Bob Casey and Dave McCormick’s closing arguments in the Pennsylvania U.S. Senate race

TOWANDA, Pa. — As the sun set over the Endless Mountains on Friday evening, Dave McCormick’s campaign bus roared to the top of a hill overlooking the Susquehanna River and stopped in front of VFW Post 1568.

Clad in alligator boots, blue jeans and a gingham button-up, the Republican U.S. Senate candidate stepped into the lodge and was greeted with applause by the assembled veterans and their families.

“The best way to keep the peace is to be strong—a military that is not woke and focused on millions of hours of DEI training,” said McCormick, a West Point graduate who served in the Gulf War. “The sole mission of an army should be lethality, that is, the capacity to destroy the enemy. “No one wants peace more than people who have served in war.”

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McCormick’s campaign against three-term U.S. Sen. Bob Casey (D., Pa.) is one of the most closely watched races in the country, and the Republican message is clear: I’m strong, Casey is weak.

“Every time the bullets start flying, he ducks,” McCormick said of Casey early Friday at a campaign stop outside Grice Gun Shop in Clearfield, the state’s largest firearms store.

Meanwhile Casey beats up McCormick Questions about Republicans’ ties to Pennsylvania and controversies surrounding his time as CEO of Bridgewater Associates, the world’s largest hedge fund.

While traveling around the state, Casey resorted to an old-fashioned bring home the bacon call; He paused his brief speech to read from an index card and list line items in President Joe Biden’s pandemic-relief legislation. the district in which it is located.

“How about transportation money? Twenty-five million dollars,” Casey said during a Westmoreland County Democratic voting event in Murrysville on Thursday. “Community college — $9.5 million. Thanks to my votes and work, nine fire departments were helped. “46 million dollars for bridge investment in this district.”

Casey focuses on ‘Connecticut Dave’

If McCormick framed race as strength versus weakness, Casey tried to make it a matter of integrity.

The incumbent president criticized McCormick in vicious TV ads and during two debates for speaking harshly about China on the campaign trail. Bridgewater plays a leading role in opening Chinese markets for U.S. investment firms during his tenure. And he accused McCormick of lying about where he lived.

McCormick grew up in Bloomsburg but lived for years in Connecticut, where Bridgewater is based, before returning to the Keystone State around 2022, when he began his political career. During this year’s campaign, he continued to spend time in Connecticut, where his daughters from a previous marriage still live.

“Last I checked, Connecticut was not one of our 67 counties,” Casey said in Murrysville.

Standing next to him was a physical example of this concept. It was Halloween, and U.S. Sen. John Fetterman (D., Pa.), who is not running for re-election this year, was wearing a costume inspired by the 2007 comedy. super badwith a sandwich board style printout McLovin character’s Hawaii fake identitybut the image and details were replaced with McCormick’s, and “Pennsylvania” was scrawled across the top.

“Who wants to talk about the guy from Connecticut?” Fetterman, who won his seat by defeating Mehmet Öz in 2022 amid questions about whether the famous doctor lives in New Jersey, said: “He’s trying to hope that people will elect a man who doesn’t live in Pennsylvania. This is Dr. It didn’t work very well for Oz.”

Punxsutawney resident Amy Lowmaster, who attended McCormick’s Clearfield event, said she was not bothered by questions about McCormick’s residence.

“What man wouldn’t live with his daughters?” Lowmaster said. “It’s not fair for them to criticize him for living in Connecticut. It was part of his life. But he is here now and he has a history here and he is one of us.”

Race to the center

Neither candidate faced a primary opponent, and both sought to portray themselves as centrists in the general election.

McCormick softened his stance on abortion rights this year, saying he opposes abortion but supports exceptions in cases involving rape, incest or threats to the mother’s life. He has indicated he only supports the third exception when running in the 2022 GOP primary.

In an unusual ad, McCormick looks directly into the camera and makes an argument that Casey is the one out of the mainstream on this issue, casting the Democratic vote in favor of legislation guaranteeing abortion rights nationwide in support of “late-term abortion.”

“You. “Casey has a more extreme position,” he said. “I’m more middle of the road and looking for common ground.”

Casey, meanwhile, has tried to create daylight between himself and his party on other issues, touting his support for natural gas fracking and running ads saying he aligns with former President Donald Trump on trade.

At a campaign stop in Allegheny County on Thursday, Casey highlighted times when he opposed agreements backed by Democratic administrations and supported aspects of Trump’s protectionist agenda, such as the 2018 U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement.

“Part of that record is also fighting to stop trade deals that I think are bad for the country,” Casey told reporters at a voting event in Castle Shannon. “I really don’t care whether this agrees with a Republican president or a Democratic president. This is what we have to do. “I have to do what is best for Pennsylvania.”

USMCA revised the 1994 North American Free Trade Agreement, or NAFTA, which was criticized for accelerating the loss of U.S. manufacturing jobs. Casey noted that as state auditor general in the 1990s, he criticized NAFTA and opposed former President Barack Obama’s failed attempt to establish the Trans-Pacific Partnership, or TPP, with Pacific Rim countries.

Erwin resident Marsha White attended Casey’s Murrysville event and said she was nervous: She had never volunteered to knock on doors for a campaign before, and now she was preparing to do so in Trump country on behalf of Harris and Casey.

White, a Westmoreland County native, said discussions with friends and family members about politics have become increasingly bitter in the Trump era, and he admitted he often has a hard time staying out of a fight. He said Casey’s moderate approach to politics was a welcome change.

“It seems to be available where it needs to be,” White said. “He has a strong character. You don’t hear anything strange about him.”