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With voting in the Pennsylvania primary Senate on Tuesday, Fox News correspondent Alexandria Hoff drove across the state to get the pulse of voters.
“This town was so prosperous. There were stores and restaurants. This was like Time Square,” David Stache, a resident of Braddock, Pa. told on “Fox News Sunday.”
Braddock was known as “Steel Valley.”
“Once the mills went, I think a lot of sense of pride for the families went, too,” Stache said.
Hoff said that the Edgar Thomson Steel Mill is a rare survivor of the industry’s 1980s collapse. She added that while the mill is still operational, “its days as the town’s lifeblood have long gone.”
THREE-WAY OZ-BARNETTE-MCCORMICK CLASH FOR GOP SENATE NOMINATION ON EVE OF PENNSYLVANIA PRIMARY
Alexandria Hoff speaking with Braddock, Pennsylvania resident David Stache
For the past couple of months Dave McCormick, a former hedge fund executive, was one of the twin front-runners in the race for the GOP Senate nomination in the race to succeed retiring Sen. Pat Toomey, along with Dr. Mehmet Oz, the cardiac surgeon, author and celebrity physician who until the launch of his Senate campaign late last year was host of “The Dr. Oz Show.”
But in recent weeks military veteran and conservative political commentator Kathy Barnette has surged in public opinion surveys, turning the Republican Senate primary into a three-way race. Pennsylvania is a crucial battleground state that could decide whether the GOP wins back the Senate in November’s midterm elections.
Among those recent surveys was a Fox News poll conducted May 3-7 and released last week that indicated Oz at 22%, McCormick at 20%, Barnette at 19%, with 19% supporting other candidates and 18% still undecided.
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Beth Ann Roscia is part of a group of increasingly coveted voters.
Roscia had been a liberal Democrat for 34 years, but, she said she switched positions during the coronavirus pandemic because she disagrees with COVID school closures and mask mandates. This prompted parents to pay close attention to policy and curriculum issues.
“If they had just opened the schools all of us parents would have just gone back to our jobs and our lives and we would have stopped paying attention,” Roscia told Hoff.
Hoff said among Democrats, abortion recently emerged as a key issue influencing voters after the leak of a Supreme Court draft opinion suggesting the overturn of Roe v. Wade.
“You can’t just sit back and think that things will continue on the same way that they have,” a pro-choice voter told Hoff.
“I think it should be a very concerning moment for all Americans, and I’m hoping it will bring voters out to the polls,” another pro-choice voter said.
Alexandria Hoff interviewing a pro-choice voter
One Pennsylvania voter is eyeing Dr. Oz because he received former President Trump’s endorsement.
“I’ll probably be voting for Dr. Oz. You know, even though I heard that he is a liberal as far as abortion is concerned,” the voter said.
Fox News’ Paul Steinhauser contributed to this report.
