Pennsylvania Senate Debate: Casey, McCormick Spar Over Economy, Border, Fracking

(Left) Senator Bob Casey in Philadelphia on Sept. 21, 2018. (Right) Dave McCormick in Milwaukee on July 16, 2024. Mark Makela/Getty Images; Andrew Caballero-Reynolds/AFP via Getty Images

Sen. Bob Casey (D-Pa.) and Republican millionaire businessman Dave McCormick squared off during an Oct. 15 debate ahead of the Nov. 5 election that could play a pivotal role in determining control of the Senate.

Casey, 64, is a former state auditor general and treasurer and Pennsylvania’s longest-serving Democrat in the Senate. He is seeking a fourth term.

McCormick, 59, is making his second run for the Senate after losing to Dr. Mehmet Oz in the 2022 Republican primary. He served as CEO of investment management company Bridgewater Associates, sat on President Donald Trump’s Defense Advisory Board, and held senior positions under President George W. Bush.

Polls show a close race, with Casey, who has served in the Senate since 2007, leading McCormick by 3.2 percentage points in the RealClearPolitics poll average. Casey also leads by 4 percentage points in a New York Times/Philadelphia Inquirer/Siena poll.

Throughout the 60-minute debate, Casey criticized McCormick over investments in China by Bridgewater Associates.

“If he’s going to talk about his record versus my record, his record is as a hedge fund CEO investing in China and our adversaries,” Casey said at the studio of WPVI-TV in Philadelphia. “That’s his record. Mine is bipartisan work in the Senate.”

McCormick defended his record at the company, where he worked after his tenure at McKinsey & Co., saying Bridgewater Associates invested globally, including in China, and that its investments were legal. He said these investments had even been approved by Casey during his time as Pennsylvania’s treasurer.

He criticized Casey for the state’s investments in China Mobile and for accepting lobbying contributions from companies that sell drones to the Chinese military.

McCormick accused Casey of being out of touch with Pennsylvania.

“Sen. Casey, in 18 years in the Senate, 30 years elected office, does not have a record he can run on, which is why he’s devoted himself to attacking me,” he said.

McCormick also said Casey has mostly voted in line with the federal government and is therefore not an independent voice.

The Economy

The issue at the beginning of the debate was the economy—and specifically inflation. Casey blamed price gouging, corporate greed, and corporate tax breaks for the rising prices of groceries and household items.

He called for a middle-class tax cut and an increase in the child tax credit.

Casey criticized McCormick for supporting the lower 21 percent corporate tax rate enacted during the Trump administration.

“He wants to give it to the billionaires, the people making hundreds of millions in the big corporations, and another big tax cut for the most powerful companies in the world is going to add up to more than $4 trillion,” he said.

McCormick blamed runaway spending as being behind the high costs, including a “war on fossil fuels.”

He said that Casey’s votes on the spending bills were “to drive this inflation problem.”

“It’s killing working families,” McCormick said.

He defended the 2017 tax cuts, saying they gave middle-class families tax relief.

McCormick criticized Casey for wanting to have “Venezuela-like price controls” and therefore socialism when it comes to dealing with high prices.

Border Security

Casey criticized McCormick for opposing a bipartisan Senate bill that would have tightened asylum laws. McCormick criticized it for putting the threshold of daily illegal entrants at 5,000, which would require the president to shut down the border.

“This is millions of people coming into the economy,” McCormick said. “It’s completely subverting what was intended by asylum.”

McCormick called the legislation, which was blocked by Republicans, “an amnesty bill.” He said the United States instead needs to secure the border and take military action against cartels, which he said should be treated like terrorist organizations.

“Of course, we need to embrace the fact that we’re a country of immigrants. We can’t tolerate hate, but we also can’t tolerate a wide open border that’s damaging the security of America,” he said.

Fracking

For an oil-rich state such as Pennsylvania, fracking is a major issue, one that Vice President Kamala Harris, the Democratic presidential nominee, has gone from opposing to supporting.

Casey and McCormick both said they support an all-of-the-above approach when it comes to energy.

Casey expressed support for “tough regulation” of the extraction method. He criticized McCormick for investing in Chinese oil companies.

McCormick said the federal government’s energy policies have “restricted our ... ability to export, drill, and [build] pipelines for natural gas, with EPA mandates, with all these huge subsidies to China for lithium batteries and solar panels.” He called for the United States to export natural gas.

Israel

Turning to Israel amid its war with Hamas in Gaza and Hezbollah in Lebanon, Casey expressed outrage over Hamas’s terrorist attack on Israel on Oct. 7, 2023. He said that Hamas has to be defeated as it has so far only been “badly undermined.” He said Hezbollah, the Houthis, and the Iranian regime also pose a threat to the Jewish state.

“We’ve got to continue to support Israel’s efforts not just to defend itself but to take the fight to those terrorists that are threatening them every single day,” he said.

Casey called for additional humanitarian assistance to Gaza, large parts of which Hamas controls.

McCormick—whose wife, Dina Powell, served in a senior national security position in the Trump administration—criticized Casey for supporting the 2015 Iran nuclear deal, which gave billions of dollars in sanctions relief to Tehran.

“That’s the root cause of this problem, and that’s what needs to be addressed,” he said. “We need to strangle Iran and its ability to support these terrorists.”

McCormick also criticized Casey and Senate Democrats for not bringing up the House-passed Antisemitism Awareness Act, of which he is an original co-sponsor. The bill would give protection to Jews under Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which prohibits institutions that receive federal funds from discriminating based on national origin, race, or color.

He also noted that Casey endorsed Rep. Summer Lee (D-Pa.), a member of the informal congressional group “The Squad,” which has been critical of Israel.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.