Pennsylvania Sen. Bob Casey Loses Reelection

Republican Dave McCormick was projected to defeat Sen. Bob Casey (D-Pa.), denying him a fourth term in an upset that signals a dramatic shift in fortunes for Democrats in the country’s quintessential battleground state.

Given a virtually guaranteed loss in West Virginia and tough odds in red states such as Montana, Senate Democrats were counting on candidates like Casey to pull through in order to hold onto their slim majority in the Senate. Casey’s loss is likely to jeopardize Democratic control of the chamber for years to come.

McCormick, a former hedge fund manager and Gulf War veteran, depicted Casey as a liberal “career politician” who put allegiance to President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris ahead of Pennsylvanians’ interests. He even hit Casey, a Scranton native, for being the son of a popular former governor of Pennsylvania.

“I’m a political outsider. That couldn’t be more different than Sen. Casey, who was born with a political spoon in his mouth,” McCormick said in his closing statement at the Oct. 15 debate with Casey. “He doesn’t know how to create jobs. He doesn’t understand the devastating effect of prices on families. He is a status quo candidate.”

McCormick’s win defies polling that consistently showed Casey in the lead and poised to perform better than Harris at the top of the ticket. 

Casey and his allies hammered McCormick’s record as a titan of finance and recent move back to the Keystone State, dubbing him a “Connecticut millionaire.”

McCormick had to explain his former hedge fund’s outsourcing of jobs; his support for opening trade with China and subsequent profit from those policies; and even his fund’s investment in a Chinese fentanyl producer. As a candidate, McCormick also took some politically questionable positions, like saying he would roll back the bipartisan infrastructure bill.

A Casey TV ad featured a married couple — a Democratic husband and a Republican wife — who say they disagree on politics, but both support Casey. “Casey bucked Biden to protect fracking, and he sided with [Donald] Trump to end NAFTA and put tariffs on China to stop them from cheating,” the Republican woman says.

But McCormick, a throwback to a more business-oriented and conventionally hawkish Republican Party, courted suburban voters in ways that eluded Trump.

And he successfully portrayed Casey with the Biden administration’s economic and immigration record.

Biden’s comments, days before the election, in which he appeared to call Trump supporters “garbage,” cannot have helped matters, even if Biden said he meant to refer to pro-Trump comic Tony Hinchcliffe.

McCormick featured video of Biden’s remarks alongside video of Casey praising Biden in one of his final TV ads.

“Clean up their mess on Nov. 5. Vote Republican. Vote Dave McCormick,” the ad concludes.

See full results from the Pennsylvania Senate election here.