Dr. Oz has close ties to the du Pont family heirs, and they’re

Veteran physician and Pennsylvania Senate candidate Dr. Mehmet Oz has little-known, but close ties to the heirs of the DuPont chemical fortune who are financially backing Oz’s Senate run, according to a review of campaign finance records.

Oz, who amassed his own multimillion-dollar fortune as the host of “The Dr. Oz Show,” is related to Ben duPont by way of the men’s respective marriages to sisters Lisa and Laura Lemole. DuPont, who uses a slightly different spelling of the du Pont family name on his company website and LinkedIn, has donated $70,000 to a political action committee that’s solely dedicated to helping Oz’s run for Senate. Oz has also received $50,000 in speaking fees from a political group founded by Ben duPont’s late father, former Delaware Gov. Pete du Pont, who died last year.

The family ties also overlap with various business ventures founded by Ben duPont, according to Oz’s most recent financial disclosure forms.

Oz, who was recently endorsed by former President Donald Trump, is currently in a Republican primary battle for Pennsylvania’s Senate seat with former Bridgewater CEO Dave McCormick. The closely watched primary race on May 17 and the later general election to succeed retiring Republican Sen. Pat Toomey this fall could play a key role in determining the balance of power in the Senate. The Cook Political Report marks the seat as a toss-up. A Real Clear Politics poll shows McCormick with an edge over Oz. And with the Senate currently split 50-50, the race is a critical one to watch to see which party will control that chamber in 2023.

Though Ben duPont doesn’t work in the oil and gas business or for the DuPont corporation, a win for Oz in Pennsylvania could be good news for the company founded by his grandfather’s great-great grandfather in 1802 in Wilmington, Delaware. Oz has become an outspoken advocate on the need for increased hydraulic fracking, a controversial method of extracting oil and gas from difficult-to-drill land that’s long been opposed by climate change activists. He’s teamed up on the campaign trail with the likes of Harold Hamm, chairman of Continental Resources which specializes in natural gas exploration, according to a report.

Ben duPont’s brother, Eleuthere I. du Pont, has an identical name as the company’s founder and sits on the DuPont corporation’s board. The company spent more than $400,000 lobbying Congress and the White House in the first three months of the year on issues ranging from climate change to the construction of the Keystone Pipeline, according to the corporation’s most recent lobbying disclosure reports.

The influential du Pont family has a net worth of $16 billion and some 4,000 heirs to that fortune, which primarily comes from DuPont, one of the oldest chemical companies in the world, according to Forbes. DuPont’s global headquarters are based in Wilmington, but one of its chemical plants is located in the neighboring state of Pennsylvania.

While the company’s political action…