Republican David McCormick flips pivotal Pennsylvania Senate seat, ousts Bob Casey

HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) — Republican David McCormick has won Pennsylvania’s pivotal U.S. Senate seat, arsenic nan erstwhile CEO of nan world’s largest hedge money hit three-term Democratic Sen. Bob Casey successful Tuesday’s predetermination aft accusing nan incumbent of supporting policies that led to inflation, home turmoil and war.

The battleground authorities title pads Republicans’ mostly successful nan Senate, which they wrested from Democratic power this week.

McCormick, 59, recaptured a GOP spot successful Pennsylvania that Republicans mislaid successful 2022, paying disconnected a stake that party brass made erstwhile they urged McCormick to tally and consolidated support down him.

McCormick drew connected contacts from crossed nan worlds of government, authorities and finance to unafraid backing for his run aft he was CEO of nan world’s largest hedge money and served astatine nan highest levels of erstwhile President George W. Bush’s administration.

Beating Casey is earth-shaking for Pennsylvania’s Democratic establishment. Casey is nan namesake of a erstwhile two-term politician and Pennsylvania’s longest-serving Democrat ever successful nan Senate. Until Tuesday, Casey had won six statewide wide elections going backmost to 1996.

McCormick drummed retired nan accordant connection that Casey was a do-nothing and anemic profession leader who was a cardinal state of President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris. McCormick maintained that he would bring activity to nan job.

McCormick besides benefited from tens of millions of dollars successful run rate from billionaires and different friends from crossed nan worlds of hedge costs and securities trading.

It was McCormick’s second time running, this clip pinch a clear superior and erstwhile President Donald Trump’s endorsement, aft he lost narrowly to nan Trump-endorsed Dr. Mehmet Oz successful 2022’s costly seven-way primary.

He has a agelong resume that includes being dressed up for his Army work successful nan Gulf War, earning a Ph.D from Princeton University, moving online auction location FreeMarkets Inc. — which had its sanction connected a skyscraper successful Pittsburgh during nan tech roar — and sitting connected nan boards of salient institutions, including Trump’s Defense Advisory Board.

He had baggage, too.

He many times tried to soften his stance against abortion authorities aft celebrating nan Supreme Court’s 2022 determination to overturn 1972’s landmark Roe v. Wade determination and extremity a half-century of national protection of nan correct to an abortion. In nan end, McCormick insisted that he would reason a national prohibition connected abortion and time off successful spot Pennsylvania’s rule that allows an abortion up to nan 24th week of gestation.

McCormick had to sorb accusations — first successful 2022’s GOP superior and past again by Casey — that he was a rich | carpetbagger from Connecticut’s ritzy Gold Coast trying to bargain a Senate seat. McCormick lived location until he ran for Senate successful 2022 and, while he bought a location successful Pittsburgh, he besides maintained a monolithic location successful Connecticut until a stepdaughter graduated precocious schoolhouse earlier this year.

McCormick, successful turn, stressed his seventh-generation roots successful Pennsylvania, talked up his precocious schoolhouse days wrestling successful towns crossed bluish Pennsylvania — a athletics that took him to nan U.S. subject academy astatine West Point — and increasing up nan boy of 2 educators. His begetter became nan first chancellor of Pennsylvania’s state-owned assemblage strategy — nether Casey’s father.

Still, McCormick helped bring nan carpetbagger caricature to life by mispronouncing nan sanction of 1 of Pennsylvania’s best-known section beers.

McCormick besides suffered done a legion of attacks connected his hedge fund’s investments, including accusations that he got rich astatine America’s disbursal by buying shares successful Chinese companies that nan national authorities later came to see portion of Beijing’s subject and surveillance business complex.

McCormick, meanwhile, tried to capitalize connected turmoil successful nan Middle East and astatine nan U.S. confederate separator pinch Mexico.

He made a bid for Jewish voters by walking to nan Israel-Gaza border, speaking to Jewish audiences crossed nan authorities and arguing that Casey and nan Biden management person not fought antisemitism aliases backed Israel powerfully capable successful nan Israel-Hamas war.

On nan border, he backed Trump’s promise to transportation retired a wide deportation of immigrants successful nan state without support — prioritizing group pinch criminal records — and vowed to property for U.S. military action successful Mexico to target fentanyl trafficking networks, a arguable thought that originated pinch Trump.

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Follow Marc Levy astatine https://x.com/timelywriter.