David McCormick, Republicans' top choice to challenge Sen. Bob Casey (D-PA) in Pennsylvania, is planning another run in 2024, according to a source familiar with his thinking, after he failed to make it out of the primary last year.
McCormick, who lost to celebrity doctor Mehmet Oz in 2022 by fewer than 1,000 votes, will this time launch a bid with an open field before him. Doug Mastriano, a failed gubernatorial candidate who has the support of the party's grassroots, considered but passed on a challenge earlier this year, much to the relief of Senate Republicans.
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McCormick, who had stoked speculation with a book tour and PAC supporting Republican candidates, will launch his campaign next week, according to the Associated Press.
Pennsylvania is a quintessential battleground state. Until last year, it was represented in the Senate by one Democrat and one Republican, and Donald Trump's narrow victory there in 2016 helped deliver him the White House.
But McCormick will have a challenge defeating Casey, a three-term senator who won by 13 percentage points in 2018. He cuts a low profile on Capitol Hill, yet Casey, the son of Bob Casey Sr., the former governor of Pennsylvania, has near-ubiquitous name recognition in the state.
National Republicans feel that McCormick, a decorated Gulf War veteran whose deep pockets could help finance his bid, is their best shot. The National Republican Senatorial Committee had been encouraging him to enter for months.
McCormick, a native of Pennsylvania, is expected to face scrutiny for the time he spent out of state running a hedge fund business. He rents a home in Connecticut and, until recently, owned a condo on the Upper East Side of Manhattan.
Oz's loose ties to the state got him in trouble in his race against now-Sen. John Fetterman (D-PA), yet McCormick's camp emphasizes that he owns a home in Pittsburgh in addition to a family farm in Bloomsburg, the town where he grew up.
Casey, for his part, has already been framed by the NRSC as a "shady" and corrupt politician, highlighting everything from his lobbyist brother to the money his campaign gave to his sister's printing business. A spokesperson for Casey previously told Politico he follows all Senate ethics rules.
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National Republicans have gravitated toward wealthy candidates in states from Montana to West Virginia, and McCormick, estimated to be worth north of $100 million, is no exception. He spent $14 million of his own money in the Senate primary last year.
Pennsylvania is not in the top tier of states Republicans hope to flip, though it is close. The party must net two seats next year to retake control of the Senate or one if a Republican wins the White House.