By Borys Krawczeniuk
WVIA News
April 4, 2024
Republican U.S. Senate candidate Dave McCormick ripped Sen. Bob Casey on Wednesday for squandering “an incredible opportunity” during decades of public service.
Standing in a workshop at AMP Global Strategies in Kingston Township, Luzerne County, McCormick pointed out Casey has served in government for 30 years, including 18 as a senator.
“And I challenge you to find a single thing … that Bob Casey has done for you, a single accomplishment of his leadership with 18 years in the Senate,” McCormick said.
McCormick said Casey votes all the time with President Joe Biden. He blamed Casey for inflation, blocking energy development and the nation’s current economy. He tied Casey to the “defund the police” movement.
McCormick, who grew up in Bloomsburg and resides in Pittsburgh, had help at the event from a face familiar to northeastern Pennsylvanians – former U.S. Sen. Rick Santorum. Casey soundly defeated Santorum in 2006 to win the Senate seat.
Santorum said Casey beat him because people knew his father, former Gov. Robert P. Casey. Santorum called the late governor “a reasonable Democrat.”
“His son is not a chip off the old block,” Santorum said. “His son is part, has become part of the woke progressive crowd that now has transformed the Democratic Party, that to some is just unrecognizable to Democrats up here in northeastern Pennsylvania.”
Casey campaign spokesperson Maddy McDaniel said Casey wrote and passed more bills in the Senate in the last Congress.
“And his work has been life-changing for workers, Pennsylvania industry, working families, and children,” McDaniel said. “David McCormick’s only record is making millions at the expense of Pennsylvania by shipping jobs overseas and investing millions for the Chinese government.”
Casey and McCormick are unopposed for the nominations in the April 23 primary election because challenges knocked their potential opponents off the ballot.
They will face off in the Nov. 5 general election. The job pays $174,000 a year. Casey has had the job since January 2007. After defeating Santorum, he won re-election in 2012 and 2018.
McCormick, a former hedge fund manager, lost the Republican primary for the state’s other Senate seat in 2022 to Mehmet Oz.
Their race is expected to be one of the most expensive and hotly contested in the country because Republicans need to flip two seats to control the Senate.
The presence at AMP of Sen. Steve Daines of Montana with McCormick underscored the race’s importance. Daines is the chairman of the National Republican Senatorial Committee, which helps the party’s Senate candidates.
“Do you realize, as I look at the map across the country, that if you all elect Dave McCormick to the US Senate, Chuck Schumer is no longer the Senate majority leader,” Daines said. “Think about that for a moment. It comes down to Pennsylvania.”
Experts say Republicans stand a good chance of winning half a dozen other Senate seats held by Democrats.