Republicans trying to recapture the U.S. Senate majority have the candidate they want in Pennsylvania. Now they just need David McCormick to run.
Almost since the moment he lost last year’s Senate GOP primary, McCormick has floated the possibility that he would again seek the party’s nomination for the U.S. Senate, this time to challenge three-term Democratic Sen. Bob Casey.
McCormick has shown up at local party events, raised money for Republican candidates, hired staff, done a publicity tour for his new book and made the rounds of conservative podcasts. In short, everything a candidate might do — except announce his candidacy.
“At this point, if Dave McCormick doesn’t run, it’ll be the biggest head fake in Pennsylvania political history,” said Vince Galko, a Republican campaign strategist based in northeastern Pennsylvania.
Republicans, perhaps, have done just about everything they can think of to entice McCormick to join a 2024 ticket that might feature a rematch of Donald Trump and President Joe Biden in a premier battleground state that is critical both to control of the White House and the Senate.
For a party that has struggled — both nationally and in Pennsylvania — with nominating polarizing and badly flawed candidates for Senate, some in Pennsylvania worry that another fringe candidate could capture the nomination and embarrass the party anew if McCormick doesn’t run.
McCormick has talked about possibly running for so long now that his stalling has prompted head-scratching in some quarters.
“Talked to him a couple weeks ago, sounded like he was going to run, but I don’t know,” said Rob Gleason, a former state GOP chair and McCormick supporter.
McCormick has not publicly discussed his decision-making process and didn’t respond to an interview request.
The Democratic Party has treated McCormick as the de facto GOP nominee, attacking his record in business, his opposition to abortion rights and indications that he still lives on Connecticut’s “Gold Coast” — in a $16 million mansion, no less — where he spent more than a dozen years while at the hedge fund, Bridgewater Associates. McCormick, a Pennsylvania native, insists he lives in Pittsburgh, in a house he bought there in early 2022.
For much of the year, McCormick aides have given a sliding timeline for a decision, including Labor Day at one point, and McCormick’s openness about his ruminations has effectively frozen the GOP’s primary field.
Aides now say a decision is close.
Meanwhile, McCormick has drawn pledges of support from two major Senate GOP donor committees — the National Republican Senatorial Committee and the Senate Leadership Fund, a super PAC linked to Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell — even in a primary.
In recent days, a McCormick ally has circulated a letter of support for McCormick featuring a who’s who of party brass, including the state party chair, the party’s two national committee representatives and 36 of 67 county party chairs.
If McCormick doesn’t run, some party officials worry about the caliber of available alternatives at this relatively late stage.
“That’s going to be a problem,” said Sam DeMarco, the Allegheny County GOP chair who is circulating the letter. “At the moment, we have no idea if Dave chose not to run who would step up. But it’s clear that the Republican Party of Pennsylvania is putting its chips on Dave McCormick.”
