Dr. Oz David McCormick’s Anti-GOP Rival Has A Positive Past

David McCormick, the leading candidate in Pennsylvania’s Republican Senate primaries, claims he’s running to challenge “the weakness and sanity you see across the country.”

But as McCormick and his allies ramped up their culture war crusade, so did McCormick’s track record as a former hedge fund manager — and the inclusive policies he advocated. When it comes to leading your company — can quickly become political responsibility in a frenzied primaries.

That record, however, didn’t stop a super PAC from backing McCormick following his Republican Party rivalry for their past support of transgender rights.

A recent offensive ad aimed at McCormick’s major rival – pop surgeon Dr Mehmet Oz – is highlighting the talk show host’s views on transgender issues, labeling him as “Republican in the Name Only” for engaging with this topic in the past.

The ad in question, titled “Best Spins,” comes from a pro-McCormick super PAC that wants viewers to believe that Oz has a MAGA credibility gap — specifically when it comes to the issue of Transgender. And Oz had to take on a show about transgender parenting that aired more than a decade ago.

The pretentiousness of advertising is the review of “hit” records, where the “hits” are Oz’s previous positions. And the album cover showcases the transgender television segment titled “TRANSGENDER KIDS”.

In the video, Oz sits on stage with a little girl and her mother and asks the child, “Remember when we thought you were a boy?”

The clip ends there, without the show’s additional context, which, as the Associated Press noted, includes interviews with parents and pediatricians about broader experience in raising a child. Transgender.

But the super PAC chose a curious topic for a fight.

As the former CEO of the world’s largest hedge fund, Bridgewater Associates, McCormick prides himself on his firm’s inclusivity, which has expanded its coverage of fully paid coverage for conversion surgery. gender change and get a perfect score as an LGBTQ-friendly workplace. McCormick has also written extensively about Bridgewater’s diversity and inclusion programs more broadly, which he credits for leading and nurturing.

Bridgewater’s website, which lists “your ability to be who you are” as one of its three “core values,” also showcases diversity and inclusion programs, including affirmative groups. transgender. A focus group on diversity and inclusion reported “directly to CEO David McCormick” and by 2021 those issues have become “Top Strategic Priority.” (McCormick resigned in January 2022.)

“With our mission to have the deepest possible understanding of global economies, we strive to find, retain and develop the best talent across gender, race and ethnic identity. race, sexual orientation, experiences gained and more,” writes “Destination Page Diversity and Inclusion”, archived since November 2020.

The diversity and inclusion page goes on to say that Bridgewater has a “diversity and inclusion team that reports directly to CEO David McCormick, a number of groups with a shared interest in empowering our diverse communities. We and a senior board are responsible for continuing to make Bridgewater a vibrant, inclusive community.”

The company’s statements of this kind have been criticized as “signals of virtue,” a term conservatives often apply to libertarians. And McCormick himself stated in an “employee benefits journey” open letter that he wanted Bridgewater’s programs “to signal our values”.

However, the hedge fund was not a pioneer in providing gender-affirming benefit programs. Bridgewater joins some of the biggest US corporations, including Starbucks, Salesforce, Amazon and Disney — all of which conservatives have criticized as “waking up.”

McCormick said he embarked on the overhaul in January 2020, about a month after taking office as CEO. He doesn’t want to “chase the trend” but create programs that are “built for the long term,” he writes.

What emerged was a strong agenda of benefits, with a focus on gender inclusion. McCormick highlights include equal parental leave rights for “all new parents regardless of gender or path of parenthood (with additional medical recovery period for those born in children)” and fertility insurance for “anyone” who wants to become a parent — be it “through IVF, adoption, and/or egg freezing, especially important for families LGBTQ+. ”

(While McCormick used “LGBTQ+” in his open letter, the Association of LGBTQ Journalists uses “LGBTQ,” which advocacy group GLAAD also uses in its media reference guide. Beast uses both acronyms.)

The super PAC behind the ad, “Honor Pennsylvania, Inc,” spent $7.7 million promoting McCormick. More precisely, money was poured into attacking Oz.

The only Honor PA campaign financials available cover the end of 2021. According to the filing, the super PAC drew most of its initial financial strength from billionaire Ken Griffin, another hedge fund, and the GOP megadonor. , who raised $5,450,000 raised last year. The team’s next report is due in mid-April, which is also the first application deadline for the McCormick campaign. The primary meeting will be held a month later.

But Pennsylvania’s MAGA purists might have to do some real gagging during that primary session. Oz and McCormick are leading contenders, and both entered the race recently, following Parnell’s departure. Both candidates find their personal profiles at odds with right-wing grievances.

Oz received a backlash from conservatives after The Daily Beast reported in December that the daytime superstar had opposed his stance on abortion. Honor Pennsylvania has highlighted that move in multiple ads, along with Oz’s earlier views on so-called red flag gun laws and Obamacare. Super PAC also called Oz a “liberal RINO” because he “posted about Black Lives Matter on social media” and danced around with Michelle Obama and a group of kids on one of his shows several years ago. prior to.

However, the MAGA violation perceived by McCormick appears to have more political significance.

The Keystone State native’s attempt to portray himself as a populist has countered his more than decade-long corporate career.

As a case in point, he was forced to turn Bridgewater’s relationship with China – which is deeply valued at $5 billion – as an asset, not a liability. New York Times also reported that McCormick had beaten America First’s worldview, endorsing Democrat Amy McGrath in her 2020 challenge against Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (despite MAGAworld generally hating McConnell), calling the attack the 6th. January’s entry into the US Congress was “horrific” and “dark chapter in American history,” and tipped Trump’s internals for his “no sense of how the world works”.

But now that he’s chasing the MAGA dream, McCormick has hired three of Trump’s top advisers: Cliff Sims, Hope Hicks, and white nationalist Stephen Miller.

Oz spokeswoman Brittany Yanick released a statement saying McCormick “did not have a preserved skeleton in his body.”

“While Wall Street Insider’s David McCormick calls himself a ‘conservative’, he has a history of betting millions of dollars on China to succeed, defrauding PA taxpayers and providing welfare packages to the public. staff includes full coverage of transgender surgeries. Now he’s turning the tables and railing against’wake up the crowd,” the statement said. “David McCormick doesn’t have a preserved skeleton in his body and Pennsylvanians don’t disappoint in his repeated attempts to get Dr. Oz out of context.”

A spokesman for McCormick referred to The Daily Beast as Honor Pennsylvania, citing the candidates’ inability to coordinate with the super PACs. (This rule does not apply to public comments.) The next day, prior to publication, a spokesperson asked if The Daily Beast had any contact with the super PAC.

Honor Pennsylvania did not respond to a request for comment.