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BETHLEHEM, Pa. — Pennsylvania Republicans took to the polls in the May 2022 primary and nominated celebrity physician Dr. Mehmet Oz their Senate candidate.
Oz eked out that victory by just 940 votes over hedge-fund executive Dave McCormick and would go on to lose the general election to stroke-ridden John Fetterman — a race widely seen as a missed GOP pickup opportunity that handed Democrats a Joe Manchin-proof Senate majority.
Oz has faded into political obscurity two-and-a-half years later, while McCormick has become the Keystone’s State newest senator-elect by defeating three-term incumbent Bob Casey, clearly having learned from his crushing 2022 defeat.
“Dave was an exceptionally good candidate with a really great team and a winning message,” said Jeff Bartos, another GOP 2022-primary candidate who has since become one of McCormick’s strongest supporters.
Casey, the son of a popular former governor, has held statewide public office for nearly three decades (and still hasn’t conceded his loss). Back in 2006, he crushed incumbent Republican Rick Santorum, riding a blue wave into Washington and cruising to re-election in 2012 and 2018.
In other words, it was literally Dave versus as close as you can get to Goliath in the nation’s most pivotal swing state.
“The overwhelming opinion a year ago was Bob Casey can’t be beat in Pennsylvania,” Bartos told The Post.
In his successful 2024 bid, McCormick often referenced his 2022 campaign — how he was first motivated to run following America’s disastrous withdrawal from Afghanistan and the razor-thin margin of defeat against Oz. With a nine-figure net worth, McCormick knew he didn’t need to run again, but he spoke repeatedly on the campaign trail about how he “kept coming back to this moment.”
If Pennsylvanians believed, McCormick argued, the country was headed in the wrong direction (as polls showed a majority did) and there was a “crisis of leadership” under President Biden and by extension Vice President Kamala Harris, they would ultimately back him over the feckless Casey, who voted with them nearly 100% of the time.
But after Oz’s “crudités” at “Wegners” gaffe against a beatable Fetterman, how could a man Democrats framed as an out-of-touch Connecticut carpetbagger from his time as Bridgewater Associates CEO defeat a senator who’d won his last race by 13 points?
“There was this mythology around the Casey name,” Bartos told The Post. “Every dynasty eventually ends, and most of the time it ends with a loss” — noting a 29-year-old Joe Biden defeated a decades-long incumbent in Delaware’s 1972 Senate race.
McCormick’s three-part strategy appeared to be: Define Casey as “weak,” use his own words against his campaign ads, and work relentlessly to make inroads with traditionally Democratic communities.
Despite Casey’s initial run as an independent-minded candidate who could represent Pennsylvania’s various factions well, McCormick successfully charged the incumbent had moved left over his 18 years in Washington — and become little more than a rubber stamp for the Democratic Party’s agenda.
“Bob Casey went to the Senate to change Washington, and Washington changed Bob Casey,” McCormick said in a Sept. 18 Fox News appearance.
Vague political statements from the senator’s team also allowed McCormick to drive his “weakness” narrative, such as when Casey did not call out Biden — a fellow Scranton native — for calling Trump supporters “garbage” in late October.
“Bob Casey cannot bring Pennsylvania together if he is too weak to condemn Joe Biden or anyone else calling half of our state garbage,” McCormick wrote in response to Casey saying he respects Pennsylvanians regardless of how they vote.
Given Casey’s record and the money invested by both parties — it was the country’s sixth-most-expensive Senate race this cycle — McCormick’s team was bound to come up with some captivating ads, and it delivered.
The McCormick campaign’s first ad following Harris replacing Biden atop the Democratic ticket leaned into Casey calling the veep an “inspiring figure” whom Pennsylvanians will like “when they get to know her.”
Other ads worked to tie Casey to Harris’ questionable energy stance, particularly in relation to fracking in the oil-rich commonwealth.
Finally, McCormick made inroads into communities that haven’t traditionally broken for Republicans — especially with Pennsylvania’s thriving Jewish population.
McCormick touted his support for Israel against Hamas, recalling how his visit to the country last holiday made him aware of the difference between “good and evil.”
Bartos, who is Jewish, said McCormick’s outreach with his community may have decided the race.
“I can’t think of another campaign in my lifetime where an outreach to the pro-Israel community” made the difference, Bartos told The Post.
“Time and again, Dave took a leadership role,” Bartos said. “When Liz Magill testified in front of Congress, Dave was one of the very first leaders to call for her resignation.”
“When the cowardly mob marched outside of Michael Solomonov’s restaurant on a Sunday, Dave called me and said, ‘Let’s go to lunch there tomorrow. I want to support the restaurant.’”
McCormick also attacked Casey for supporting the 2015 Iran nuclear deal against Israel’s best interests, as well as remaining behind Democratic Pittsburgh Rep. Summer Lee after she made antisemitic comments.
No constituent concern was too small for the Republican. In September, McCormick even showed up for a group of glass-factory workers protesting their plant’s shutdown.
Workers told The Post that Casey never bothered to respond to their concerns.
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