The Pennsylvania Democratic Party plans a series of press events aimed at GOP U.S. Senate candidate David McCormick, which questions his positions on policy issues and his residency status. Branded as “Don’t Trust Dave,” the campaign will include local elected officials and labor officials at events across the state. McCormick is seeking to challenge U.S. Sen. Bob Casey (D-Pa.) in the November general election.
The campaign will start with a press conference in Harrisburg on Friday, where state Rep. David Madsen (D-Dauphin) and Pennsylvania AFL-CIO secretary-treasurer George Piasecki will discuss McCormick’s record with regard to workers, according to PA Democrats. The organization said details about which elected officials would be participating and other details about future events were not yet available.
“Whether it’s his long record of enriching himself at the expense of working Pennsylvanians, supporting an abortion ban with no exceptions for rape or incest, or lying about living in Pennsylvania, David McCormick has lied his way through his campaign,” Pennsylvania Democratic Party spokesperson TaNisha Cameron said in a statement. “We’re going to make sure Pennsylvanians in every part of the state know about his disqualifying positions.”
The McCormick campaign pushed back against the theme.
“Who should Pennsylvanians trust?” McCormick campaign spokesperson Elizabeth Gregory wrote in an email to the Capital-Star in response to a request for comment. “A 30-year career politician who has used his office to profit for his family and voted for the failed policies of Biden’s open border, high crime, high prices, and fentanyl crisis in our commonwealth or a 7th generation Pennsylvanian who is a Bronze Star recipient, West Point graduate, and combat veteran who has devoted himself to serving his country and the commonwealth?”
Democrats have focused on McCormick’s residency status, claiming that he does not live in Pennsylvania. The Associated Press reported in August 2023 that even though he owns a home in Pittsburgh, McCormick rents a $16 million mansion in Connecticut. The Philadelphia Inquirer recently reported that after launching a bus tour to visit all of Pennsylvania’s counties earlier this month, McCormick flew back to Connecticut the same day. McCormick has said that he is a divorced father who visits his daughter in Connecticut.
READ: Which Will Die First, American Democracy or CPAC?
Questions about former GOP Senate candidate Mehmet Oz’s residency status dogged him throughout the 2022 U.S. Senate campaign in Pennsylvania, as Democrat John Fetterman repeatedly accused Oz of living not in Pennsylvania, but in New Jersey.
National Republicans are focusing on Casey’s tenure in Washington, D.C. as he seeks his fourth term in office. “We plan to make sure Pennsylvanians are aware Bob Casey is a career politician who has spent decades in Washington using his office to dole out kickbacks to his lobbyist friends and family members,” National Republican Senatorial Committee spokesperson Philip Letsou said in a statement. Politico reported last year that financial disclosures showed Casey’s brother Patrick had reported lobbying the Senate on several issues. A Casey spokesperson told Politico at the time that the senator’s office abides by Senate ethics rules that bar lawmakers with immediate family members who are lobbyists from having any “lobbying” contact with the person.
McCormick himself will also be in Harrisburg on Friday, participating in a roundtable at the Pennsylvania Manufacturers Association organized by Building America’s Future, for a discussion on domestic energy production.
Recent polling from Emerson College found Casey leading McCormick 49% to 39% among registered voters, with 13% undecided. The same poll showed former President Donald Trump with a slight lead over President Joe Biden in a rematch at the top of the ticket, with Trump at 45% and Biden at 43%. Both men clinched their respective party’s nominations this week after receiving the required number of electoral votes during Tuesday primaries.
Pennsylvania’s primary election is April 23.
Pennsylvania Capital-Star is part of States Newsroom, a network of news bureaus supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Pennsylvania Capital-Star maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor John Micek for questions: info@penncapital-star.com. Follow Pennsylvania Capital-Star on Facebook and Twitter.
