage with Oz on October 25 — just two weeks before Election Day — tipped the scale in Fetterman’s favor.

Political experts in Pennsylvania said the early vote went largely for Fetterman. Fetterman is thought to have also benefited from a strong turnout of Democratic voters supporting gubernatorial candidate Josh Shapiro — the state’s current attorney general — against Republican candidate Doug Mastriano.

Mastriano was handpicked by former President Donald Trump. Mastriano, a 2020 election denier who attended the January 6 rally in Washington, DC, that resulted in the attack on the US Capitol, was largely seen as a long shot. Democrats turned out to make sure Mastriano didn’t succeed Wolf, and some of that vote led to higher Fetterman support simply from party-line voters.

“I’m so humbled,” Fetterman said while wearing his signature hoodie. “This campaign has always been about fighting for everyone who’s ever been knocked down that ever got back up.”

Oz has yet to concede, saying only late Tuesday night, “When all the ballots are counted, we believe we will win this race.”

Fetterman Faithful Win

Fetterman bettors who risked money on him becoming Pennsylvania’s next US senator are being financially rewarded this morning after PredictIt closed out the market.

Each Fetterman share has been redeemed at $1, meaning bettors who grabbed shares at 40 cents on Tuesday are netting 60 cents per stock option. Each Dr. Oz share is now worthless.

PredictIt allows bettors to purchase up to $850 in stock in each market. At 40 cents, the maximum allotment of shares one could have purchased on Election Day was roughly 2,125 shares. That would equate to a net win of $1,275 before PredictIt fees.