In the midterm battleground of Pennsylvania, the U.S. Senate race has some Democrats crossing party lines to vote for GOP nominee Mehmet Oz over current Lt. Governor John Fetterman.
Enter Democrat Tom Knox, a former deputy mayor of Philadelphia and one-time candidate for governor of the Keystone State. Knox endorsed Oz on Friday, citing rising crime in his city and Democrats' failure to crack down on violent offenders.
"I am a lifelong Democrat," Knox explained in his endorsement of Oz over his Democrat opponent. "I have met with John Fetterman, and I personally like him," Knox continued. "But I am sad to say, as a resident of Philadelphia, that our city has become increasingly dangerous, and John Fetterman's policies on crime will make things much worse."
For Knox, as has been the case for an increasing number of Pennsylvania voters in recent weeks, Fetterman's embrace of the radical left's version of criminal justice "reform" has raised eyebrows as crime surges and offenders often end up right back on the streets. "His push as Lieutenant Governor to release more dangerous criminals - after we have already seen a gruesome increase in violent crime - and promote heroin injection sites in our neighborhoods are radical ideas that would make our streets less safe," Knox said of Fetterman's priorities.
"I love Philadelphia, and I am saddened by what is happening to it," Knox said before calling on his fellow PA Democrats to put public safety over their political party membership. "I am encouraging Democrats who share my concerns with Fetterman's long-standing policies to put party affiliation aside and support Dr. Oz for U.S. Senate," Knox explained. "Dr. Oz is smart, hard working, and a man of integrity who will work tirelessly to make our streets and city safe once again."
Philadelphia, as Townhall reported at the time, was one of several Democrat-run cities that smashed its annual homicide record in 2021 with more than 500 — the most since at least 1990. The problem, though, has been ignored by District Attorney Larry Krasner who claims there's "no crisis of crime" in the City of Brotherly love. But the numbers don't lie — and things have now gotten so bad that Philly's former deputy mayor has had enough and is calling for Democrats to jump ship and vote for a Republican.
Mehmet Oz welcomed the lifelong Democrat's endorsement, saying "safer streets shouldn't be a Democrat or Republican priority - it should be a priority for us all" while calling for Pennsylvanians "to come together now more than ever, regardless of party, as we face one of the highest homicide rates ever recorded in Philadelphia and our commonwealth suffers from one of the largest increases in violent crime rates and the fourth highest number of deaths from fentanyl in the country."
"We simply cannot allow John Fetterman to continue putting criminals over the innocent by allowing violent offenders, even murderers, to roam our streets and dangerous drugs to poison our youth," Oz continued. "His policies are deadly, dangerous, and wrong for Pennsylvania."
Earlier this week, the Cook Political Report changed its rating for the race to "toss up" from "lean Democrat" citing momentum behind Oz as the U.S. Senate contest enters its final weeks.