Long before Mehmet Oz locked up the Republican nomination for U.S. Senate , his Democratic opponent, John Fetterman , had a plan to discredit him in the eyes of voters.

Fetterman filmed some of his inaugural general-election TV ads in May before a stroke sidelined him. In a one-minute spot released in June, Fetterman lays out what would become the cornerstone of his case against Oz: that Oz, a longtime New Jersey resident, could not be trusted to fight for Pennsylvanians.

Referring to the outsourcing of manufacturing jobs overseas and rising costs squeezing consumers, Fetterman makes a subtle reference to Oz.

Those decisions were made for us by people that dont know us, he says. And thats exactly who were running against.

Fetterman pulled off one of the most consequential victories of the election cycle on Tuesday flipping a GOP-held seat in a battleground state.

There were a lot of ups and downs on the road to that victory. But the strategy of discrediting Oz as an elite outsider who could not be trusted to fight for Pennsylvanians was a consistent theme of Fettermans campaign.

The campaign also benefited from a personal brand that Fetterman had honed in his first Senate run, as lieutenant governor, and in the 2022 Democratic primary; an aggressive fundraising and television advertising strategy; a focus on bread-and-butter economics and abortion rights; and the Oz campaigns major strategic blunders.