LATROBE, Pennsylvania — Weeks before the election last year, Jason Zugai, the vice president of United Steelworkers Local 2227, pulled then-candidate Dave McCormick aside at a Trump rally here in Westmoreland County and asked him to meet with him and the local union regarding the then-proposed deal between U.S. Steel and Nippon Steel.

McCormick told Zugai that if he won the U.S. Senate seat, Zugai would be the first person he called.

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True to his word, McCormick called Zugai hours after he was sworn in.

According to McCormick, staying connected with constituents drives him and his staff.

“I really feel that obligation,” he said of suddenly finding himself responsible for representing 13 million people in Pennsylvania.

“So, finding a way to constantly be in touch and hearing the questions, the anxieties, the priorities of every single Pennsylvanian is the real priority. President Trump campaigned on change. I campaigned on change. So, by definition, lots of things are changing, and people want to understand what it is,” he said.

McCormick said one of his early priorities was finding experienced staff members who would competently and compassionately navigate the hundreds of thousands of emails, calls, and letters he receives weekly.

Engaging effectively and meaningfully meant setting up several ways for constituents to meet with him in the state and in Washington. His first order of business was to set up weekly coffees.

“People come to Washington, and we sit down and discuss concerns at hand. They’re anywhere from 50 to 150 people,” he said.

“The second thing we’ve done is we’ve built out seven teams across the state who are tasked every single day to go out and talk to folks, attend events, and then give a weekly report from the ground of what’s going on,” he said.

Additionally, McCormick holds biweekly town halls, at which anywhere from 10,000 to 12,000 people call in to listen to his updates and ask questions. 

“The callers are voters across the political spectrum. These are just open calls, unscripted Q&As. So, I’m answering those calls, and then we take the answers for those calls and we push them out on social media so you can send it to a much broader group,” he explained.

McCormick said being physically in the area is also a priority. 

“I’m in the state every weekend, making visits across the commonwealth,” he said.

He said constituent services are his top priority: “One of my models in doing this is Arlen Specter, who gave me my nomination at West Point,” he said.

Specter was known for his detail and delivery when it came to constituent services.

“Arlen and I would certainly have political differences. But one of the things that he had a reputation for was just really outstanding state operation, which was incredibly responsive to the needs of the constituents,” he explained.

McCormick took over all of the existing Bob Casey Senate offices and hired Ryan Aument, who was then a sitting state senator.

“I was involved in hiring every single one of the seven regional directors, interviewed every single person with the idea that I wanted people who are proud that they were representing me and that they would be proud to be part of it,” he said.

Since taking office, McCormick has formed a solid working relationship with senior U.S. Sen. John Fetterman, a Braddock Democrat, who lives a few miles from his Squirrel Hill home. They also have developed a deep and respectful friendship.

McCormick was there last October in Butler when Malphine Fogel pleaded with Trump to bring her son, Marc Fogel, home from his yearslong wrongful detention in a Russian prison. Prioritizing his return home was the first topic he asked Marco Rubio about during Rubio’s Senate confirmation for secretary of state. He was there in early February when Trump brought Fogel home. Rep. Chris DeLuzio (D-PA) gave him a Steelers cap and an Iron City beer.

“Years ago, when I first ran for this office, unsuccessfully, I thought about why it called to me, and I think I was born with a servant’s heart,” said McCormick, who served in the military for years.

“My team is here to serve Pennsylvanians. We’re here to solve problems. So, whether that is somebody calling for a passport or a Social Security card or something like that, we have a metric around how long it takes to respond, and that is an important part of service,” he said.

“We are building a system that makes sure we respond to every single one of them. A good example was over the weekend. Dina and I were out to lunch in Fox Chapel. We were walking out of a restaurant, and a woman came up to me and was really negative and gave me an earful. Much of what she said was inaccurate, in particular, that she said she contacted our office and didn’t hear back,” McCormick explained.

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McCormick immediately sent an email to his team and wanted accountability. It turned out she had not sent them an email. Instead of letting it lie, he made sure someone in the district office called her, made sure she had the appropriate email address for help, and did their best to answer her questions.

“I don’t think that person is like, ‘Rah, rah, rah, I’m so excited about everything now,’ but I do think she felt respected, heard, represented. She made the point that I worked for her, and I said, ‘You’re right.’ I work for every single Pennsylvanian, and I want to make sure I answer your questions even if we may disagree, that kind of service mindset, that kind of servant heart, that kind of culture. I think this is the secret sauce to doing this job right.”