Anthony Hennen, Central Square
(The Center Square) – If Pennsylvania voters weren’t unwell of political attack ads, Thursday night’s U.S. Senate debate between Democrats Bob Casey and republican Dave McCormick was an absolute treat.
The hour-long debate was like a director’s exchange between the Democratic incumbent and the Republican challenger trying to unseat him. If viewers missed a few moments where there was substantive discussion about politics, they could be forgiven.
Casey accused McCormick of “elevating (America’s) adversaries” through his investments while serving as CEO of the hedge fund Bridgewater Associates, while McCormick summed up Casey as a career politician: “he’s anti-business, anti-success, and he’s a liar.” “
Nevertheless, the candidates revealed several similarities: both declared support for Israel and the need to support it; both supported the revival of Three Mile Island and nuclear power; and both supported “targeted” tariffs and blocked the sale of US Steel to Japan’s Nippon Steel.
“The key to me is steel jobs in the Mon Valley and jobs in Pittsburgh,” Casey explained his opposition. “I want to make sure at all costs that jobs for steelworkers will remain here. These are union jobs – I don’t like what I’ve heard from US Steel over the last few years about moving these jobs to Arkansas, a non-union state. That is my main concern…We cannot lose these jobs, it would be devastating for the Mon Valley and for Pennsylvania.”
McCormick, however, cited his opposition’s national security concerns and criticized Casey for not doing more to ensure U.S. Steel’s investment was made and instead went to Arkansas.
“The reason was that the new project was blocked by the Allegheny County government on environmental grounds. If I were the senior senator from Pennsylvania, I would get behind the desk of the people of Allegheny County, getting this great investment and job here,” McCormick said. “This is the kind of failure of leadership that is taking Pennsylvania in the wrong direction.”
Throughout the night, both candidates accused each other of helping China, either through McCormick’s investment decisions in Bridgewater or through Casey’s support for solar subsidies, where Chinese companies are leading the way.
They also blamed each other for leadership failures on border security and abortion. Casey accused McCormick of failing to stand up to the former president Donald Trump support the border bill, while McCormick criticized Casey for not visiting the border and supporting it Vice President Kamala Harris.
The public was less impressed with the state of the debate.
“This Casey-McCormick debate is an absolute embarrassment.” he tweeted Sam Chenhost of the Pennsylvania news show “Face the Issues” and political strategist. “I expected it to be better and more substantive than #VPDebate earlier this week, but it’s nothing more than a repeat of their attack ads with political baseball thrown in.”
By the end of the debate, Casey presented himself as a leader with a strong track record.
“As a United States senator, I have worked every day on behalf of the citizens of our state, fighting for working families, for workers themselves, fighting for our children, for our seniors, for people with disabilities, for our veterans, and I have strong experience on all of these issues,” Casey said. “I have also fought to reduce costs, invest in strategies to secure the border and invest in the middle class… voters in this state have a very clear choice: They can vote for a candidate who will vote against the union of women’s rights, labor rights and voting rights – or they can vote for me who will protect all these rights and fight for these families every day and win just like me.”
However, McCormick’s closing statement argued that Pennsylvania needed change.
“Our community is in trouble: we have wide open borders, a weak economy, America is headed in the wrong direction, and prices are skyrocketing, putting enormous pressure on most families,” he said. “I’m a seventh-generation Pennsylvanian, I’m a political outsider, I’m a businessman, I’m an Iraq combat veteran… The problem is Bob Casey. Bob Casey is a faint leader, a career politician – Bob Casey went to the Senate to change Washington, and Washington changed Bob Casey.
