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Oz has also got the vote of Emerencia Torma, who owns Hungarian restaurant Huszar in Pittsburgh's North Side neighborhood. Many pundits thought Republicans like Torma, 65, would not fall in line behind the Trump-backed Oz after he won a bruising primary by just 951 votes.

But after months of COVID-19 closures followed by crippling inflation, many Pennsylvania business owners feel fed up and energized to pull the lever for the celebrity doctor. And not just him.

"I'm voting Republican. All Republican," Torma says flatly.

Many of her neighbors appear to feel the same way. In the deep-blue 12th Congressional District, where Torma lives, the race between Democratic state Rep. Summer Lee and Republican borough council president Mike Doyle is shockingly close for a seat that has not been held by the GOP in decades.

Crime, drug use and homelessness have something to do with that. A sizable homeless camp has emerged just down the street from Torma's restaurant. Last month, two innocent women standing at a bus stop in the area got caught in gunfire and were killed. Torma calls the uncertainty of what will happen next "unbearable" at times.