With about one month before the election, incumbent Democratic Sen. Bob Casey faces GOP businessman Dave McCormick Thursday in their first debate.
Casey is seeking his fourth term.
This is McCormick’s second run for a U.S. Senate seat. He lost in the 2022 Republican primary to Mehmet Oz, who went on to lose to Democrat John Fetterman in the fall.
One third of the Senate is up for re-election and Democrats have a one-seat majority in the chamber, so every race could prove critical for who holds the majority.
J.J. Abbott, executive director of Commonwealth Communications and former spokesman for Democratic Gov. Tom Wolf, said the debate will exhibit the stark contrasts between the candidates.
“You have Sen. Casey, who’s spent his career in public service, has really made workers and families a huge part of his agenda for decades, and then you have Dave McCormick, that spent most of his life on Wall Street,” he said.
Samuel Chen, principal director of The Liddell Group and former aide to Republican Sen. Pat Toomey, expects a lot of barbs thrown back and forth.
“You’re going to see a lot of finger-pointing about records,” he said. “McCormick will go after Casey’s record. Casey will go after McCormick’s past, obviously not a voting record, but things that he’s done.”
Chen and Abbott believe each candidate will try to tie the other to the presidential nominees.
“If you follow McCormick’s campaign, he’s been heavily focused on sort of being as Trumpian as possible,” Abbott said.
During Joe Biden’s State of the Union address, the president directly mentioned Casey, praising one of his bills. When Biden dropped out of the race and endorsed Vice President Kamala Harris, Casey was quick to endorse her.
A lot of what will be discussed may be related to the economy.
Casey has introduced bills combatting “shrinkflation,” which happens when prices go up, even as products get smaller.
McCormick, who served as CEO of hedge fund Bridgewater Associates from 2017 to 2022, said he would rein in government spending and oppose tax increases.
Chen expects immigration to be discussed and for McCormick to go after Casey’s voting record on sanctuary cities.
In 2016, he voted against the Stop Dangerous Sanctuary Cities Act that was introduced by Toomey, his fellow Pennsylvania senator.
Casey will likely bring up the failed bipartisan border deal that Republicans killed after Trump said it would help Democrats.
Additionally, McCormick has spread falsehoods about Haitian immigrants in Charleroi, posting on X that the small town has grown 2,000% due to an influx of immigrants.
The article actually says the town saw that increase in just the immigrant population, not the population as a whole, though that and other assertions in the article have been denounced and refuted by local officials.
Chen said Casey might go after McCormick for that misstatement.
Chen and Abbott both expect Casey to go after McCormick and his Connecticut residence.
The McCormick campaign has said that he maintains a residence in Connecticut as his daughters finish high school, though his home is in Pittsburgh.
Chen said McCormick may accuse Casey of flip-flopping on past stances on things such as abortion.
Throughout his political career Casey has described himself as a “pro-life Democrat.” However, he decried the loss of abortion rights with the overturning of Roe v. Wade in 2022.
In contrast to many debates over the past years, Chen said he doesn’t expect either candidate to launch personal attacks.
“I don’t expect their families to be involved beyond maybe a mention of McCormick’s wife being in the Trump administration, I don’t expect to see their families get brought up into it,” he said.
“I expect to see their past careers attacked, but I don’t expect them to go after each other on a personal level.”
The debate begins at 8 p.m Thursday.
A second debate will be held October 15.
