If at first you don’t succeed …

Republican former hedge fund CEO David McCormick announced Thursday he will try to unseat Pennsylvania Democratic Sen. Bob Casey, a little more than a year after McCormick narrowly lost a bitter GOP primary to Trump-backed celebrity surgeon and TV personality Dr. Mehmet Oz.

In a kickoff speech at the Heinz History Center in Pittsburgh, the Army veteran and former CEO of Bridgewater Associates took aim at “the failed leadership of Joe Biden” and accused Casey of being a Washington insider and “rubber stamp” for the White House.

“Remember, I’m a paratrooper. When you happily choose to jump out of an airplane for a living, it’s because you’re not afraid to mix things up,” McCormick said. “I refuse to accept things the way they are in Washington.”

“We have big problems: our southern border is open, while too many of our factories are closed,” he went on. “Crime is up and incomes are down. The price of gas, food, and rent is high, while confidence in our leaders is low.”

McCormick also touted his Keystone State roots, describing himself as “a seventh-generation Pennsylvanian” whose parents worked as teachers — contrasting his upbringing with that of Casey, whose father served as Pennsylvania’s governor from 1987 to 1995.

“My opponent is part of the problem,” he said. “He first ran for office almost thirty years ago. Bob Casey can’t change Washington. Bob Casey is Washington.”

McCormick, 58, is likely to be the lone significant GOP challenger to Casey in what is anticipated to be one of the most competitive — and expensive — races to determine whether Democrats retain control of their 51-49 Senate majority.

McCormick came up 950 votes short in the 2022 Republican primary against Oz, who went on to lose in the general election to current Democratic Sen. John Fetterman.

Unlike in other races this cycle in West Virginia and Montana, McCormick is not expected to face a primary challenge from any candidate endorsed by the 77-year-old former president.

Pennsylvania state Sen. Doug Mastriano, who had may have considered a run after his gubernatorial loss last fall, has declined to enter the race and chose to back McCormick instead.

“It’s time to unify,” Mastriano said Monday during an interview on “Real America’s Voice.”

Kathy Barnette, who came in third place in last year’s Senate primary, is working as a national grassroots director for 2024 Republican presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy, leaving the field open.

But the Republican faces a tough battle against Casey, who is seeking a fourth term in office and carries his father’s famous name. The Democrat leads by five percentage points in the closest poll between the two — and by a double-digit margin in the latest survey.

Pennsylvania’s two Senate seats were held by one Republican and one Democrat between Casey’s win in 2006 and the retirement of GOP Sen. Pat Toomey in 2022.

Casey, 63, has raised more than $4 million since the start of the year for his re-election bid and has nearly $6 million cash on hand, according to federal campaign finance filings.

Fetterman has also thrown his support behind his fellow Democratic senator, criticizing McCormick over an Associated Press report that found the Republican candidate splits time between Pennsylvania and a lavish Connecticut mansion.

But according to a strategist for the McCormick campaign, Fetterman’s attacks point to a potential vulnerability for Casey: His low name recognition.

“He has just been sort of wallpaper to the Pennsylvania voters,” the person said.