HARRISBURG, Pa. - Mehmet Oz, warding off criticism from a key rival in Pennsylvania's heated Republican primary race for U.S.
Senate, said Wednesday that he will renounce his dual citizenship in Turkey if he is elected, as the expensive campaign took on a harder and more personal edge.Oz — the celebrity heart surgeon best known as daytime TV’s host of "The Dr.
Oz Show" — made the statement hours after disputing a media report that claimed he said he planned to forego security clearances in the Senate to maintain his dual citizenship.Until Wednesday, Oz said he'd keep his dual citizenship so he has legal power in Turkey to make health care decisions for his Alzheimer’s-stricken mother.He now says it's become a campaign distraction and, if he wins, he will renounce Turkish citizenship before being sworn in to the Senate.Senate historians have been unable to find a U.S.
senator who knowingly maintained dual citizenship. The only comparable situation they found is Texas Sen. Ted Cruz renouncing his Canadian citizenship in 2014 after learning that he had received it by virtue of being born in Canada.Oz was born in the United States to Turkish parents and, if elected, would be the first U.S.