“There’s no question I’m in favor of banning fracking,” then-Democratic presidential candidate Kamala Harris said in 2019. And now that she’s the presumptive frontrunner in the Democratic presidential race — with the backing of U.S. Sen. Bob Casey Jr. — Dave McCormick wants everyone to hear what Harris has to say.
McCormick, the Republican businessman hoping to unseat the three-term Democrat, began reminding Keystone State voters of Harris’ pro-Green-New-Deal policies as soon as she received Casey’s endorsement.
A long-time defender of Biden, Casey moved quickly to express support for Harris on Sunday after President Joe Biden ended his reelection campaign. He said Harris is the “best person to meet this moment” and is prepared to be the president. “I am proud to endorse her candidacy for president,” Casey posted on social media.
McCormick promptly pointed out that Harris’ policy positions would damage the Pennsylvania natural gas industry – the second largest in the nation. By endorsing Harris, Casey was endorsing her anti-fossil-fuel policies, McCormick argues.
“Their radical anti-fossil fuel agenda would be disastrous for commonwealth families, hurt the environment, and endanger our national security,” McCormick told DVJournal.
Harris was a primary sponsor of 2019’s Green New Deal plan, with an estimated price tag of $93 trillion, which would have entirely shut down Pennsylvania’s oil and gas industries. She also proposed a carbon tax and an end to hydraulic fracking.
Pennsylvania political prognosticators still see Casey as the frontrunner, but McCormick is hoping Democrats’ connections to unpopular outgoing Biden, as well as Harris, will give him a boost.
“Not sure I see any great impact in the Senate race,” Jeff Jubelirer with Bellevue Communications Group told DVJournal when asked about Harris’s effect on the Casey-McCormick race.
Berwood Yost, director of the Center for Opinion Research and the Floyd Institute for Public Policy at Franklin & Marshall College, told DVJournal that Casey can avoid being dragged down by distaste for Harris. “It seems to me that Casey is sufficiently well known in the state that he can run a race that is somewhat independent of the top of the ticket,” he said.
Not so, shot back Republican political strategist Vince Galko of Mercury Public Affairs. He told DVJournal that Harris’s liabilities will damage Casey because she’s outside the mainstream of Pennsylvania.
“[Down ballot races are] always at the mercy of the top of the ticket,” he said. “There’s no more Joe Biden from Scranton. I think you’re going to see a lot of the blue-collar, conservative Catholic that may have given Biden one more vote is not going to be there for Kamala Harris.”
Broad + Liberty columnist Guy Ciarrocchi called Casey one of the biggest political losers in the U.S. because he defended Biden until the end. With no Biden around “the Democrat ticket is now led by a San Francisco elitist who has contempt for people from Scranton,” said Ciarrocchi.
Most polls show Casey’s lead over McCormick by single digits – with some within the margin of error.
The RealClearPolitics average of polls featuring Harris vs. Republican Donald Trump has Trump with a four-point lead in Pennsylvania.
