Republican Senator Bob Casey is getting ready for an assault.
Following a summer of vicious attacks in the highly-publicized US Senate race in Pennsylvania, where he and his Republican opponent, David McCormick, were locked in a virtual tie, Republicans are gearing up to pour over $100 million into the airwaves during the last two months of the campaign.
With this enormous sum—roughly $40 million more than Casey and his backers have planned thus far—McCormick gains the greatest advantage over any Senate contender in the last stretch of the race in terms of airtime. Each side had spent about the same amount of time on air up until this point, but Casey had the upper hand.
After a rally in Philadelphia with union members, three-term incumbent and longtime Pennsylvania politician Casey told HEADLINESFOREVER, “I think I’m the underdog.” “The spending is going to skyrocket due to these corporate super PACs that have been attacking me since the summer.”
Even though Casey continued to claim he will win in November and didn’t “care what they spend,” he did say, “I don’t have a personal super PAC funded by Wall Street billionaires…. ” It’s going to be an incredibly challenging race to win.
The broader Democratic fight to maintain Senate power is highlighted by Casey’s remarks. In order to maintain a 50/50 Senate, they must retain all of their seats except West Virginia, which is nearly guaranteed to be won by the Republicans. And with seats to protect in red states like Ohio and Montana, Democrats just cannot afford to make a mistake in a purple state like Pennsylvania.
Casey has been attacking McCormick’s character in an effort to derail that outcome. This is a strategy that Democrats are employing nationwide in battleground states to win over people who are considering voting for both candidates. While Casey is focusing on McCormick’s time at the helm of a large Wall Street hedge firm and his time in Connecticut as a resident, the Republican and his supporters are trying to make the contest about national issues by linking their opponent to Vice President Kamala Harris, the border, and inflation.
“The reason the race is closing is that Sen. Casey is just out of touch with Pennsylvania,” McCormick stated during an interview here in an eastern Pennsylvania hamlet where Trump received 60% of the vote in 2020. He has not been an effective senator.
Unlike his opponents, McCormick has access to a super PAC financed by wealthy donors, which he is using to intensify these attacks. Keystone Renewal PAC has set aside $66 million for the last two months of the campaign, which is more than Casey and his friends’ $64 million, according to AdImpact statistics. This comes out of the $101 million that McCormick and his GOP allies intend to spend on the air. Billionaires Paul Singer and Ken Griffin have contributed $2 million and $10 million, respectively, to the super PAC, as shown in federal documents.
Plus, McCormick’s personal wealth is an additional advantage. In response to a question about whether he would personally spend more money on the campaign in its last months, McCormick said he had “already been a big investor,” citing public records showing that he has spent $4 million on the campaign thus far.
Being an investor is something I intend to keep doing because I have faith in myself. “So I’m investing in myself,” McCormick told the press. However, compared to other races in the nation, this one will cost the most. Therefore, I will require a great deal of assistance.
I’m up against a long-serving incumbent who has served three terms,” McCormick continued. In Pennsylvania, he is widely recognized. My assumption is that I am the underdog.
The Trump–Harris dynamic
Despite the fact that their standard bearer’s stances place them in a tough political position, both candidates have determined that it is strategically prudent to identify themselves with their ticket heads.
In the 2022 Senate primary, McCormick—who had never been elected before—lost to Dr. Mehmet Oz, who had Donald Trump’s support. The race was hotly contested, and Trump berated McCormick multiple times during the campaign.
After making amends with Trump, McCormick gained the support of the former president and stumped with him at events in Pennsylvania and the Republican National Convention. At the rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, in July, McCormick was actually ready to speak when Trump asked him to hold on for a second. A shooter then attempted to assassinate the ex-president.
According to McCormick, “Yeah” was his response when asked if he believes he might have been targeted at the rally. I was too busy thinking to think. After that, I spoke to each of my six daughters when I went home that night, and they were really terrified.
There are, however, constraints on McCormick’s collaboration with Trump.
If you asked McCormick whether he thought Joe Biden won the 2020 Pennsylvania election, he would respond yes, despite Trump’s assertions that the election was stolen.
President Biden was our president, as I had previously stated. The election had gone to him. The election was not stolen, in McCormick’s opinion. According to the president, “President Trump and I agree on many things, but we don’t agree on everything.”
A Republican who identifies as Dave McCormick was McCormick’s response when asked whether he was a MAGA Republican. Time and again, I have stated my stances. On matters of policy, my views are in perfect harmony with those of President Trump.
Differently in Casey’s opinion.
McCormick was criticized by Casey for constantly bending over backwards to appease Trump. Casey brought up the fact that Trump had branded McCormick a “liberal Wall Street Republican” during the 2022 campaign, a charge that had been emphasized in Democratic attack advertisements.
Still, Casey has his own high-profile problems to solve, such as Harris’ more liberal views, such as her earlier calls to outlaw fracking, a method of extracting fossil fuels that has special resonance in Pennsylvania. At last week’s Labor Day event in Pittsburgh, Casey joined Harris and President Joe Biden on the stump, praising Harris’ turnaround, which states that she would not ban fracking.
When asked about his decision to support Harris, Casey stated: “Look, in this state, her campaign already has brought a real lift to the turnout dynamics.” This was in response to the fact that other vulnerable Democrats have avoided her. Many younger voters are more involved now than in the past. She’s got a formidable campaign going. In the Senate, we’ve been friends for quite some time.
His disagreements with the Democratic nominee, Joe Biden, would go unspoken, and he would never identify as a Biden-Harris Democrat.
“I won’t attempt to list all the things on which we might disagree,” he declared.