HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) — Democratic U.S. Sen. Bob Casey of Pennsylvania and Republican challenger David McCormick will meet Thursday evening for their first debate in a pricey race for a swing-state seat that could help win control of the Senate. determine the November elections.
Casey, perhaps Pennsylvania’s best-known politician, is seeking a fourth term and faces what he calls his toughest reelection challenge yet.
Casey, 64, is a staunch union ally, former state auditor general and treasurer and Pennsylvania’s longest-serving Democrat in the Senate. He has campaigned on preserving the middle class, abortion rights, labor rights and voting rights, calling McCormick and former President Donald Trump a threat to all of these people.
McCormick, 59, is making his second run for Senate after narrowly losing to Dr. in the 2022 Republican primary. Mehmet Oz. He is a former hedge fund CEO who served at the highest levels of former President George W. Bush’s administration and was a member of Trump’s Defense Advisory Council.
He has accused Casey of slamming the Biden administration’s policies on immigration, the economy, energy and national security, which he blames for inflation, civil unrest and war. He has also attacked Casey for being out of touch after serving nearly three decades in elected office.
Casey, in turn, has attacked McCormick as a carpet dealer from Connecticut’s ritzy “Gold Coast” who got rich at the expense of others while serving as a hedge fund director there.
Casey has been a key player for Democrats trying to reframe the election-year economics narrative by attacking “greed inflation” — a blunt term for companies that jack up prices and rip off shoppers to maximize profits — when rapidly rising prices opened a major recession. place in 2024 for the Democrats.
McCormick, meanwhile, has attempted to reach Jewish voters by traveling to the Israel-Gaza border, where he spoke to Jewish audiences across the state and argued that Casey and the Biden administration have failed to combat anti-Semitism or protect Israel strongly enough in the war between Israel and Hamas. .
Democrats currently hold a majority in the Senate by the narrowest of margins, but face a difficult Senate map for 2024. A Casey loss could guarantee Republican control of the Senate.
More than $150 million has been spent on the race so far, according to Federal Election Commission data, and the total is on track to exceed $300 million, based on AdImpact’s tracking of campaign ads, including places that run between now and Election Day are reserved.
The 60-minute debate will be televised across Pennsylvania and streamed live online beginning at 8 p.m. The debate is hosted by WHTM-TV in Harrisburg.
The candidates have agreed to a new debate, which will take place on October 15 on a TV station in Philadelphia.
Both Casey and McCormick were uncontested because of their party’s nominations in the primaries.
Also on the Nov. 5 Senate ballot are John Thomas of the Libertarian Party, Leila Hazou of the Green Party and Marty Selker of the Constitution Party. They were not invited to the debate.
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