Casey, McCormick make final pitches as Senate race reaches stretch run

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The most expensive Senate race in America is coming down to the wire in Pennsylvania.

Three-term Democratic incumbent Bob Casey is attempting to fend off a challenge from Republican businessman David McCormick in a race that could tip control of the chamber.

With just days before the Nov. 5 election, the race has tightened. According to Real Clear Politics, in recent polling Casey holds an average lead over McCormick of just less than 2% — the closest the race has been.

The candidates have been traveling throughout Pennsylvania, with Casey appearing alongside Vice President Kamala Harris and with former President Barack Obama during campaign stops in Western Pennsylvania.

McCormick has been on stage during multiple rallies with former President Donald Trump and just last weekend in McKees Rocks with billionaire Elon Musk.

“It’s crazy, and it gets bigger and bigger every election cycle,” said Alison Dagnes, a political science professor at Shippensburg University. “The majority in Congress is so slim that every race is a fight for the control in the Senate and the House. There are precious few toss-up races right now, so when there is a potential to flip a Senate seat, both sides dig in.”

Political watchers said Pennsylvania’s race is the most expensive Senate campaign in the country. According to federal data and the website OpenSecrets, more than $252 million has been spent by the candidates and outside political action committees. A majority of those funds have been directed toward negative advertising.

“The amount of money spent in this race is staggering,” Dagnes said.

Casey and McCormick are joined on the ballot by three third-party candidates: Pike County resident Leila Hazou of the Green Party; Marty Selker, a truck driver from Blair County representing the Constitution Party; and John Thomas, a libertarian and an educator from Armstrong County.

But this is largely a two-candidate race between Casey and McCormick.

Casey, 64, of Scranton, has served in the Senate since 2007 after stints as the state’s elected treasurer and auditor general. He is the son of former Pennsylvania Gov. Robert Casey.

McCormick, 59, of Pittsburgh, served nearly two years as undersecretary of the Treasury under former President George W. Bush and later headed Bridgewater Investments, one of the nation’s largest hedge funds. McCormick narrowly lost out on the Republican nomination for senator in the 2022 primary to celebrity doctor Mehmet Oz.

Throughout this year’s campaign, McCormick has been dogged by the same residency issue that faced Oz in his failed race against Sen. John Fetterman two years ago. Casey has argued McCormick’s primary residence remains in Connecticut despite the Republican’s claims he is a native Pennsylvanian who now lives in Pittsburgh.

The candidates, during personal appearances and through their campaign messaging, have focused on border security, abortion, the economy and the future of democracy.

Casey on the issues

Casey, during a tour of the Mon Valley in early October, answered questions from TribLive about some of the other key issues, including his views on the importance of the election and solutions about how to move past the divisiveness of the race.

“I think it’s a decision that they’ll (the voters) make with a very clear choice, a very clear contrast in front of them. If they want a senator who’s going to work next year, just to use one example, to fight for a middle-class tax cut, they’ll probably vote for me. If they want to go down the road that they took in 2017 to get a tax bill that will favor the billionaires, the people making hundreds of millions of dollars, and a tax bill that will favor big corporations, if that’s the policy they want, they’ll probably vote for McCormick,” Casey said.

Throughout the campaign, Casey has pitched his proposal to enact a ban on price gouging and touted his votes to support the Biden administration’s legislative accomplishments, including the federal Inflation Reduction Act and the infrastructure bill.

“The last couple of years we’ve made some progress, the infrastructure bill that is investing in communities here in Western Pennsylvania in ways we’ve never seen the federal government invest in: roads and bridges and high-speed internet,” Casey said. “In Allegheny County alone, it’s the kind of federal investment we haven’t seen in basic infrastructure, but also in high-speed internet, investments in direct investment in communities, whether it’s water and sewer, revenue that we’ve never seen. And I think people expect that folks in Washington will work together to try to deliver those results as I have,” Casey said.

Once an opponent of eliminating the filibuster — a procedural delay to hinder or block votes — Casey said he now believes stagnation of key legislative issues such as gun control and abortion merits a change in philosophy.

“When you can’t protect the rights of workers because of that rule — we can’t protect women’s rights because of that rule — we’ve got to change the rule. And I think we can change the rule and still allow the minority, whoever’s in the minority — Democrat or Republican — to still have a voice in the Senate,” Casey said. “It’s used as a weapon to block progress in the Senate, and I think the will of the American people is being thwarted because of this antiquated rule.”

McCormick on the issues

McCormick spoke with TribLive by telephone during campaign stops last week near Philadelphia.

He discussed his views of the race, his economic plans and other issues he said differentiates him from his Democratic opponent.

“Senator Casey has become a weak senator. He doesn’t stand out. He has not been a strong voice, and he’s voted 98.6% of the time with President Biden. He’s for reckless spending and wide-open border policies and won’t support policies that promote fossil fuels. This race is about fairness for the middle class,” McCormick said.

McCormick blamed the political divide in Pennsylvania and throughout the nation on Democrats’ rhetoric. He accused Casey, specifically, of casting lies about his views and those of other Republican candidates.

“We are very polarized as a country, and we need to have a way forward to debate in the country about our ideas. There are stark differences in this race, and our future depends on the fulsomeness of debate. We need not be dehumanizing and hateful, and I come back to the idea that the America I see is the America I love,” McCormick said.

He defended his pro-life stance but said he would not support a national abortion ban. He said he will defend efforts to enhance domestic energy production, including fracking, and favors retaining the Senate filibuster.

“This is another example of Senator Casey changing his position. I have long said I don’t think we should eliminate the filibuster. The Senate was made to be a place where reason would prevail. If the House and Senate wound up in Democratic hands, there would be a new Green New Deal, they would vote for statehood for Puerto Rico and Washington, D.C., and they’d pack the Supreme Court,” McCormick said.

Rich Cholodofsky is a TribLive reporter covering Westmoreland County government, politics and courts. He can be reached at rcholodofsky@triblive.com.

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