Former President Donald Trump offered his endorsement of a candidate who refused to say the 2020 election was stolen, nodding to the importance of Republicans winning in states they lost in 2022.
During a rally in Schnecksville, Pennsylvania, over the weekend, Trump told his supporters he was endorsing David McCormick, a former hedge fund CEO and Senate hopeful in Pennsylvania.
“I am officially giving my endorsement to David McCormick tonight,” Trump said. “He’s a good man. He wants to run a good ship. He’s a smart guy who was a very successful guy. He’s given up a lot to do this.”
McCormick responded to Trump’s backing enthusiastically despite their conflict in the past. He was not present at the rally due to a family event, his campaign told CNN.
McCormick refused to call the 2020 election “stolen,” which contributed to the former president withholding his endorsement and likely contributed to him losing to Mehmet Oz in the 2022 primary.
Oz went on to lose to Sen. John Fetterman (D-PA), a key contest that helped Democrats fight off an expected “red wave” and gain control of the Senate.
McCormick got back into the 2024 Senate fight to challenge incumbent Sen. Bob Casey (D-PA) and hasn’t drawn any primary challengers.
The Senate candidate also waited to endorse Trump until after former U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley suspended her 2024 campaign following a resounding Super Tuesday defeat, another hint of their personal divisions. Other Republican Senate candidates have been more enthusiastic to offer Trump their approval. Rep. Jim Banks (R-IN), who is running for an open Senate seat in Indiana, endorsed Trump in November.
Trump’s rhetoric regarding McCormick didn’t appear as decisive as his endorsement of Oz in 2022 either. Then, he called Oz popular, respected, and brilliant in a statement, along with naming him as the candidate with the best chance to draw votes out of Philadelphia and Pittsburgh.
Trump told voters at his rally to vote for McCormick because “Casey doesn’t do a damn thing” and McCormick is the Republican nominee. In 2022, he told voters to avoid McCormick because “he’s not MAGA.”
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McCormick previously worked as undersecretary of Treasury and deputy national security adviser in former President George W. Bush’s administration, and he left Bridgewater Associates in 2022 after serving over a decade as its CEO.
In 2022, while at Bridgewater, McCormick declined an offer from Trump to be his deputy secretary of defense in favor of staying at the company. Trump has previously said Bridgewater “managed money for communist China.”