The noncompetitive nature of this cycle’s Republican Senate primary in Pennsylvania gives Dave McCormick one big advantage over many of his fellow Senate GOP candidates at this stage in the race: He’s already in general-election mode against three-term Democratic senator Bob Casey.
The former Bridgewater CEO is set to deliver a speech Friday morning in Pittsburgh detailing his campaign’s platform on how to achieve American energy independence, his campaign tells National Review.
McCormick was recruited by Senate Republicans this cycle to run in Pennsylvania after narrowly losing the 2022 Senate primary to celebrity television doctor Mehmet Oz, who went on to lose to Democratic senator John Fetterman in the general. This time around, McCormick is viewed as the consensus GOP candidate and is expected to sail to victory in the Keystone State’s upcoming primary.
The GOP candidate’s Friday’s speech comes as Americans for Prosperity Action, the Koch brothers’ political group, was on air in Pennsylvania earlier this week with new ads touting the GOP candidate’s energy platform and hitting Casey’s record as the incumbent Democrat seeks a fourth term.
“Bob Casey has been in Washington for 17 years. During that time, taxpayers have paid Casey nearly $3 million,” a narrator says in one 30-second spot. “What did we get in return? Sky-high inflation, a $34 trillion national debt, a wide-open southern border, radical anti-energy policies killing Pennsylvania jobs. Bob Casey has failed Pennsylvania. He deserves a pink slip, not another term.”
As NR reported earlier this week, AFP also unveiled a separate ad buy tying 31 Democratic lawmakers — Casey included — to Biden’s economic agenda.
McCormick, a hedge-fund CEO, is also personally wealthy and is expected to continue raising millions for his campaign through November with help from Wall Street’s biggest names. The McCormick-aligned super PAC, Keystone Renewal, raked in a stunning $18 million in the last quarter of 2023, thanks to a handful of giant checks from GOP donors such as Citadel CEO Ken Griffin, Elliott Management co-CEO Paul Singer, and Susquehanna International Group co-founder Jeff Yass, among others.