Casey, McCormick clash in their first U.S. Senate debate. Here are 4 highlights.
Pennsylvania Sen. Bob Casey and his GOP rival, Dave McCormick, clashed in a fierce debate Thursday night, attacking each other on everything from their careers to their trustworthiness.
The hourlong closed-set debate, which took place in the ABC27 studio in Harrisburg and with Dennis Owens as moderator, was the first sparring match between the two men in a high-stakes contest that could help decide the partisan tilt of the U.S. Senate.
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Casey, a well-known Democrat who’s fighting for his fourth term, raised questions about McCormick’s Pennsylvania residency and business dealings at the investment firm the Republican used to lead.
“While I was working … on behalf of the people of the state, this guy was running the largest hedge fund in the world, investing in China,” Casey said.
McCormick, a military veteran and businessman, hammered Casey as weak and ineffective, saying he'd accomplished little in his nearly 20 years in D.C.
“Show me a place where you have stood up and made a difference for Pennsylvania,” he fired at Casey. “Pennsylvania deserves better.”
The Republican says he would disrupt D.C. stagnation with the competitive drive he developed in the private sector, vowing to spend no more than two terms in the Senate.
Although Casey has sailed through his previous reelection contests, McCormick is putting him through his toughest test yet. The Democratic incumbent is still favored to win, but polls show the race has tightened, and some have the two men locked in a tie.
Here are four takeaways from Thursday night’s matchup.
Inflation, greedflation, shrinkflation: Casey, McCormick duel on key election topic
Both candidates were accused of abortion flip-flops
The candidates both addressed accusations that they’ve flip-flopped on abortion, one of the issues that voters have said is at the top of their minds going into this election.
The Democratic incumbent pointed to McCormick’s past debate comments, when the Republican said he opposed abortion with an exception if the life of the woman was at risk. At the time, McCormick did not mention incest or rape as appropriate exceptions.
But McCormick said Thursday night that he does support all three exceptions and would not back a federal abortion ban, arguing that decisions on the “extremely polarizing” issue should be left to states.
The debate moderator then asked Casey, who was raised Catholic and long billed himself as a “pro-life Democrat,” about his announcement two years ago that he wanted to pass federal abortion protections.
Casey responded that he voiced support for those protections following the U.S. Supreme Court’s 2022 reversal of the national right to an abortion.
When the Supreme Court toppled Roe v. Wade, “I think everyone had to make a decision, including senators,” Casey said. “I don’t support Republican efforts to ban abortion across the country.”
Biden, Trump and Harris loomed large in the background
President Job Biden's administration and the presidential race between former President Donald Trump and Vice President Kamala Harris were in the backdrop of the verbal sparring match — and took the foreground at times.
McCormick repeatedly noted that Casey has voted with President Joe Biden 99% of the time and said Pennsylvanians can expect more of the same party-line decisions if they return the incumbent to office.
McCormick attacked Casey for continuing to support Biden earlier this year as many people were questioning the 81-year-old president’s competency to stand for reelection. After a disastrous debate performance, Biden ultimately stepped aside under pressure and ceded the field to Harris.
But for his part, Casey questioned whether McCormick was independent-minded enough to buck Trump on a bipartisan border bill that came before Congress this year. Senate Republicans blocked the legislation at Trump’s urging.
McCormick said he doesn’t support the border measure.
When moderator Dennis Owens asked McCormick to identify where he parted ways with Trump, the GOP hopeful said he does not agree with the former president’s support for restoring local and state tax deductions, called SALT.
“That’s a tax break for millionaires in New York and California at the expense of Pa. taxpayers,” McCormick said.
The crisis at the U.S.-Mexico border took center stage
The candidates each acknowledged that because of the ongoing crisis at the nation’s border with Mexico, fentanyl is entering the United States and making its way to Pennsylvania communities. But each accused the other of failing to offer good-faith solutions to the problem.
McCormick stressed that these problems have worsened under Casey’s watch, contending that federal officials must focus on deporting dangerous criminals who are in the United States illegally and on dismantling economic incentives that drive people to come here in the first place.
“These people come across the border, in two days, they are let loose on our economy,” McCormick said. “So it’s going to be very hard to track them down. It’s going to be an enormous logistical challenge, but we have to do it to break the incentives.”
Casey highlighted his support for the bipartisan border bill, which he said would address the most pressing immigration security need by providing funding to hire more border patrol agents.
McCormick derided the legislation as an “amnesty bill” rather than a border security measure.
But the Democratic incumbent noted that the labor union representing the U.S. Border Patrol agents had endorsed the bill.
“I guess Mr. McCormick knows more about border security than the Border Patrol,” Casey said. “I don’t think so.”
The candidates attacked one another viciously
The debate began with a handshake, but that was largely where the cordiality ended.
Each man condemned his opponent as a liar; in fact, one of McCormick’s first orders of business during the debate was to announce that his campaign had just launched a website dedicated to characterizing Casey as deceptive.
At another point, the GOP candidate compared his opponent to Punxsutawney Phil, the famous Pennsylvania groundhog, saying that Casey “keeps his head down, only pops it up for political benefit.”
Casey repeatedly went after McCormick for his past as a hedge fund CEO, criticizing the firm's investments in a Chinese fentanyl-maker and in companies with ties to the Chinese military. He also questioned McCormick’s Pennsylvania residency at multiple points in the debate.
Though McCormick owns a home in Pittsburgh’s Squirrel Hill neighborhood, he also rents a large residence in Connecticut’s swanky “Gold Coast,” near where his daughter attends private school. McCormick dismissed Casey’s accusation that he’s not a Pennsylvania resident as a lie.
The two earlier agreed to a second debate Oct 15.
Bethany Rodgers is a Paste BN Network Pennsylvania capital bureau investigative journalist.