Bob Casey and Dave McCormick enter Senate race pending 2024 election results

Incumbent Democratic Senator Bob Casey Junior faces well-funded challenge from Republicans Dave McCormick in the U.S. Senate race in Pennsylvania, which the entire country is watching.

Although Casey led for much of the campaign, the race has tightened in recent days. observers regarded it as a drawing of lots as voters head to the polls.

Casey, a mild-mannered centrist whose father was governor of Pennsylvania, is seeking a fourth six-year term. McCormick, a West Point graduate and Gulf War veteran, is a former hedge fund CEO who benefited from tens of millions of dollars in spending from super PACs. funded by financial industry billionaires.

While the race may not determine control of the Senate, given that Republicans are likely to win seats in West Virginia and Montana, it could play an important role in determining the strength of the expected GOP majority. If Casey and a few other Democrats survive, Republicans have little chance of defections in the upper chamber over the next two years.

Tuesday marks McCormick’s second attempt to win a Senate seat from Pennsylvania. He lost narrowly in the 2022 GOP primary Mehmet Oz, a famous physician who was in turn defeated by US Senator John Fetterman (D-PA)..

That same year, former President Donald Trump endorsed Oz, which was seen as a snub to McCormick because his wife, former Goldman Sachs managing partner Dina Powell, served as deputy national security adviser in the Trump administration. In 2024, Trump endorsed McCormick, who faced little competition in the primary.

That sets the stage for a race that will have as much on the line as 2022, given the narrow partisan divide in the Senate, but with a significantly different tone than the matchup with the controversial and headline-grabbing personalities of Oz and Fetterman.

Casey – Private A Democratic senator preaching the virtues of bipartisan civility.while McCormick is a pure army man turned businessman. And while neither shied away from attacking the other on the campaign trail, there was little drama in the race, leaving voters with a relatively simple choice between a career politician and a rookie plutocrat.

Throughout the race, McCormick faced questions about his ties to Pennsylvania. It was reported earlier this year that he had repeatedly flown private jets back to Connecticut, where one of his daughters from a previous marriage still lives.

McCormick was born in western Pennsylvania and raised in Bloomsburg. He went to West Point and served in the Gulf War. He then spent about a decade in Pittsburgh, where he headed the software company FreeMarkets, before joining the Bush administration in 2005.

After leaving Washington in 2009, McCormick became the head of Bridgewater Associates, a hedge fund based in Connecticut. That means he didn’t live in the Keystone State for about 17 years before starting his political career around 2022.

A native of Scranton, Casey followed in his father’s footsteps into the political arena when he won election to become state auditor general in 1996. Shortly after winning re-election, he launched a campaign for governor in 2002, losing to eventual winner former Philadelphia Mayor Ed Rendell, the only loss of Casey’s career.

He rebounded by winning the 2004 election for state treasurer and in 2006 made national headlines by unseating U.S. Sen. Rick Santorum, a prominent conservative Republican.

Casey entered politics as a candidate as an old-school Pennsylvania Democrat, fiscally liberal and socially conservative. A “pro-life Democrat,” he opposed marriage equality for same-sex couples and fought gun regulation efforts. He has since changed his stance on all three issues to fit the national Democratic platform.

But he maintained a populist economic agenda, supporting labor unions, opposing efforts to restrict the natural gas industry and fighting free trade agreements, including those proposed by Democratic presidents.

This year Casey’s messages about inflation – he calls it “greedy inflation” and blames it on speculative corporations rather than government spending. – was received by the vice president Kamala Harris campaign and other Democrats.

Both campaigns expected a tight race, despite Casey starting with a significant lead in the polls due to Pennsylvania voters being more familiar with him. Thanks in no small part to months of television advertising, McCormick’s profile has grown, and in recent weeks the contest has been widely perceived as a toss-up.

Campaigns, their parties and outside spending groups spent more than $300 million on the race. The largest outside donor was McCormick-backed Keystone Renewal. Super PAC backed primarily by financial industry billionairessome of whom knew the Republican from his days in Bridgewater.

The PAC’s spending played a critical role in making McCormick financially competitive in only the second time he ran for office against a man who had won statewide elections, including races for Pennsylvania auditor general and treasurer.

McCormick’s strategy for much of the race was to tie Casey to the president. Joe Biden And Harris‘, which Republicans called radical and too liberal for Pennsylvania.

Casey, on the other hand, drew heavily from McCormick’s time at Bridgewater. highlighting the firm’s leading role in investing in China and two charges that McCormick helped cover up unfair treatment of female employees.

Neither candidate criticized their party’s presidential nominee, but both sought to create some daylight between themselves and the top of the ticket.

Casey has repeatedly stressed that he does not support a ban on natural gas production, a position Harris took in 2019 but has since backed down. And McCormick has said throughout the race that he believes Biden won the 2020 presidential election, which is generally seen as an insult to Trump.