Trump endorses McCormick on Casey’s birthday

Former President Donald Trump endorsed GOP U.S. Senate candidate David McCormick on Saturday during a campaign rally in Schnecksville. McCormick is seeking to unseat three-term incumbent Sen. Bob Casey.

“I’m officially giving my endorsement to David McCormick tonight,” Trump said near the end of his speech. “He’s a good man. He wants to run a good ship. He’s a smart guy who was a very successful guy. He’s given up a lot to do this. And I’ll tell you what, he’s the nominee of the Republican Party. David McCormick: go out and vote for him because Casey doesn’t do a damn thing. He doesn’t do it.”

McCormick ran for U.S. Senate in 2022 in Pennsylvania, but lost in the primary to Mehmet Oz, falling less than 1,000 votes short. Oz was Trump’s endorsed candidate in that race. Trump also endorsed GOP gubernatorial candidate and state Sen. Doug Mastriano (R-Franklin) in 2022.

Oz lost the 2022 Senate race to John Fetterman, and Mastriano lost to Josh Shapiro.

In the current cycle, McCormick slightly outraised Casey in first quarter fundraising, due in part to a $1 million donation he made to his own campaign.

McCormick’s campaign raised $6.2 million in the first quarter of 2024, which included the $1 million of his own money. Casey’s campaign said it raised more than $5.6 million in the first three months of 2024.

McCormick announced his “strong endorsement” for Trump’s campaign in a social media post last month.

“Thank you, President Trump,” McCormick tweeted on Saturday. “Together we will deliver a big win for Pennsylvania and America in November.”

The Pennsylvania Democratic Party sent out a press release Saturday evening pointing to some of Trump’s 2022 comments about McCormick. During a Greensburg rally in May 2022, Trump referred to McCormick as  the “candidate of special interests and globalists and the Washington establishment” and said he had been with a company that “managed money for communist China.”

The Casey campaign sent out a fundraising request ahead of Trump’s appearance Saturday, saying the presumptive GOP nominee is “doing everything in his power to flip this battleground red. If we’re going to protect women’s rights, workers’ rights, and the fate of our democracy, we need to do everything in our power to stop him. But we can only do that with your help,” the appeal read.

Saturday was Casey’s 64th birthday.

Update: This article was updated at 10:30 p.m. April 13, 2024 with comment from the Pennsylvania Democratic Party.

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