Dave McCormick has done this before, he has walked this path and almost achieved his goal.
But, he said on Wednesday, this time everything is different.
McCormick told members of the Latino community gathered in Wyomissing that he has learned a thing or two since running for a U.S. Senate seat in 2022, when he narrowly lost the Republican nomination to Mehmet Oz by fewer than 950 votes.
Now he is running for the Senate again. This time he is the Republican candidate and is running against the Democratic US Senator Bob Casey, who has already served three terms. He will therefore fight for the majority in the chamber.
He said he changed between the two campaigns.
“The last time I ran, I was a little shy and said, ‘I hope you vote for me,'” he said, explaining that he is now more confident and aggressive in pursuing his goal. “I’m giving it my all. I need more than that. You need to tell your friends, you need to register people to vote, you need to tell your neighbors. Every vote is going to count.”
The reason for the change, McCormick said, is his belief that the 2024 election may be the most consequential of his life.
“This election is not about me, it’s not about most of you – it’s about our children,” he said, adding that he feared for their future. “These children are not going to be OK.”
“You have to treat this election as if your life depends on it, because it does.”
McCormick said he is convinced he is the person who can put the country on a better course. And he feels obligated to take on that challenge, he added.
“I’m just running to be a great leader for Pennsylvania,” he said. “I don’t owe anyone anything. I’m not trying to get a better job. I’m doing this for the love of this country.”
McCormick spoke to 16 people invited to a panel discussion at Keller Williams Platinum Realty about her contact with the campaign and her involvement in the local political scene.
The 58-year-old was a long-time executive at Bridgewater Associates, the world’s largest hedge fund, where he worked for more than a decade before leaving the company to fill the vacant Senate seat left by outgoing Republican Senator Pat Toomey.
After that attempt failed two years ago, he said his desire to serve the country prompted him to try again.
“You’re probably here for the same reason I’m running, which is the fear that if we don’t put the right people in office, the America we love will slip away and the country we love will no longer be here for our children,” he told the group.
McCormick, who is endorsed by former President Donald Trump, said his campaign is largely about deciding what kind of leadership is needed in Washington.
“What kind of politics do we want?” he asked.
McCormick claimed that under the Biden/Harris administration, the national debt has spiraled out of control, that taxpayers will have to pay for billions in student loan debt, and that the southern border continues to face a flood of illegal fentanyl.
He claimed that crime has increased under the current administration, that law enforcement is not supported, and that there is a “war” against the energy industry.
“These are very scary times and we have to choose between the kind of leadership we want for the future and the kind of leadership we have had for the last three and a half years,” he said.
McCormick said the Democratic Party’s policies are out of step with the wishes of Pennsylvanians. He said people across the state want economic policies that don’t create inflation, they want to decide for themselves what kind of cars they can drive, they want their Second Amendment rights and they want secure borders.
“These are the possibilities,” he said.
McCormick also said that the events in Pennsylvania were critical to the strength of the entire nation.
“This is the most important state in the country,” he said. “The voters here will determine who wins the presidency, and that will determine the majority in the Senate. So I come to you as a proud American, as a veteran, as someone who has been a businessman, as someone who has spent most of his life in Pennsylvania, and as someone who has lived the American dream and wants to make sure it is attainable for all of our children.”
Following his remarks, McCormick answered some questions from the audience.
Rick Olmos, a Shillington resident and member of the Pennsylvania Commission on Latino Affairs, said grants available at both the federal and state levels for small businesses typically don’t help the Latino community because they tend to own micro-businesses. He asked McCormick if he would support changing the policy to ensure micro-businesses are included.
McCormick said he would have to look into the matter further without knowing the details, but it seemed like something he could support.
“About 80% of jobs in Pennsylvania are created by small businesses – they are the engine of our economy and we need to do everything we can to help them grow,” he said. “As someone who used to own a business myself, I am very open to such measures.”
Ramon Melecil, a Wyomissing business owner, said rising health insurance costs for his 15 employees were becoming a major problem. He asked McCormick what could be done to ease the burden without passing it on to his employees.
“I come from a humble background, so money is not the most important thing for me. I would rather help the people who work for me and make sure they can provide for their families,” Melecil said. “But sometimes it’s really hard.”
McCormick said he wants to give people tax credits so they can set aside tax-free income for their health care. That way, if someone has an emergency that results in costs their health insurance doesn’t cover, they won’t go bankrupt.
McCormick ended Wednesday’s session by fending off some attacks from his opponent.
“Senator Casey is telling all kinds of lies about me,” he said.
He said reports that he is not a Pennsylvanian are false, explaining that he grew up in the state. He left the state to attend West Point and serve five years in the military, but then came back to start a business here.
“Then I went into government for a while and then worked for a large corporation in Connecticut for 12 years,” he said. “But I kept my family’s farm during that time and now live in Pittsburgh.”
McCormick also defended himself against allegations that a company he ran had invested in a Chinese company responsible for producing fentanyl that had found its way into the United States.
He said that when he worked for Bridgewater Associates, the firm had only about three percent of its investments in China, and claimed that financial records showed that Casey owned an investment fund with a stake in the same Chinese company.
In conclusion, McCormick said his stance on abortion had been misrepresented.
“I am not in favor of banning abortion,” he said. “I am not in favor of national legislation. I believe the people of a state should decide through their legislatures.”
McCormick said he supports exceptions in cases of rape, incest and saving the mother’s life.
McCormick’s visit to Berks County follows a campaign stop Casey made in Reading last week.
Polls show McCormick currently trailing Casey by seven percentage points in RealClearPolling, which provides an average of several national polls.
