HARRISBURG, Pa. — U.S. Sen. Bob Casey and Republican challenger Dave McCormick shared an ugly first debate Thursday night, hardly letting a moment pass without criticizing the other's judgment or truthfulness.
The pair are locked in a race for one of Pennsylvania's U.S. Senate seats, one of the most contested campaigns in America this election cycle.
While most polls have found Casey holds a slim lead in the race, both parties have invested heavily in a bid to carry the battleground state and control of the Senate in 2025.
The hourlong debate on ABC27 was the candidates' first time on stage together. After shaking hands at the top of the program, all pleasantries disappeared as they traded critiques.
"He made a lot of money investing in China and hurt Pennsylvania while doing it."U.S. Sen. Bob Casey
McCormick repeatedly called Casey "Panxsutawney Bob," arguing he's a do-nothing legislator who only pops up every six years to look busy in front of voters.
"He's a hypocrite and a liar," McCormick said. "He's anti-business and he's anti-success."
Casey, meanwhile, couldn't resist bringing up questions about McCormick's residence and history leading Bridgewater Associates, one of the largest hedge funds in the world.
The Associated Press reported that McCormick lived in Connecticut as recently as spring 2023, and CNN found he invested billions of dollars in Chinese military and fentanyl companies.
"He made a lot of money investing in China and hurt Pennsylvania while doing it," Casey said in response to a question about ending the filibuster.
Keeping the debate moving
Moderator Dennis Owens tried to keep the debate moving, often interrupting the name-calling when the candidate's time was up.
"I don't want this to be a tennis match," Owens said at one point after having to give Casey and McCormick multiple rounds of 15-second rebuttals when the candidates kept uncorking new accusations in their extra time.
Between the barbs, the candidates responded to questions tackling a wide array of topics.
"We need to stand with Israel. Israel is in the fight for its life."Republican U.S. Senate candidate Dave McCormick
Sometimes, Casey and McCormick agreed with one another, such as their willingness to reopen Three Mile Island for nuclear energy production, and their support for targeted tariffs on China to protect American businesses.
They also agreed that America needs to support Israel as it fights with Hamas, Hezbullah and Iran, though both stopped short of committing American troops to Middle Eastern battlefields.
"We have to stand with Israel and fight for them," Casey said before segueing into McCormick's investments in Chinese companies.
"We need to stand with Israel. Israel is in the fight for its life," McCormick said, blaming the violence on Casey, President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris for supporting a lift on Iranian sanctions that he argued funded last year's attack on Israel.
Differing on the issues
More often than not, however, the candidates broke on the issues.
Casey said he supported a $20.2 billion border security bill that would have hired more border patrol officers and acquired more technology to detect fentanyl.
The bill had been negotiated by a bipartisan group of senators but was dead on arrival when former President Donald Trump opposed it.
Trump has both called the package a bad deal that would worsen the border crisis and bragged about killing a bill that would have aided Democrats' re-election efforts.
"Talk about leadership. Leadership would be taking on the leader of your own party and anyone else, and supporting the bill."U.S. Sen. Bob Casey
Casey accused McCormick of opposing a good policy that would have made America safer in order to stay on good terms with the former president.
"Talk about leadership," Casey said. "Leadership would be taking on the leader of your own party and anyone else, and supporting the bill."
McCormick, however, criticized the bill, which would have allowed up to 5,000 migrants to illegally enter the country every day without triggering a border shutdown.
Casey has failed to come up with a border solution despite serving in office for 18 years, allowing a problem to fester and empower criminals along the southern border.
"The fentanyl crisis is the direct result of Bob Casey not standing up to these terrible cartels," McCormick said.
McCormick instead favored Trump's plans for mass deportations of immigrants who exist illegally in the country, but he could not offer an answer on how that would occur.
Sparring over economics
The two also sparred over economic policy. Casey has blamed large corporations for gouging customers, noting that major companies are reporting record profits while working families struggle to make ends meet.
The Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City has backed up the theory in part, saying corporations that rose their prices in anticipation of a recession contributed to historically high inflation seen during the Biden administration.
"The cause of inflation is the policies, the out-of-control spending of Biden, Harris and Casey."U.S. Senate candidate Dave McCormick
Casey has proposed legislation that would empower the Federal Trade Commission to bring civil charges against companies that significantly raise their prices.
When Owens compared the practice to price controls, Casey pushed back.
"It's investigating companies that are engaged in price gouging," Casey said. "You have to go into court to prove it, and they can rebut the arguments you make. I'm taking on this corporate greed."
McCormick instead placed the blame squarely on Democrats for trillion-dollar spending programs enacted under the Biden administration.
Instead, he called for renewing the Trump tax cuts. When Owens noted that economists warn that extending the cuts could cause national debt to surge to new levels, McCormick doubled down.
"The cause of inflation is the policies, the out-of-control spending of Biden, Harris and Casey," he said.
