GOP Senate candidate attacks NYT reporter over article on his upbringing

Pennsylvania Republican Senate candidate Dave McCormick posted several times online Thursday targeting a New York Times reporter ahead of the publication of an article detailing his upbringing.

His posts on the social platform X were directed at the Times’s national political reporter, Katie Glueck, who is “writing a story filled w/ frivolous lies about my childhood,” McCormick said.

“If it weren’t so demeaning to my parents’ lifelong teaching careers & the college town I’m so proud to have been raised in, it might be funny,” he continued

The article, published Friday, highlighted the candidates’ claims that he grew up in rural Pennsylvania, southwest of Scranton, and “started with nothing.” The article details McCormick’s upbringing as the son of a “well-regarded college president” who “largely grew up in the president’s sprawling hilltop residence” at what is now known as Bloomsburg University.

His posts preemptively targeted Glueck, posting the thread before the article went public Friday.

“It’s incredible to me that this New York Times reporter @katieglueck somehow thinks this story makes my dad ‘politically connected,’” he posted. “Does she know I’m running against a career politician who’s been riding his father’s political coattails for three decades?”

Former President Trump endorsed McCormick last week in his race against incumbent Sen. Bob Casey (D-Pa.). McCormick previously ran to unseat Casey, but he failed to earn Trump’s endorsement and the GOP nomination.

The Pennsylvania Senate primary is Tuesday.

“I knew getting into this race could mean things would get nasty, but it’s sad to see we’ve fallen so far that one of our nation’s oldest papers of record is pushing the Democrats’ baked narrative,” McCormick said.

In his posts, McCormick said he lived on the Bloomsburg State College campus and his parents owned a farm 10 minutes down the road. His father started his career “teaching history, economics, & democracy at Punxsutawney High.” His mother taught elementary school near Pittsburgh.

“I’m incredibly proud that my dad was chosen to be president of @BloomsburgU at only 34 years old,” McCormick said.

He later said he is “so proud” of his parents’ teaching careers and to have been raised in Bloomsburg. He said it was there that he “wrestled and played football” and later was nominated to the West Point military academy. He returned home to a parade after serving in the Gulf War, McCormick said.

“It’s a shame this reporter from New York City doesn’t want to tell that story,” he said. “I think it’s a pretty great one.”

The Hill has reached out to both McCormick’s campaign and The New York Times for comment.