Dave McCormick confuses Philadelphia with Mississippi city in now-deleted post X

Pennsylvania Republican Senate candidate Dave McCormick apparently confused Philadelphia, Mississippi, with Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, while commenting on the shooting in a since-deleted post on X on Wednesday.

McCormick, who will challenge three-term Sen. Bob Casey in November, shared a clip from a Mississippi news station about the shooting, which police say took place arranged by a Salvadoran gang member exploiting the situation to bolster the border security campaign.

“MS-13 gang members are terrorizing Philadelphians over Harris and Casey’s radical open borders policies,” McCormick wrote. The post was deleted within minutes, according to ABC 27.

McCormick’s campaign spokesman recommended The Inquirer Wednesday evening post X from McCormickadmitting to the confusion.

“We made a mistake in our tweet, but it’s not as bad as Bob Casey’s mistake of leaving the line wide open,” McCormick wrote.

Casey’s campaign seized on the blunder. “Since David McCormick lives in Connecticut, it’s no surprise he can’t tell the difference between Pennsylvania and Mississippi. We can help, Dave — Pennsylvania is the state that will reject you in November,” communications director Maddy McDaniel said in a statement.

McCormick’s original tweet caught the attention of the senator’s campaign and other Democrats.

“These things happen to people who live in Connecticut but run for Senate in Pennsylvania,” said Senator John Fetterman he wrote in a post on X.

McCormick, who lived part of the time in Connecticut until the end of the lease in June, overtakes Casey in August New York Times poll by 14 points and the Emerson College poll by 4, continues to fight Democrats’ “carpet bagger” accusations. McCormick owns a home in Pittsburgh and grew up in northeastern Pennsylvania.

McCormick has emphasized his Pennsylvania roots in recent speeches in the commonwealth and has continued to attack Casey on immigration, which is among the most critical issues for Pennsylvanians, according to an August poll by The New York Times and Emerson College.

This story has been updated to clarify McCormick’s residency status.