Welcome back to Broad + Liberty’s Candidate Spotlight Series! Each week, we reach out to candidates all across the Commonwealth up for election to public office — an equal number of Democrats and Republicans; incumbents and challengers. We ask one question per week about public policy pressing to you. Those who choose to respond will have their answers shared on our website every Wednesday through Sunday.

Today, we are spotlighting our senatorial candidates’ responses to our fifth question. Join us later in the week for the remainder of our responses from candidates all across Pennsylvania!

This week’s question: Recent years have seen a surge in violent crime not only in Philadelphia, but in smaller cities like Allentown and York. What is your plan to support good and effective policing and prosecutions? Do you support the actions of prosecutors who decline to enforce state law?

Mehmet Oz (R)

Far-left politicians like my opponent John Fetterman and District Attorneys like Larry Krasner are overseeing the dismantling of our communities by allowing violent crime to run rampant. Already this year, there have been more than 333 homicides in Philadelphia — a three percent increase from what was already a record-setting year. Even former Mayor Nutter has acknowledged how unsafe Philadelphia has become, and I’ve heard the same from residents as I spend time in communities across the city.

My opponent, John Fetterman, hasn’t been to these communities. He hasn’t heard the horror stories of Pennsylvanians who want their kids to be able to play on the street safely and know that they can look forward to the future. John Fetterman will continue to push for radical policies like decriminalizing drugs like heroin, fentanyl, and methamphetamines. John Fetterman also wants to release one-third of Pennsylvania’s inmate population back on our streets, lower minimum sentences for convicted murders, and he supports sanctuary cities. These policies aren’t just crazy, they pose a serious danger to our communities.

In the U.S. Senate, I will fight to fund our police, make our communities stronger, and hold public officials accountable for pushing dangerous soft-on-crime policies that prioritize the wishes of violent criminals over the basic safety needs of law-abiding citizens in our communities. 

John Fetterman (D)

The Fetterman campaign chose not to respond.

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