DV Journal

Republican Senate candidate Dave McCormick promised to support Israel and fight against rising antisemitism during a town hall with a Jewish group on Sunday, drawing contrasts with incumbent Democratic Sen. Bob Casey Jr.

And he called out Vice President Kamala Harris for a failure of courage in passing over Gov. Josh Shapiro for her running mate, calling it a “tragedy” the Democratic presidential nominee would cave to anti-Israel sentiment in her party.

McCormick made his remarks during a Philadelphia event hosted by Matthew Brooks, CEO of the Republican Jewish Coalition, before about 300 Jewish residents last Sunday.

McCormick said the mass shooting at the Tree of Life synagogue on 2018 and the Hamas terror attack on Israel last year impacted him personally.

“I live in Squirrel Hill in Pittsburgh, literally right around the corner from Tree of Life. So, I’m part of that community.  Every weekend on Sundays, there’s a vigil in Squirrel Hill for the hostages, a weekly reminder so we can’t lose sight of what happened on Oct. 7, and the fact that we still don’t have the Israel hostages, the American hostages, they’re still not home.”

McCormick called Oct. 7 “a huge wake-up call.”

Quoting writer Dan Senor, he said, “When a flare goes up, beware. You can see who are the friends, [and] who are the foes. And Oct. 7 was a flare. It forced people to say who they are, either in their word or their deed.”

McCormick and his wife, Dina, travelled to Israel in January to see “first-hand” what happened during the Hamas terror attack. They visited Kfar Aza, a community of 700 people. The terrorists killed 100 that day, he said.

“Families. Parents killed in front of their kids. Kids killed in front of their parents. Babies burned,” said McCormick. “People decapitated. It’s beyond imagination.”

McCormick and his wife also met with the hostage parents and a “young woman who was wounded at the music festival.” She survived because her friends who were shot dead fell on top of her.

“I came back with a profound sense of the need to stand with Israel in its existential crisis,” said McCormick. “This isn’t a skirmish. The future of Israel is at stake. It’s been attacked from all sides.”

And while President Joe Biden has been reluctant to praise Israel’s recent military actions against Hezbollah and has called for a ceasefire that would benefit the terrorist organization, McCormick — a West Point graduate who served in the 82nd Airborne in Iraq during the Gulf War and was awarded a Bronze Star — had nothing but praise.

“What’s happened in the last couple of weeks has been a brilliant military operation. Make no mistake: What’s happening with Israel is an array of forces underwritten by Iran that is a fight for the very future of Israel’s existence.”

McCormick said as someone who isn’t Jewish, he realized there was antisemitism, but “I was shocked, and I suspect many of you were, by the degree that exists on our nation’s campuses.”

The leadership of universities “unwillingness to stand up for right and wrong, and the hypocrisy of many of our leaders. The willingness to say you’re pro-Israel, pro-Jewish and then capitulate because of the extreme forces in the Democratic Party,” he said. “So this is a battle at home for the heart and soul of our country.”

“For Jews in general, what happens in this election is of the greatest consequence of many we’ve had in modern times,” McCormick added. “You get to decide, now that the flare is up, who you’re for.  And this transcends party, right?”

The group applauded.

Brooks asked him about Harris’ not choosing Pennsylvania’s Gov. Josh Shapiro as her running mate.

“The reality is Josh Shapiro is too Jewish and too pro-Israel to be on today’s Democratic ticket,” said Brooks. “I know you’ve been very critical of your congresswoman, Summer Lee, and the tone-deafness of some, both in the Jewish community and the Democratic Party.”

McCormick said, “I don’t think there’s any doubt that Josh Shapiro is a very formidable person and would have been a very capable pick to be VP. It’s hard to imagine, if you’re in the zone of complete honesty and candor, the fact that him being Jewish would have alienated a certain part of the extreme part of the Democratic Party. It’s hard to imagine, which is such a tragedy for our country, that that kind of calculus would be factored into that choice.

“And such a tragedy that Kamala Harris wouldn’t have the courage to make a selection that would have transcended those considerations.”

McCormick contrasted the actions of Democrat U.S. Sen. John Fetterman and his opponent, Sen. Bob Casey. While Fetterman has been an outspoken defender of Israel and critic of antisemitic campus protests, Casey failed to call for the ouster of former University Penn President Liz Magill after her equivocation on antisemitism during congressional testimony.

Casey has also endorsed U.S. Rep. Summer Lee (D-Pa.). “She is an avowed antisemite,” McCormick said. “And Bob Casey kept his endorsement,” he said.

Casey also supported the 2015 Iran deal that gave “the sponsor of terror throughout the Middle East $100 billion of sanction money,” said McCormick.

After the town hall, Gerri Richmond of Elkins Park said McCormick’s military service and business acumen impressed her. “When I heard him speak, I was inspired that he is the hope for our future in Pennsylvania,” said Richmond.

Retired cantor Elliott Tessler called McCormick a “down-the-line conservative and a likable fellow.”

“He came out as positively as I could have hoped for Israel,” said Tessler.

And Lower Merion resident Jeff Bartos, who ran for governor in 2018 and Senate in 2022, said, “Over the past year, Dave McCormick has led with strength and moral clarity.  Sen. Casey, on the other hand, has all too often been silent and has failed to meet the moment.  Sen. Casey’s weakness, coupled with his disastrously poor judgment in voting for the 2015 Iran nuclear deal, is disqualifying.”

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“Women get things done,” Arkansas Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders told a group of Chester County women at an event for Republican Senate candidate Dave McCormick last week.

And what McCormick and the Pennsylvania GOP are hoping these women can do is help their party close the gender gap before Election Day.

Republicans have traditionally had more support among men than women. But this year, polls show more of a gender chasm than a gap. A national Quinnipiac University poll found Vice President Kamala Harris with a 53 to 41 percent lead over Donald Trump among female voters. A recent Washington Post poll found a ten-point advantage among Pennsylvania women voters for both Harris and McCormick’s Democrat opponent, U.S. Sen. Bob Casey.

At the Chester County GOP event discussing the importance of women in leadership and the economic future of the Commonwealth, Huckabee Sanders urged the 200 women in the audience to do more than merely vote.

“If anyone is going to make a difference, it’s going to be women. You’re going to be the ones that organize, that go door-to-door. You’re going to put signs in your yard. You’re going to gather your friends and take them with you to vote, she said.

“Unless they’re voting for somebody else,” she added as the crowd laughed.

Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders (R-Ark.) and attendees at a Chester County GOP women’s event on September 25, 2024.

Terry Tracy, CEO of Broad & Liberty, moderated the event. Amber Benzon, founder of Level Up, an organization that helps women become leaders, and Laura Manio, CEO of the Chester County Chamber of Business and Industry, rounded out the panel at the Level Up Leadership luncheon at Brandywine Manor House.

Tracy said the nation’s southern tier has exceeded the northeast in growth and asked Sanders about a historic tax cut and education reform in Arkansas. He asked Huckabee Sanders how to get Pennsylvania “back on track.”

She said Pennsylvania has the “wrong leadership,” that’s not using “conservative principles” to govern.

“I know how much leadership matters. I know it makes a tremendous difference. In this race, it doesn’t just impact Pennsylvania. It impacts the entire country.” The outcome will likely decide the control of the Senate, she said.

Huckabee Sanders also spoke about the primacy of families, saying school choice and empowering parents to raise their kids, not the government, “makes a difference.”

“We have allowed them on the other side to demonize us for standing up for our kids, standing up for our families,” she said. “Whether it’s which school they go to, letting boys play in women’s sports and take their scholarships away, those are things we should not take quietly. We should stand up. We should be vocal.”

U.S. Senate candidate Dave McCormick greets attendees at a Chester County GOP women’s event on September 25, 2024.

McCormick also talked about family, telling the crowd he has “a lot of powerful women in my life. My mom was a schoolteacher who, at the age of 50, went back to do a Ph.D. in education. And she took a year off during the Gulf War because she couldn’t concentrate because I was out of the country. My mom has been a huge figure in my life.”

“And then I ended up marrying the most amazing woman in my life, Dina,” said McCormick.

“Dina was born in Egypt as a Coptic Christian who came to America at the age of 5 so her family could practice their faith. Then she had this remarkable career working for President [George W.] Bush and Condi Rice in the Bush administration. She had a great career on Wall Street; she was very successful, and then she worked for President Trump as a national security advisor. So, when we think of what America’s given to us, we feel blessed,” McCormick said.

Their six daughters didn’t want McCormick to run for Senate again, but he told the crowd he felt like it was something he had to do.

“If you believe in America and you believe America is the greatest country in the world, and you believe America is in trouble, which I do… then you’ve got to do it,” McCormick said. “It’s about our kids and their kids and making sure they have the America all of us have been blessed by.”

On the issue of abortion, McCormick said, “One of the things I learned as a CEO is reproductive rights goes beyond the question of abortion. It also goes to fertility treatment and a lot of other things.” Many of his employees were starting families later and needed expensive treatments. He ensured the company’s health insurance covered in vitro fertilization (IVF) treatments.

While McCormick is pro-life, he is opposed to a national abortion ban, and he supports exceptions in the cases of rape, incest, and to save the life of the mother. In Pennsylvania, the current law, which has bipartisan support, allows abortion through 24 weeks.

He’s proposed a tax credit to support fertility treatments “so everybody has access to the ability to have kids.”

Afterward, Dorothy Keyes of Kennett Square called the discussion “wonderful” and added she finds McCormick is “very authentic and relatable.”

Barbara Proto, of West Chester, president of the Republican Women of Chester County, said McCormick “needs to be our next senator. It’s imperative.”

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Incumbent Democrat Bob Casey Jr. may be pitching himself as a moderate in most of the state, but he called in progressive reinforcements in deep-blue Montgomery County.

The three-term U.S. senator hit the campaign trail Friday in Montgomery County with his colleague Sen. Liz Warren (D-Mass.), one of the most outspoken progressives in the Senate, to blame Biden-era inflation on businessowners and promote government price controls as a solution.

Casey, locked in a tight race with businessman Dave McCormick, stood with Warren promising to fight so-called “greedflation,” the theory that businesses are artificially raising prices. It has been widely debunked by economists on the left and right.

Warren told the audience of about 300 people at Temple Ambler that Casey is a “fighter” and a “warrior.”

“At a time when the numbers were clear that giant corporations weren’t just passing along costs because of inflation but were actually gouging on prices, there wasn’t a single Republican who would stand up and call them out. There weren’t many Democrats, but Bob Casey stood up. He called out greedflation,” said Warren.

Warren later claimed that if Republicans win in November, “They are going to help the rich get richer, and everyone else can eat dirt.”

Casey has emerged as a leading proponent of the “greedflation” argument, which has also been made by President Joe Biden and his Vice President — the Democratic nominee for president — Kamala Harris. Harris has proposed federal price controls to fight inflation, placing the blame squarely on business owners for soaring inflation during Biden’s presidency.

On Friday, Casey claimed that from July 2020 to July 2022, corporate profits rose 75 percent. Which is “five times the rate of inflation…We have to pass price-gouging legislation to hold those companies accountable.”

He noted 37 state attorneys general can hold corporate price gougers accountable. He wants the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) to have the same power to rein in larger national corporations.

“It’s when greed governs the decisions of major corporations,” he said. “We’re talking about the biggest conglomerates in the world that are jacking up prices with impunity, and we’re  not going to take it anymore.”

Economists, including former Clinton and Obama administration officials, have dismissed that as a conspiracy theory and say inflation is the result of monetary policy, not corporate greed.

“If greedy businesspeople were responsible for price increases, then slowing inflation would mean they are becoming less greedy,” Phillip S. Coles of Lehigh University’s College of Business recently wrote for The Wall Street Journal. “But while producers often think they can set prices, they rarely can. It isn’t because they aren’t greedy—they always try to change prices. It’s because they can charge only what the market will bear. It takes two opposing sides to make a deal, and consumers always look for a bargain.”

But progressives like Harris and Warren continue to promote the “greedflation” argument and shrug off the inflation of the Biden years which, at one point, hit 9.2 percent.

“We’ve seen low inflation and frankly relatively modest increases in inflation,” Warren said Friday. “Then the pandemic hits, and, yeah, prices go up.

“Here’s the deal. The big corporations are the ones that have market dominance in their area nationally. They looked over and said, ‘Hmm, inflation. Everybody’s talking about prices going up…Instead of just passing along those price increases, which would have been modest, they said, this is our big chance. We can jerk our prices even higher. And raise our overall profits,” Warren said.

“We’re giving the FTC, the federal government, the power to go after the big guys and fight on your behalf,” she added.

McCormick has been fighting back against the “greedflation” campaign by attacking “Bobflation,” pointing to the trillions dollars in new spending under Biden as the culprit behind inflation. He’s even got a website dedicated to it.

“Democrats Bob Casey and Kamala Harris recklessly spent your taxpayer dollars, which has sent the cost of Pennsylvania’s most iconic products and experiences skyrocketing,” according to the website.

Asked by a reporter if the government stimulus money was a factor in causing inflation, Warren said the stimulus money kept services like firefighting and schools going after the pandemic. Casey agreed, saying the American Rescue Plan saved jobs.

Casey also called McCormick “a bagman for billionaires.”

Asked about Charleroi, a western Pennsylvania borough that former President Donald Trump mentioned for its problems with immigrants, Casey blamed a company moving steelworker jobs “to the detriment of that community.”

Asked by DVJournal about millions of unvetted illegal immigrants pouring over the border under the Harris-Biden administration that McCormick says is a security issue, Casey said he’s voted at least 25 times for border security bills. He accused Republicans of killing the last border bill at the behest of Trump.

“We have to hire more border patrol (officers),” said Casey. “We should be hiring thousands more. We should invest in screening technology to detect fentanyl at the border…Mostly in vehicles driven by American citizens. That’s the reality of fentanyl.

“At the same time I’ve been fighting those battles, my opponent has been on Wall Street,” said Casey. “He’s been running a hedge fund, making a lot of money from China, investing in China’s military. He even invested in a company that produced 90 percent of the fentanyl in China.

“Because he takes his orders from Donald Trump, he refused to support the legislation I’ve already voted for twice, which would provide thousands more for border patrol, [and] give us those investments in the screening for fentanyl. This is legislation that was the most bipartisan, toughest border bill ever. And guess what? The border patrol supports it. And the border patrol, I don’t think, has endorsed me.

“My opponent doesn’t support it. He backed away from it. He doesn’t have the guts to stand up to Donald Trump on supporting bipartisan border security that I think would be the toughest border bill in 25 years,” said Casey.

Blair County Sheriff Jim Ott lost his son, Josh, to a fentanyl overdose and made an ad to support McCormick. Ott said, “If the border was secure, chances are my son would be alive today. We can’t bring back the people we’ve lost. But we can get rid of the weak politicians like Bob Casey who let it happen.”

McCormick promised to work on the border and fentanyl problem “on day one.”

“We lost 4,000 Pennsylvanians to fentanyl last year, and we’ll lose 4,000 or more again this year if something doesn’t change. My heart goes out to the Otts and every family impacted by this tragic epidemic,” said McCormick.

Casey, 64, whose father was a popular governor, served as state treasurer and auditor general before he was elected to the Senate in 2006.

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A new Franklin & Marshall College poll of Pennsylvania voters found 46 percent support Vice President Kamala Harris and 43 percent support former President Donald Trump in the race for the White House. Independent presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. received six percent support while Libertarian Chase Oliver and progressive Jill Stein each received one percent.

The results reflect how tight the presidential race is in the Keystone State.

“The size of a Beaver Stadium football crowd is going to determine the outcome of this election,” quipped Mercury Senior Vice President Vince Galko, a longtime state GOP strategist.

Harris’s margin in the Franklin & Marshall poll is similar to the leads she held in the Quinnipiac and New York Times/Siena polls released this week.

“The greatest change in the presidential race comes from the consolidation of support for Harris among the Democratic factions,” said Berwood Yost, director of the Center for Opinion Research and the Floyd Institute for Public Policy at Franklin & Marshall College.

About half of the 920 registered voters felt Pennsylvania was “on the wrong track.” Residents tagged the economy, specifically unemployment and gas and utility prices, as the most important issue in the state at 31 percent.

Seventeen percent of voters who support Harris said it was because she wasn’t Trump. Another 17 percent cited women’s rights while 15 percent praised her character.

Almost 30 percent of voters who support Trump cited the economy. Another 20 percent said the issue was immigration.

Galko thinks Harris will experience a reality check once next week’s Democrat convention is over.

“The more America sees the Democratic Party of 2024, the more they’re gonna realize, ‘This is not my cup of tea,’” he said.

That won’t stop the Harris and Trump campaigns from spending millions on campaign ads in Pennsylvania. They’re expected to pay a combined $211 million on TV, digital, and radio ads in the state this election cycle. About $42 million has been spent since Harris replaced President Joe Biden on the Democratic ticket. That’s the most of any state in the U.S.

In the high-stakes U.S. Senate race between Democrat incumbent Bob Casey Jr. and Republican challenger Dave McCormick, Casey leads McCormick 48 percent to 36 percent. Another 15 percent said they weren’t sure. Of that bloc, 20 percent were considering McCormick to Casey’s 12 percent.

Galko suspects the undecided are mostly made up of Republican suburban voters who left the party due to dissatisfaction with previous statewide candidates. He thinks McCormick has the resume to bring them back into the fold, so long as he focuses on issues that matter to the state.

“He obviously knows Pennsylvania, he’s invested in Pennsylvania, [and] he has deep roots in Pennsylvania,” said Galko.

At the same time, Galko suggested McCormick turn his campaign from a statewide campaign into more regional one with ads tailored to different Pennsylvania markets. Galko said that was how Republicans like Pat Toomey and Arlen Specter succeeded in winning their U.S. Senate races.

The F&M poll results appear to agree with McCormick’s message resonating with certain sections of Pennsylvania. He led Casey 46 to 39 percent in Northeast Pennsylvania, 47 to 40 percent in Central Pennsylvania, and 50 to 29 percent in Northwest Pennsylvania. Casey’s support coalesced around Philadelphia and the Delaware Valley where he leads McCormick 60 to 20 percent. He also led McCormick 51 to 34 percent in Pittsburgh and the surrounding areas.

On the generic congressional ballot, Democrats led Republicans 44 to 42 percent. Thirteen percent were undecided.

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What makes a strong family? And why should politicians care?

Dave McCormick, the Republican U.S. Senate candidate, took part in a panel discussion about strengthening Pennsylvania families in Langhorne Tuesday.

Bucks County District Attorney Jennifer Schorn and state Rep. Kristin Marcell (R-Richboro) joined McCormick, along with Priscilla Reim, a Republican committeewoman and business owner from Southampton. Temple University student and chair of the Temple Republicans Billy Walker also participated.

“People are having children less and less,” said McCormick. “It’s harder and harder to have families. And part of the reason it’s harder is because economically it’s becoming more and more difficult with the inflation that’s happened under President Biden, Kamala Harris, and Bob Casey.”

Sen. Bob Casey Jr. (D) is McCormick’s opponent.

“Casey’s voted for all those drivers of inflation,” McCormick added. “It costs a lot more to have kids, 22 percent from when President Biden took office.”

“It’s harder to get jobs,” said McCormick. “It’s harder to have a household that can afford kids.”

McCormick, who is the father of six girls from ages 17 to 23 in a blended family, would sponsor legislation to provide families with a $15,000 tax credit for fertility services like in vitro fertilization (IVF).

Reim struggled with infertility. She and her husband spent about $100,000 over five years before they were able to have their daughter, now 11.

McCormick noted a benefit he put in place to fund IVF for employees when he was CEO at Bridgewater “changed people’s lives.”

“Going through IVF is really emotional,” said Reim. She described various infertility treatments and complications that she endured. While some treatments were covered by her insurance, IVF was not.

“Over the next three years we went through four IVF treatments,” she said. For their fourth treatment, the couple used the money they’d saved for their wedding. “It was the last straw.”

“A lot of couples couldn’t afford one cycle, let alone four,” she said. “It’s a nightmare.”

Marcell’s stepmother also used IVF to complete their family. She remembers the difficulties her stepmother endured. “For us it meant a lot that we could complete our family that way,” Marcell said. “Thankfully, it worked…It’s a great miracle to actually have a child that way and to have your dream of a family and completing a family.”

McCormick offered a series of policy proposals to support families with young children.

“One of the key issues is allowing families to access faith-based community care,” McCormick said. He would also bolster school choice through federal tax credits for contributions to scholarship funds. And creating a tax-free savings account families can use to pay for up to $10,000 per year in childcare costs is another idea McCormick supports.   He would also double the federal child tax credit, which will be $2,000 per child in tax year 2025.

McCormick also said he would like to ban children under 16 from using social media, an idea polls show has growing support among concerned parents.

Marcell, a former school board member, has two children, 14 and 9. Recently, her daughter talked with a stranger over social media and wanted to go and meet them, said Marcell. Luckily, she told her mom.

“We talked about the reality,” she said. Social media platforms are there to get reactions and they become addictive, she said.  “I think there are a lot of issues to look at.”

“My daughter talked about fear of missing out,” said Marcell.  “All you want to do is get back on your phone… And unfortunately, it can create an unhealthy body image.”

At the state level they’re considering legislation, the Kids Online Safety Act.

“This is a huge issue all of us need to address,” she said.

Schorn said, “In Bucks County there are predators on various internet social media sites.” Law enforcement is looking out for them but “we need to continue to fund law enforcement, to make sure the men and women who are highly trained can receive those tips and follow through.”

A single image on Snapchat led to the arrest of a child predator.

“We do know it’s a rich environment for predators,” said McCormick.

Other criminals use social media to prey upon kids for fraud, Schorn said.

Walker believes social media has increased depression and suicide among kids and teens.

“When kids use social media at such a young age it becomes addictive like a drug,” he said, citing the U.S. Surgeon General. “It is addictive as cigarettes and triggers chemicals in the brain like drugs, like cocaine.” And 59 percent of teenagers are cyberbullied.

Social media can lead to anxiety, depression, anorexia and even self-harm. Suicide is a leading cause of teenage death, he added.

“I commend Dave [McCormick] for his willingness to take on the social media tech giants to fight social media,” said Walker.

When a reporter asked McCormick about his stance on abortion, he responded that in Pennsylvania, it’s settled law that’s “not going to change.” He believes there should be exceptions for the life of the mother, rape, and incest.

McCormick said more Pennsylvanians are worried about inflation.

“And that they can’t afford to have kids anymore because of the high cost of living. They struggle to have kids because of the high cost of fertility treatments. Those are pocketbook issues for many Pennsylvanians. I want to be proactive in trying to address those…I think if I can get people to listen, my message will resonate.”

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Before President Joe Biden dropped out and made her the party’s presidential nominee, Vice President Kamala Harris opposed fracking and supported the Green New Deal. Now her campaign claims she will allow fracking to continue if she becomes president.

They also say she no longer supports a national socialized medicine plan (“Medicare For All”), and she’s flipped on whether illegal immigration should be illegal (she now says yes.)

During a press availability on Tuesday, DVJournal asked Republican Senate candidate Dave McCormick if Pennsylvania’s swing state voters should trust Harris on important issues like fracking now that she’s changed her mind and now claims to favor it.

“I don’t think so,” said McCormick.

The Republican candidate referenced one of his own campaign ads about Harris’s record, which has garnered more than 4 million views.

“The ad has Sen. Casey saying ‘she’s ready to be president. You’re going to love her when you get to know her.’ And it had a minute of her in her own words…She says, ‘I want to ban fracking. And I want to want to transition energy workers. I want to legalize illegal immigration. I want to be sure illegal immigrants get federal benefits.’ She said, ‘I want to have mandatory buybacks of guns. I want to eliminate private healthcare insurance.’ All in her own words. You can see the ad. And she said she wanted the government to get involved in reducing meat consumption. Red meat.”

“So listen, the Pennsylvania I grew up in and know well, that agenda isn’t resonating,” added McCormick.

“And on the fracking, she has said time and time again she embraced the green agenda, which meant huge, heavy subsidization of solar and wind at the expense of fossil fuels and the EPA mandate that happened when she was vice president, that 80 percent of all light vehicles will be electric vehicles by 2032. Even Elon Musk doesn’t support that.”

McCormick noted his Democratic opponent, incumbent Sen. Bob Casey Jr., voted with the Biden-Harris administration 98 percent of the time.

“So Pennsylvania has 600,000 people that are in the energy industry or have jobs that are derived from there. No, I don’t think they should trust that she or Sen. Casey are going to be strong advocates of unlocking our potential natural gas reserves, in particular in Pennsylvania.

“And the reason I think that’s such a big issue is it’s critical to our national security, it’s critical to Pennsylvania’s economic wellbeing,” McCormick said. “And it’s great for the environment. I’m an environmentalist. I believe in climate change. The way to reduce carbon emissions is to export our natural gas, where replaces coal-fired plants in India and China. None of those things are going to happen under Harris-Casey. The reason you should know that is they’ve proven it.”

Another reporter asked Harris’s sudden support for a policy promoted by her opponent, Donald Trump: eliminating the tax on tip income. McCormick said he favors it but hasn’t studied it closely. And, he added, Harris’s willingness to seize on a Trump policy she had never mentioned before is yet another sign she’s simply saying whatever it takes to get elected.

“I think it was interesting that Kamala Harris embraced that,” said McCormick. “If you’re going to embrace something, you should say, ‘It’s a good idea that President Trump had.’ That you would simply just grab that idea and then not acknowledge where it came from when she was part of an administration that was expressly saying they wanted to enforce through 80,000 new IRS agents the fact that people in the service industry should be taxed on tips.

“That turnaround is exactly like the fracking,” McCormick added. “You don’t get to say, ‘I’m for a new thing’ without explaining how your position’s changed, why it’s changed and why the voters should trust you. I don’t think the voters should trust her on banning fracking, and I don’t think they should trust her on that.”

Asked about President Joe Biden’s ideas to impose term limits and congressional oversight on the U.S. Supreme Court, McCormick said, “I’m by and large opposed to those proposals.  The reason is we have a situation here where I think expressly President Biden and Vice President Harris were embracing an agenda that would pack the Supreme Court.”

And that’s because they “don’t like [its] composition,” he said.

A former CEO of Bridgewater Associates, one of the world’s largest hedge funds, he also pushed back on attack ads Casey is running saying McCormick invested in a Chinese company that manufactured fentanyl. It turned out that Casey also had shares in that company through a mutual fund.

“Sen. Casey lied about it,” McCormick said. “Most Americans who own 401(k)s own some exposure to global stocks. And those global stocks are represented in countries around the world, usually China because China is such a big part of the economy. That’s essentially what Bridgewater did. It had an index that included global stocks. So, Bob Casey and Bridgewater — not Dave McCormick — Bridgewater owned part of a pharmaceutical company that sold to China a legal painkiller, which is fentanyl.

“It was an accusation which was an absolute lie. It’s not illegal fentanyl. And then Bob Casey, the ultimate liar and hypocrite, we discovered owns the same thing in his personal portfolio.”

“This guy’s lying, and he’s a hypocrite because he doesn’t have a record to run on,” said McCormick.

The Casey campaign did not respond to a request for comment.

According to a chilling report from the House Judiciary Committee released Monday, at least 99 illegal aliens on the FBI terror watchlist were released into the United States after being arrested by Border Patrol at the southern border, and another 34 aliens on the list are currently in Department of Homeland Security (DHS) custody.

This information was reported to the committee by DHS.

Those actions were taken under policies administered by the Biden-Harris administration and are likely to add heat to the debate over border security in November’s elections. GOP U.S. Senate candidate Dave McCormick has already called out his opponent, three-term incumbent Sen. Bob Casey.

“Bob Casey and Kamala Harris should be putting terrorists behind bars, not releasing them into our communities,” McCormick posted on X in response to the findings.

According to the Judiciary Committee report, the Biden administration “allowed millions of illegal aliens to enter the United States, including [from] terrorist organizations and other bad actors looking to harm Americans. In three and a half years, the Biden-Harris administration has released more than 5.4 million illegal aliens into the United States, with an additional at least 1.9 million known ‘gotaways’ escaping into the country.”

Among those are 250 people on the terrorist watchlist who Border Patrol encountered on the southern border between 2021 and 2023. The report said the Department of Homeland Security released at least 99 of them, with some 34 others in DHS custody.

The illegal aliens in question came from at least 36 different countries, including Afghanistan, Iraq, Lebanon, Kyrgyzstan, Mauritania, Pakistan, Somalia, Syria, Tajikistan, Turkey, Uzbekistan, and Yemen.

During the fiscal year 2024, Border Patrol encountered thousands of illegal immigrants from countries that “could present national security risks,” including 2,134 Afghan nationals, 33,347 Chinese citizens, 541 Iranians, 530 Syrians, and 3,104 Uzbek nationals, the report said.

Of eight Tajik nationals released despite potential ISIS ties that Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) arrested in June 2024, three had been released into the country using the Biden-Harris administration’s CBP One phone application to schedule an appointment at a port of entry. Four were encountered by Border Patrol while crossing the border without scheduling an appointment.

One of the eight Tajiki men was arrested in Philadelphia.

Polls show Americans are very concerned about the impact of illegal immigration, which set multiple records during the time Vice President Harris was tasked by Biden to address “root causes” of migration from Mexico and the Northern Triangle countries of Central America (El Salvador, Guatemala and Honduras).

While Harris allies reject the label “border czar,” illegal crossings from these four countries were 140 percent higher than during the Trump presidency.

Critics of the Biden administration hold the president and his team responsible for the violent crimes committed against lawful American residents by those who cross the border illegally. They point to cases like Rachel Morin, the Maryland mother of five who was beaten, raped, and strangled to death, allegedly by an illegal alien from El Salvador earlier this year.

Todd Bensman of the Center for Immigration Studies argues that “all crimes committed by illegal aliens represent an unnecessary and preventable burden on American society and its criminal justice system.

“To state what should be obvious: Illegal aliens blocked at the border or who are quickly removed from the country cannot inflict harm on Americans because they are not present. That means every single crime committed by an illegally present immigrant was preventable and should never have happened.

The committee report, presented by the GOP majority, claims the Biden administration downplays the possibility of terrorist threats. It also calls out Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas for his management of the illegal immigrant issue.

“There is a more than 3,000 percent increase of watchlisted alien encounters compared to all four years of the Trump administration,” the report said. “With the border in chaos under the Biden-Harris administration, the terrorist threat to the homeland has skyrocketed.”

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Turn on the TV news at 11 p.m., and there’s a never-ending parade of shootings, carjackings, and other violent criminal incidents.

In recent years, police have been under attack, be it from Democratic presidential candidate Vice President Kamala Harris, who advocated defunding the police, or progressive Philadelphia District Attorney Larry Krasner, who has a reputation for prosecuting officers while being lenient toward offenders.

Republican Senate candidate Dave McCormick was recently endorsed by the Pennsylvania Fraternal Order of Police, Pennsylvania State Troopers Association and 48 county sheriffs. Previously, the PA FOP had endorsed Democratic Sen. Bob Casey Jr., McCormick’s opponent.

“Dave’s committed to making sure we have the resources we need to fulfill our mission of protecting millions of Pennsylvania families,” said Pennsylvania State Troopers Association President Stephen Polishan.

It can be challenging for municipalities to hire enough police officers to fill vacancies.

Stefan Roots, the City of Chester mayor, told DVJ that Chester police are now on 12-hour shifts.

“We’re way below what we’re budgeted to hire,” said Roots, a Democrat who took office in January. The department has about 70 members, but he did not want to disclose the shortfall.

“What the 12-hour shifts do is take the amount of cops that we have and instead of dividing them by three throughout the day, we divide them by two. So, we automatically have more officers available on the streets.”

“Like every police department in America, the two Rs are recruitment and retention.”

The state police and, through District Attorney Jack Stollsteimer, Delaware County Park Police are also filling in at City Hall, he said.

“So, we have more officers consistently on the streets than we’ve had in a long time,” said Roots. “And that’s the key.”

While crime has been creeping up, it’s lower than the historically high numbers of five and 10 years ago, he said.

In 2023, there were 13 homicides in Chester, 11 sexual assaults and 76 robberies. In the first six months of 2024, the city saw three homicides, four sexual assaults, and 11 robberies. Chester has about 33,000 residents. After years of financial difficulties, it’s currently under state receivership.

“It does help, the presence of law enforcement in the neighborhood,” said Roots. “It makes the bad guys think twice.”

Former Chester County District Attorney Thomas Hogan said, “The 12-hour shifts are sold as a way to save money, and they are popular with police. The problem is that it encourages the police to start pursuing other jobs. They are only working five or six days every two weeks as police officers, leaving a lot of free time. Instead of a police officer who is focused on policing all of the time, you end up with a real estate broker who is a police officer on the side.”

Mike Chitwood, former Upper Darby police superintendent, believes 12-hour police shifts will help “with more time on the streets.”

But he warns officers will burn out.

“Eventually, it’ll get tiring. Obviously, they don’t have the manpower. It’s like robbing Peter to pay Paul,” said Chitwood.

He’s also concerned about officers from other agencies policing the town.

“There’s no way you’re going to get the same policing as from your own officers,” said Chitwood.

Roots is coupling his police shift change with an emphasis on enforcing a 9 p.m. to 6 a.m. curfew already on the books for youth under 18. He’s also highlighting the many activities available for young people through the Safe Summer Initiative.

Chitwood said enforcing the curfew should help.

Hogan said, “The community-based programs, like for juveniles, are only effective if they are paired up with vigorous enforcement tools. If the police do hot spot policing and target the most violent offenders, a juvenile program might add some marginal benefit. On its own, the program will not be effective.”

According to the state police, Delaware County had 32 murder/manslaughter cases in 2023 and 26 in 2024; there were 39 rapes in 2023 and 33 in 2024; and 393 robberies in 2023 with 113 so far in 2024.

In neighboring Chester County, there have been six murder/manslaughter cases in 2024 and five in 2025. Chester County saw 35 rapes so far this year and 67 last year. It reported 27 robberies in 2024 and 66 in 2023.

Bucks County had six murder/manslaughter cases in 2024 and eight in 2023. It reported 35 rapes this year and 72 last year. Bucks had 52 robberies in 2024 and 111 in 2023.

There have been eight murder/manslaughter cases in Montgomery County in 2024 and 22 in 2023. Montgomery County reported 50 rapes in 2024 and 104 in 2023. It listed 129 robberies in 2024 and 278 robberies in 2023.

McCormick promises to support law enforcement and be tough on crime.

“Joe Biden and Bob Casey’s soft-on-crime agenda has failed them and made our commonwealth more dangerous. It’s time our men and women in blue had a leader in Washington who will fight tirelessly to get them the support they deserve,” said McCormick. Casey, a Democrat, is in his 18th year in the Senate.

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GOP U.S. Senate candidate Dave McCormick is campaigning hard on the fact that his opponent, U.S. Sen. Bob Casey, supports another term for President Joe Biden.

While Casey’s position isn’t popular — a huge majority of Keystone State voters believe Biden is too old — it appeared the three-term Democrat might get a reprieve. Prominent Democrats like former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi have been working behind the scenes to push Biden out, which would let Casey off the hook.

A chorus of  Democrats and donors have called for Biden to bow out of the presidential race, fearing a Trump victory. Vermont Sen. Peter Welch was the first senator to ask Biden to withdraw for the “good of the country.” At least 20 House Democrats have called for Biden to drop out of the 2024 race.

That all changed Saturday when an assassin’s bullet narrowly missed former President Donald Trump. The Republican nominee survived, but it appears any hopes of getting Biden off the ticket didn’t.

“Everything is on pause for the moment given the gravity of the moment in time we’re in,” said Jeff Jubelirer, vice president with Bellevue Communications. “I haven’t heard any new Democrats saying anything about Biden since Saturday. It seems like this will remain on pause for at least the short term. However, I don’t know if this will change the overall calculus that many Democrats want Biden to drop out for a new candidate. I suspect the grave attack won’t change their positions.”

Jubelirer is right regarding the political math. A New York Times/Siena College poll released Monday found Biden losing Pennsylvania to Trump 48 to 45 percent. Worse, campaign professionals say, is the fact that around 60 percent of Keystone State Democrats say Biden it too old. And Democrats are split on keeping Biden on the ticket, with 48 percent sticking with Biden and 46 percent wanting him gone.

But Democrats like Casey and his colleague, Sen. John Fetterman, are backing Biden. “I refuse to join the Democratic vultures on Biden’s shoulder after the debate. No one knows more than me that a rough debate is not the sum total of the person and their record,” Fetterman said.

And it appears the national party is falling in line, too. Former Democratic National Committee chair Donna Brazile told The New York Times that after Biden’s debate fiasco, “it’s been hysteria on steroids. But now Biden’s not going anywhere.

“If he is not going to buckle under the weight of what has happened over the last two and a half weeks, I don’t know why anyone else should,” she said.

Republicans are delighted. They see Biden as a weak candidate, and Casey’s embrace of a candidate most voters believe is clearly unfit to serve.

McCormick has billboards around Pennsylvania that say “Same Old, Tired Ideas” with pictures of Casey and Biden. They went up last week in Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, Scranton, and Bloomsburg. Casey and Biden are both from Scranton, while McCormick grew up in Bloomsburg.

McCormick’s campaign launched a digital ad after the June 27 debate titled “Bob Casey Knew,” a reference to the fact that, due to his relationship with Biden and the White House, Casey had to be aware of Biden’s declining cognitive skills.

“There’s nobody in the Senate closer to Joe Biden than Bob Casey,” McCormick told DVJournal. “As a veteran, I’m worried about Biden’s ability to keep our troops safe. How can Casey, one of Biden’s closest friends in Washington, continue to ignore what’s at risk with a weak commander-in-chief? The commonwealth deserves better than their failed leadership and tired, old ideas.”

Why won’t Casey, caught in a tough re-election campaign in a state Biden is losing, cut the president loose?

“The relationship that Sen. Casey and the president enjoy transcends politics,” says longtime Democratic strategist TJ Rooney. “The president has enjoyed exceptionally close relationships with both Sen. Casey and Gov. Casey [Sen. Casey’s father]. Bob Casey is a faithful servant who believes his word is his bond. I don’t see his support for President Biden changing anytime soon.”

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A gunman tried to assassinate former President Donald Trump at a rally in western Pennsylvania on Saturday evening, apparently grazing his ear and setting off a wave of reaction from Keystone State politicians.

At least one person attending the Butler, Pa. campaign rally was killed, as was the shooter. Trump posted on social media that he was OK.

“I was shot with a bullet that pierced the upper part of my right ear. I knew immediately that something was wrong in that I heard a whizzing sound, shots, and immediately felt the bullet ripping through the skin. Much bleeding took place, so I realized then what was happening. GOD BLESS AMERICA!”

Republican U.S. Senate candidate Dave McCormick was at the rally preparing to go onstage when the shots were fired. He told Fox News the scene was “very chaotic” and estimated the crowd at 15,000 people.

“The crowd just sort of, you know, went to the ground, and the Secret Service came and very quickly tackled the president.”

McCormick was uncertain which direction the shots came from or whether there was more than one weapon.

“Sadly, someone behind me up in the bleachers was definitely wounded. And there was a lot of blood. The police came in and helped carry that person out of the stands so they could get the care they needed.”

“I was sitting to President Trump’s right as he was facing the crowd,” said McCormick, an Army combat veteran. “And I was in the front row. I felt like some of the shots came from the left side.”

“There were seven or eight shots,” he said.

Asked if Trump was lucky to be alive, McCormick said, “Yeah, absolutely. I think so.”

A photo released after the shooting showing a bullet narrowly missing Trump’s head appears to back up McCormick’s view.

“It was a very scary moment,” he added.

Pennsylvania’s Democratic Gov. Josh Shapiro, who’s been mentioned as a potential fill in if President Joe Biden drops out of the race, posted a statement on social media.

“Violence targeted at any political party or political leader is absolutely unacceptable. It has no place in Pennsylvania or the United States. I have been briefed on the situation. Pennsylvania state police are on the scene in Butler County and working with our federal and local partners.”

Many Pennsylvanians reacted with shock and concern.

State Senate President Pro Tempore Kim Ward (R-Westmoreland) said, “The resilience of America must overcome any gutless acts of violence. Praying for President Trump, his family, and any innocent victims and their families who may have been harmed by this senseless act. Thank you to the Secret Service, law enforcement, and emergency responders who assisted in keeping things safe and calm. God Bless America.”

U.S. Rep. Brian Fitzpatrick (R-Bucks) said on X, “Praying for President Trump, his family, all in attendance at the rally, and our country. Political violence has no justification or any place in America—against anyone, for any reason, at any time. We will find this person/people, and we will prosecute them to the fullest extent of the law.”

Also on X, Rep. Chrissy Houlahan (D-Chester) said on X, “I’m heartened to hear that it appears the former President is safe after today’s attack in PA. I want to thank the Secret Service for their quick and decisive actions. There is still a great deal that we don’t know, but what we all do know is that there is no place for violence.”

Sen. Bob Casey Jr. (D-Pa.), also on X, said, “I am monitoring the situation at President Trump’s rally in Butler, and I’ve reached out to the State Police to offer support. Political violence is never acceptable, and I am hoping former president Trump & all attendees are safe. Everyone in Butler should listen to law enforcement.”

David Winkler, the Republican running against Rep. Madeleine Dean (D-Montgomery), said, “I pray for President Trump’s safety & wellbeing, & I also pray for America as a whole. We will rise up a stronger and more united than ever. My opponent, Madeleine Dean, is complicit with her divisive rhetoric. We need to elect leaders who will chill the divisions & unify our country.” Dean reposted Shapiro’s quote on X.

“This is a somber day for our nation. My prayers are with President Trump and any other families that have been affected. I’m thankful for the swift and heroic response of law enforcement who undoubtedly saved countless lives today,” said Neil Young, the Republican running against Houlahan.

Alfeia Goodwin said, “As a Republican Congressional Candidate for the 5th Congressional District and a Trump47 Team Captain, I am deeply disheartened and disturbed by the violence taken against President Trump this evening in Butler, Pennsylvania. President Trump is a fighter who fights the good fight. I am praying for the safety and strength of him and his family.”

Goodwin’s opponent, U.S. Rep. Mary Gay Scanlon (D-Delaware), had not released a statement by press time.

Ashley Ehasz, the Democrat who is running against Fitzpatrick, said on X, “As a veteran who has seen the impact of political violence, I unequivocally condemn today’s violence against former president Donald Trump. I call for those responsible to be held accountable swiftly and wish for a full recovery for those injured. Violence is never the answer.”

Trump’s campaign manager, Chris LaCivita, said on X, “Well, of course, they tried to keep him off the ballot, they tried to put him in jail, and now you see this.”

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