McCormick wins Pennsylvania GOP Senate primary

Businessman David McCormick has won the Republican nomination for Senate in Pennsylvania, setting him up to face Sen. Bob Casey (D-Pa.) in what will be a closely watched race, Decision Desk HQ projects.

McCormick was unopposed for the nomination and coalesced GOP support around his candidacy to try to unseat the three-term incumbent Casey. The Pennsylvania Senate race will be among the most hotly contested this year and will help determine which party controls the Senate in the next session of Congress.

McCormick served in multiple positions during the 2000s for the George W. Bush administration, including undersecretary of the Treasury for international affairs. He later served as CEO of the hedge fund Bridgewater Associates, stepping down from that position in 2022 to seek the Republican nomination for a Senate seat held at the time by former Sen. Pat Toomey (R-Pa.).

He narrowly lost the Republican nomination that year to Mehmet Oz, who had the endorsement of Trump but lost the general election to Sen. John Fetterman (D-Pa.). He’s running again this year with the support of Trump, Senate Republicans’ campaign arm, the state party and numerous Republican officeholders.

Early polling has shown Casey with at least somewhat of an advantage over McCormick. The incumbent led by 4 points in an Emerson College poll and by 7 points in a Franklin & Marshall College poll taken last month.

But the race will likely be close in a key battleground state with the presidential election taking place at the same time, and members of both parties have said McCormick could pose the most serious challenge to Casey yet throughout his Senate career.

Casey was first elected to his seat in 2006 and was comfortably reelected in 2012 and 2018. He is the son of former Pennsylvania Gov. Bob Casey Sr.