HARRISBURG, Pa. – Senator Bob Casey raised eyebrows at the GOP challenger Dave McCormick on Saturday night when the Scranton native refused to say the Democrats would be better for Pennsylvania – Vice President Kamala Harris or former presidential candidate Biden.
Casey initially dodged questions from ABC27 moderator Dennis Owens, then appeared to bite her lip before responding when pressed.
“Oh, I don’t know, Dennis. We’ll never know the answer,” the Democrat said. “The voters will make the decision.”
Of course, the decision of the nearly 14.5 million Americans who voted for Biden — another Scranton native — in this year’s Democratic primary is thrown out the window.
Casey-McCormick face-off in Harrisburg was the first of three planned debates in a tight race; they have agreed to meet again in Philadelphia on October 15 and Pittsburgh on an unspecified date.
McCormick tried to paint Casey as “weak” and “liberal” in the first race, tying the senator’s election records to Biden and Harris while repeatedly bashing the campaign’s opposition website about the incumbent, CaseyLies.com.
“You have to ask yourself: Why is a senator who has an 18-year track record who should be able to run on a record running the entire campaign with negative attacks on me, mostly lying?” McCormick said.
Casey largely focused his attack on McCormick’s past residence in Connecticut when he was CEO of hedge fund Bridgewater Associates.
When Casey cited an August 2023 AP article alleging McCormick lied about his Pennsylvania residency, the businessman fired back furiously.
“The fact that he got a reporter at the Associated Press to validate his lie or reinforce his lie doesn’t mean it’s true,” the Republican responded.
McCormick returned to the Squirrel Hill neighborhood of Pittsburgh in 2022 to run for the Senate but grew up in Bloomsburg.
The two accused each other of not standing up to the party’s more “extreme” factions, particularly on border security.
McCormick – who has visited the US-Mexico border twice – slammed Casey for not paying attention.
“Senator, you talk a lot about the border. I suggest you go,” McCormick said. “I’ve been to the border more times than senators and border tsars.”
“I think Mr. McCormick knows more about border security than the Border Patrol. Not like that,” Casey replied.
Casey also went after McCormick for not standing up to former President Donald Trump as he persuaded Senate Republicans to kill a bipartisan border bill.
“Leadership is going to take your own party leaders and support the bill,” Casey said.
McCormick was out of government when GOP senators killed the bill earlier this year.
At the Americans for Prosperity Action watch party on the street, attendees praised McCormick’s performance.
Bill Gramlich, a 60-year-old home improvement contractor, has volunteered with AFP Action in Pennsylvania for the past eight years and canvassed on behalf of McCormick this year.
Gramlich told The Post that this election was different: McCormick, he said, was “a more viable candidate.” (The controversial Dr. Mehmet Oz lost to Democratic Sen. John Fetterman in 2022.)
“He’s energized, and people are very enthusiastic about him running for this election against Bob Casey,” he said.
“His confidence is amazing, he’s the ultimate leader,” he said, citing the West Point graduate’s business accomplishments and service as a paratrooper in the 82nd Airborne Division.
AFP PA Senior Adviser, Emily Greene, said her team of more than 230 canvassers aimed to knock on 1 million doors before Election Day – and had already knocked on more than 750,000 since April.
He said that “no one is feeling prosperous in the current economy,” so he’s looking for a change.
“They want something different,” he said. “They want to find prosperity, and they’re not doing it through the leadership of Sen. Bob Casey.”
