HARRISBURG — Democratic Sen. Bob Casey and Republican opponent David McCormick will compete in the highly significant U.S. Senate race in Pennsylvania this autumn, after the primary election on Tuesday positioned them for a race expected to be extremely expensive and influential in determining Senate control next year.
Casey and McCormick won their respective party primary contests without opposition, and are now entering a potentially arduous, costly, and fiercely contested 2024 general election campaign leading up to the Nov. 5 vote.
Seeking his fourth term, Casey is arguably one of Pennsylvania’s most well-known politicians and a key figure in the state’s Democratic Party, being the son of a former two-term governor and the longest-serving Democrat in the Senate.
McCormick, a two-time Senate contender and former hedge fund CEO from Pennsylvania, spent $14 million of his own money in a narrow loss to celebrity heart surgeon Dr. Mehmet Oz in the 2022 seven-way GOP primary. This time, he has garnered significant party support and is backed by a multimillion-dollar super PAC, largely funded by securities-trading billionaires.
McCormick’s candidacy is shaping up to be the most formidable challenge to Casey in his three reelection campaigns. McCormick has concentrated on building support in the GOP base and emphatically delivered his message at his Pittsburgh election night event, characterizing Casey as an inactive senator.
“We’re now turning to the general election, and here’s the truth: Pennsylvania deserves better than Bob Casey, You deserve better,” McCormick said. “Bob Casey’s defining achievement in his political life, 30 years in political office, has been to be the son of Bob Casey Sr. That is what defines his political career.”
Casey, who was in Washington on Tuesday voting in favor of $95 billion in war aid to Ukraine, Israel, and Taiwan, asserted on social media that “there are 196 days until the general election, and we’re going to win.” Meanwhile, the state Democratic Party released a one-minute digital ad criticizing McCormick as a “millionaire hedge fund executive who is deceiving Pennsylvanians.”
The Senate candidates will appear on the ballot alongside presidential candidates in a state pivotal to the Democrats’ efforts to retain control of the White House and the Senate.
President Joe Biden and former President Donald Trump secured their party nominations easily after all major rivals withdrew. Both made campaign appearances in swing-state Pennsylvania recently, and voters can expect to see a lot of them, their TV commercials, and their representatives campaigning over the next six months in a state that shifted from Trump in 2016 to Biden in 2020.
Of particular interest, however, could be the number of “uncommitted” write-in votes cast in the Democratic primary to express dissatisfaction with Biden’s handling of the Israel-Hamas conflict.
Of particular note, though, could be the quantity of “uncommitted” write-in votes cast in the Democratic primary to protest Biden’s handling of the Israel-Hamas war.
In the Senate race, Democrats have criticized McCormick’s stance against abortion rights, his frequent trips to Connecticut’s upscale “Gold Coast” where he has a family home, and his focus on investing in China during his twelve years as an executive at the hedge fund Bridgewater Associates, including as CEO.
Casey has been an important figure for Democrats working to change the election-year story about the economy by attacking “greedflation” — a direct term for companies that raise prices and trick customers to maximize profits — as fast-rising prices over the past three years have become a weak point in 2024 for Democrats. Although signs that the U.S. economy avoided a recession amid efforts to control inflation have not led to voter enthusiasm for Biden.
Meanwhile, McCormick has accused Casey of approving harmful immigration, economic, energy, and national security policies of Biden, and he tried to attract Jewish voters by visiting the Israel-Gaza border and arguing that Biden hasn’t supported Israel strongly enough in the Israel-Hamas war.
Casey is one of Biden’s strongest allies in Congress. McCormick and Trump have endorsed each other, but are an awkward pair leading the GOP’s ticket after Trump attacked McCormick in the 2022 primary to help Oz win.
Currently, Democrats have a Senate majority by a very small margin, but they face a challenging 2024 Senate map that requires them to defend incumbents in the red states of Montana and Ohio, and compete for open seats with new candidates in Michigan and West Virginia.
A loss for Casey could mean Republican control of the Senate.
Other state competitions
In other voting on Tuesday, Pennsylvanians selected nominees for an open attorney general’s office and two other statewide positions — treasurer and auditor general — as well as all 17 of the state’s U.S. House seats.
For attorney general, Republicans chose Dave Sunday, the district attorney of York County, in a two-person race, while Democrats selected former state Auditor General Eugene DePasquale of Pittsburgh in a five-person primary field.
Democrats also selected Erin McClelland, a two-time congressional candidate in suburban Pittsburgh who has helped lead various human services organizations, to challenge Republican state Treasurer Stacy Garrity, and they chose state Rep. Malcolm Kenyatta of Philadelphia to challenge Republican state Auditor General Tim DeFoor. McClelland succeeded despite being heavily outspent by her party-supported opponent.
For Congress, 44 candidates were on the ballots, including all 17 current members. All three incumbents facing primary challengers — Republican Rep. Brian Fitzpatrick in suburban Philadelphia and Democratic Reps. Dwight Evans in Philadelphia and Summer Lee in a Pittsburgh-based district — won their races.
Lee’s primary against challenger Bhavini Patel has become an early test of whether Israel’s war with Gaza poses political threats to progressive Democrats in Congress who have criticized how it has been handled.
Republicans selected state Rep. Ryan Mackenzie in a three-person race to challenge Democratic Rep. Susan Wild, whose Allentown-based district is closely politically divided, while Democrats chose former TV news personality Janelle Stelson from among six candidates to challenge Republican Rep. Scott Perry in a Republican-leaning district in southern Pennsylvania.
Perry has gained national attention for leading the extremely conservative House Freedom Caucus during a struggle for the position of Speaker, and his actions to assist Trump in remaining in power after the 2020 presidential election loss.
