David McCormick enters crowded Pa. U.S. Senate race; will seek Republican nomination
By Marley Parish – Capital-Star
HARRISBURG, PA – Republican David McCormick, the former chief executive of Bridgewater Associates, the world’s largest hedge fund, has entered the race for Pennsylvania’s open U.S. Senate seat.
McCormick, a West Point graduate and Army veteran with familial ties to Pennsylvania, joins the crowded field for what is expected to be one of the most contested — and costly — midterm elections in the country.
Whoever fills the seat will replace retiring GOP U.S. Sen Pat Toomey, and the race could determine which party controls the upper chamber in Washington.
The 56-year-old Pennsylvania native, who most recently lived in Connecticut, officially announced his campaign Thursday morning, after weeks of widely reported hints toward making a run. McCormick resigned from his post at the hedge fund earlier this month. He also has purchased a home in the Pittsburgh area and ran political ads in western Pennsylvania ahead of his campaign announcement.
McCormick, whose wife served as deputy national security advisor to former President Donald Trump, was also considered for positions under the previous administration, Politico reported.
His announcement comes one week after the Pennsylvania Democratic Party filed a complaint against McCormick — and fellow GOP U.S. Senate Candidate Dr. Mehmet Oz — for his campaign ads without formally declaring his candidacy.
In one of the ads, McCormick described the race as “a battle for the heart and soul of America.”
Though he will bring deep pockets to the race, McCormick’s critics, including Oz, have already looked to job cuts he oversaw as president of the online auction service FreeMarkets Inc. and Bridgewater Associates’ investments in China. McCormick likely faces speculation over his residency as potential weaknesses, joining Oz and Carla Sands, a former Trump administration ambassador to Denmark.
In a statement released Thursday morning, Oz described McCormick as “Beijing’s favorite candidate” who has a “sterling record of enriching the Chinese Communist Party.”
Lt. Gov. John Fetterman, state Rep. Malcolm Kenyatta, Montgomery County Commissioner Val Arkoosh, and U.S. Rep. Conor Lamb, who represents the 17th District, are among the candidates vying for the Democratic nomination.
The primary election is on May 17.
