Cardiac surgeon turned television star, Dr. Mehmet Oz, has announced he's throwing his hat in Pennsylvania's U.S. Senate race.

"We are angry at our government and at each other," the celebrity physician, a longtime Bergen County resident, said in an opinion piece for the Washington Examiner on Tuesday.

<p>"We have not managed our crises as effectively as past generations. During the pandemic, I learned that when you mix politics and medicine, you get politics instead of solutions. That’s why I am running for the U.S. Senate: to help fix the problems and to help us heal."</p><p> </p>

Oz and his wife have lived for more than 20 years in Cliffside Park, where they raised their four children.

The announcement was noted on Twitter by Democratic U.S. Rep. Bill Pascrell, -D-NJ, who wryly pointed to Oz's recent jump across the Delaware River.

"I want to congratulate my North Jersey constituent Dr. Oz on his run for US Senate in Pennsylvania. I’m sure this fully genuine candidacy will capture the hearts of Pennsylvanians," Pascrell tweeted on Tuesday.

Nearly a year ago, Oz switched to voting in Pennsylvania's Montgomery County at his in-law's residence, as reported by The Philadelphia Inquirer.

A couple of months earlier, Republican U.S. Sen. Pat Toomey announced in October 2020 that he would be retiring from Congress at the end of 2022.

"We must confront those who want to change the very soul of America and reimagine it with their toxic ideology. We need to fight for the benefit of our descendants," Oz also said in his written campaign announcement.

<p>"We have fumbled the baton we’re supposed to pass to our children. And I want to pick up that baton and start racing toward our promising future."</p><p> </p>

Oz earned a joint M.D. and MBA from the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine and Wharton Business School in the mid-80s, before rising to fame as a health expert for "The Oprah Winfrey Show."

He then starred on his own spinoff, "The Dr. Oz Show," garnering nine Daytime Emmy Awards.

Oz also has been an attending physician at New York Presbyterian - Columbia Medical Center and has been a member of the President’s Council on Sports, Fitness & Nutrition.

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