PHILADELPHIA- In less than two weeks, some Pennsylvania voters will be casting ballots for the first time. On Wednesday, both U.S. Senate candidates spent time on college campuses courting those voters who could influence the upcoming election.
U.S. Sen. Bob Casey (R-Pennsylvania), joined by U.S. Sen. Rafael Warnock (R-Ga.), spoke to dozens of people on Temple University’s campus Wednesday afternoon about the impact he believes they will have on his presidential race fourth term.
Pointing to a vast map of the state that became the basis for his campaign events, Casey said, “in Philadelphia and in other communities where young people are attending colleges and universities, whether it’s here in Pittsburgh or wherever, whether it’s Clarion or Indiana or where there’s a college or university in our state, those campuses and your colleagues on those campuses and here in Philadelphia can determine the entire future of the country based on what we do from now until eight o’clock on election night.”
“So there’s no pressure, Temple students, right?” – he joked.
Republican challenger Dave McCormick spoke to several dozen people for a fireside chat Action by the American Coalition for Nature Conservationconservative climate policy group at the University of Pennsylvania on Wednesday evening.
“It’s great to be here in this demographic, and I say that because I don’t want it to sound too dramatic, but I’m 59 years old… this election isn’t really about us, you know honestly, we’re going to do it no matter what , we just are,” said McCormick, who was accompanied by his wife, Dina, at the event.
“The question is: Will everything be okay? The question is whether the America that stands before you all will be the same opportunity we had,” he added.
Casey’s remarks, delivered at the TLO event intricate on Cecil B. Moore Ave, echoed most of the speeches he has given throughout the campaign, emphasizing what he calls the “fight for rights.” On voting rights, he cited his support for the John Lewis Voting Rights Act; on women’s rights, he talked about voting for the Women’s Health Protection Act, restoring Roe v. Wade to national law; and on workers’ rights, called for the passage of the Protecting the Right to Organize (PRO) Act.
“It’s really simple,” Casey said. “We will either protect and strengthen trade unions or we will not. And if we don’t have unions, we won’t have a middle class.”
McCormick delivered excerpts from his speech at Two Locals Brewing Company while answering questions from a student at the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School and the chairman of the conservative coalition that supports his candidacy. He primarily emphasized his economic agenda, criticizing the Biden-Harris administration’s spending and energy policy, which he sees as a path to creating a better future for Pennsylvania.
“When I talk to people of your generation, the most important question is: Will there be good job opportunities? Everyone has different priorities, but this is the key issue,” McCormick said.
“And our economy is not serving many Pennsylvanians and many Americans well right now,” he said, adding his belief that a “free enterprise system” is the best way to create opportunity, although he also discussed his support for “fair trade” rather than “free trade.” trade”.
Both candidates did touch on education during their speeches to students, although their messages were different.
Casey said he was proud of his achievements in the U.S. Senate and touted the passage of the American Rescue Plan and its impact on education.
“I’ll just give you one number for Philadelphia,” Casey said. “$1.7 billion for schools in this city.”
“We have never seen federal investment like this in public education, never, ever in the history of the country, and it happened because you gave us the power,” he added, saying Democrat-backed legislation has helped save communities on many issues.
McCormick said schools in Philadelphia and across Pennsylvania are “failing miserably” – on all appearances citing a 2018 study by the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation at the University of Washington that found the United States ranks 27th in the world for education. He said fresh concepts like school vouchers, which he called “school choice,” would benefit every American by making it possible to make progress in education.
Responding to a question about how conservatives can support promote economic principles among younger voters and college graduates, McCormick said “it’s like socialism is back in vogue on college campuses” and criticized the Biden administration’s efforts to cancel the debt $160 billion in student loans .
Casey and McCormick are vying for a U.S. Senate seat in Pennsylvania
Warnock praised Casey as “probably the Senate’s strongest voice” on “greedflation,” a term Casey has become synonymous with in his efforts to combat corporate price gouging. Casey also criticized McCormick’s record as hedge fund CEO and said his opponent would side with the billionaires.
During the event, McCormick criticized Casey’s proposal to combat price gouging, saying his opponent’s proposals resembled Venezuela’s policies.
“Whenever the government starts doing this, it will be the beginning of the end of the most dynamic economy in the world, which will create the greatest opportunities for all of you,” McCormick said.
College and Generation Z voters in numbers
The 2020 presidential election saw a significant raise in youth voter turnout. AND Tufts University Tisch College Analysis found that approximately 50% of voters ages 18-29 voted in the 2020 presidential election, an 11-point raise from the 2016 presidential election. In Pennsylvania, 54% of people in this age group voted in the presidential election in 2020.
Democrats and Republicans who spoke at both campaign events expressed their joy at the opportunity to vote in the upcoming election.
“This is the first election in which many of us can vote for our president. We’ve never had to do this before. We are all very excited and excited,” said Lourdes Cardamone, a Temple University student and president of the Temple Democrats, as she opened the stage for Casey. “And you all know that the voice of youthful people is crucial in this election. Our voices are our strength. It’s the way we express ourselves, the way we shape the future we want to see.
“Young people, we are full of enthusiasm, we have passion, we have opinions, we are impatient because our future and our lives are at stake,” Cardamone added. – So we will go to the polls in November. Many of us have already shown up and cast our votes, and when we go to the polls, we need to elect people who will care about our future.”
Finn Broder, a Wharton student affiliated with the University of Pennsylvania Republicans, asked McCormick the first round of questions Wednesday night. He said that on virtually every block on campus, someone is telling them to vote.
“I think the turnout will be high,” he told the Capital-Star after McCormick’s fireside chat.
SEE THE MORNING HEADLINES.
AND CNBC/Generation Lab Poll released Tuesday showed Harris leading Trump by 20 points among voters aged 18 to 34, up from a July poll in which she led by just 12%.
Younger voters have historically favored Democrats across the country and in Pennsylvania, although that gap has been changing over the past decade.
In the 2020 presidential election, Joe Biden won 62% of the vote among Pennsylvanians ages 18 to 29, Democrats’ strongest age group, while Donald Trump received 35%, according to data exit poll. IN 2016Democrat Hillary Clinton recorded 52% of the vote in this age group, while Trump received 43%.
Democrat John Fetterman saw even greater numbers of youthful voters during his successful U.S. Senate campaign against Republican Mehmet Oz. According to Exit poll results in 2022 he won 70% of the votes of Pennsylvanians ages 18 to 29, while Oz won 28%.
During Casey’s last successful campaign, 2018 when he defeated Republican Congressman Lou Barletta by double digits, he also attracted youthful voters. 61% of Pennsylvania voters aged 18 to 29 voted for Casey, while 37% voted for Barletta.
“I think young people, whether they’re on college campuses or not, have a huge role to play in this race,” Casey told reporters Wednesday. “They may be the only demographic group that will decide this election and therefore the next 50 years. So wherever I go in the state where there are young people, I am encouraged by the intensity and enthusiasm of the vote, and they know what the choice is in my race and also in the presidential election.”
Even though those voters lean left, McCormick told the Capital-Star on Wednesday that he feels “pretty good energy” as he campaigns on various college campuses around the state.
“I feel like a lot of people are engaged, and I know there’s a traditional belief that people are more liberal on college campuses, but I just feel very interested and engaged in the issue that we’ve been talking about here, which is what the economic future is and whether there is a set of policies that will ensure that everyone has the same opportunities that people like me had,” McCormick said.
“People are knocking on the door and I felt more engaged than I expected,” he added.
The latest polls show Casey and McCormick in a close race in a matchup that could determine which party controls the U.S. Senate in 2025 and beyond. Although polls have shown Casey leading for much of the cycle, national polling site The Cook Political Report recently updated the race’s category from a “lean Democratic” category to a “throwaway” category, indicating that the race has tightened in recent weeks.
Presidential campaigns also focus on gaining student votes.
on Wednesday, Harris campaign announced “Vote Our Future” early voting college campus tour aimed at mobilizing youthful voters on college campuses in battleground states, including Pennsylvania. This also includes a seven-figure ad buy for the campaign targeting these voters.
Like Harris, Trump has also recently made a play for younger voters by participating in various podcasts with younger audiences, and a rally was scheduled for Saturday afternoon at the Bryce Jordan Center on the campus of Penn State University.
