Bob Casey and Dave McCormick trade personal contradictions in a bitter debate in the Pennsylvania Senate

HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) — Democratic Sen. Bob Casey went head-to-head with Republican challenger Dave McCormick on Thursday night in a bitter first debate that reflected the closeness and high stakes of a race that will define the balance of power in Washington could.

The hour-long showdown touched on topics from economics to abortion to energy – and it often got personal as each candidate repeatedly tried to paint the other as a liar. Casey specifically targeted questions about McCormick’s residency and his work as a hedge fund manager, while McCormick attacked the three-term incumbent as a career politician who is making a mark on Democratic leaders.

“Probably the biggest lie of the entire election,” Casey said in response to several off-topic questions from the debate moderator, “was a lie when my opponent said he lived in Pennsylvania while he lived in Connecticut.”

McCormick claimed he was living in Pennsylvania when he launched his Senate campaign in 2024 and again in 2022 when he lost to Mehmet Oz in the Republican primary. He has a home in Pittsburgh and owns a family farm in Bloomsburg, Pennsylvania, as well as renting a mansion in Connecticut.

“I’m a seventh-generation Pennsylvanian,” he said, admitting he recently lived in Connecticut when he was CEO of a hedge fund.

It’s a strategy Democrats have emphasized since the start of the campaign and one that worked for them in 2022, when Democrat John Fetterman defeated Oz, who owned a home in New Jersey. Outside the ABC27 news station, where Casey and McCormick debated, many people supporting Casey’s campaign held signs calling McCormick an out-of-state candidate.

McCormick tried to deflect the line of attack on the debate stage by arguing that Casey had little to offer in his long career in public office.

“If you don’t have a track record, which Senator Casey doesn’t have, attack your opponent,” McCormick shot back. “I remind your viewers to go to ‘Caseylies.com,’ because he tells the lunatics that there are a lot of Pinocchios here,” he said of a website his team launched in advance of the debate.

Casey repeatedly cited McCormick’s career on Wall Street, particularly Bridgewater Associates’ investments in China when McCormick oversaw the fund. McCormick defended the investments, saying they represented 3% of the company’s overall portfolio.

“He was bought and paid for by these billionaires and corporations,” Casey said.

Polls show Casey and McCormick locked in a tight race that could play a major role in deciding which party wins control of the closely divided Senate this fall. Casey and McCormick were also under pressure to join their party’s presidential candidates, with Pennsylvania also serving as a crucial swing state in the fight for the White House.

“Senator. Casey stood next to Joe Biden as he could barely finish a sentence. “We saw that on the debate stage and said he’s ready to go,” McCormick said, pointing to Casey’s support for the president after he faltered at the debate in June when many other Democrats kept their distance.

When Vice President Kamala Harris replaced Biden as the Democratic nominee, McCormick said Casey quickly changed his tune. “Senator Casey said, ‘Kamala Harris is great!'” McCormick said.

Casey said “we’ll never know the answer” if replacing Biden with Harris is the best decision for the party.

“The voters will make a decision. … I think Vice President Harris is running a strong campaign,” Casey said. “I think she will carry Pennsylvania, it will be very close.”

McCormick, who regularly campaigns with former President Donald Trump, said he disagrees with him on certain policy proposals. He noted that he opposes the Trump-backed SALT deduction in favor of states like New York and New Jersey. In an interview with NBC News on Monday, McCormick also said he disagrees with Trump on continued funding for war-torn Ukraine.

Shortly after shaking hands at the start of the debate, McCormick wasted no time in condemning Casey for his vote on the 2015 Iran nuclear deal under then-President Barack Obama, legislation that all but four Democratic senators supported.

“Casey was the deciding vote that gave Iran $100 billion in sanctions money that was used to fund terrorism — that’s where all those missiles come from,” McCormick said in response to the moderator’s first question about the conflict in the Middle East.

Casey and McCormick both said the U.S. must stand with Israel and refused to draw red lines for its support of the country in the growing regional war.

Abortion, a key issue for voters in Pennsylvania, where the procedure is unrestricted until 24 weeks of pregnancy, offered both candidates an opportunity to centralize their message.

Casey, who now supports eliminating the Senate’s 60-vote hurdle to codifying federal abortion protections, said Roe v. Wade ruling, which the Supreme Court struck down in 2022, was the “consensus across the country” that allowed for “reasonable restrictions.”

McCormick said he preferred to leave the matter to the states and that he would not vote for legislation to limit or codify the process at the federal level.

“There is no senator who has wavered so much on the issue of abortion,” McCormick said, referring to Casey, who has described himself as “pro-life” in the past.

As fentanyl deaths hit Pennsylvania communities hard, both candidates expressed their positions on immigration and the U.S.-Mexico border, where the drug is trafficked.

Casey said he “absolutely” supports the Biden administration’s policies and noted that illegal border crossings have declined in recent months. He criticized McCormick for opposing a recent bipartisan border security bill that Trump also opposed.

“We need to invest in hiring thousands more border guards [agents]. That’s what’s in the bill I voted for twice this year. The bill that my opponent opposes because the leader of his party said he doesn’t support it,” he said.

Meanwhile, McCormick criticized Casey for not recently visiting the border and said he would have voted against the “bad bill” regardless of Trump. “I’m my own man,” McCormick said.

Energy production, a top industry in the country, was also a topic of debate.

“The same man who lied about where he lived also lied about my stance on fracking,” Casey said. “I voted against a ban on fracking.”

McCormick responded: “This is not a man who has been a strong friend of the energy sector and the natural gas sector. He said you can’t drill your way to success. … So the senator here wants to have both because he is a career politician.”

First-time voter and Harrisburg Community College student Daniel Dolan, who attended a watch party organized by a libertarian group for undecided Pennsylvanians, said he leans toward supporting McCormick and said he finds Casey “robotic.”

“Bob Casey’s main point was that Dave McCormick was the CEO of this company, and that was a very controversial topic that he kept bringing up,” Dolan said. “I wish Bob Casey had maybe been a little broader and made a few better points, but it seemed like he was making the same few points.”