Philly lawyer joining GOP field chasing open US Senate seat

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HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) — George Bochetto, a prominent Philadelphia lawyer and Republican who has fought various high-profile cases in the city's courts, said Monday that he will enter the crowded GOP field chasing Pennsylvania’s open U.S. Senate seat.

Bochetto also filed paperwork with the Federal Election Commission and created a campaign website. Bochetto, 69, had said last month that he was looking very seriously at running.

Bochetto is also a former state boxing commissioner who considered running for mayor many times in the heavily Democratic city of Philadelphia, and ran briefly in 1999 before ending his candidacy.

The wide-open race for the Senate seat being vacated by retiring Republican Sen. Pat Toomey is expected to be among the nation’s most competitive and could determine control of the Senate in next year’s election.

The Democratic field has been set for months, and is led by Lt. Gov. John Fetterman and U.S. Rep. Conor Lamb.

The Republican field is still evolving.

Mehmet Oz — the heart surgeon, media personality and author best known as the host of TV’s “Dr. Oz Show” — gave up his TV show and said he moved from New Jersey to run. Meanwhile, David McCormick just resigned as CEO of one of the world’s largest hedge funds and has moved from Connecticut in anticipation of running, advisers say.

In August, Bochetto won a judge’s ruling preventing the city of Philadelphia from removing a 144-year-old statue of Christopher Columbus in a dispute over views of exploration and colonialism.