Bob Casey and Dave McCormick trade personal barbs in a bitter Pennsylvania Senate debate

HARRISBURG, Pa. — Democratic Sen. Bob Casey went head-to-head with Republican challenger Dave McCormick in a bitter first debate Thursday night that reflected the close nature and high stakes of a race that could help determine the balance of power in Washington.

The hourlong showdown touched on topics from the economy to abortion to energy — and it frequently got personal, as each candidate repeatedly tried to paint the other as a liar. Casey targeted questions about McCormick’s residency and his work as a hedge fund manager, while McCormick attacked Casey, a three-term incumbent, as a career politician who’s a rubber-stamp for Democratic leaders.

“Probably the biggest lie told in the whole election,” Casey said, “was a lie when my opponent said he lived in Pennsylvania when he was living in Connecticut.”

McCormick maintained that he lived in Pennsylvania when he launched his Senate campaign in 2024, as well as in 2022, when he lost to Mehmet Oz in the Republican primary. He has a home in Pittsburgh and owns a family farm in Bloomsburg, and he previously had a residence in Connecticut, where his daughter from a previous marriage lives.

“I’m a seventh-generation Pennsylvanian,” he said, acknowledging that he recently lived in Connecticut while he was the CEO of a hedge fund.

It’s a strategy Democrats have emphasized since the outset of the campaign and one that was successful for them in 2022, when Democrat John Fetterman defeated Oz, who had a house in New Jersey. Outside the WHTM-TV studio where Casey and McCormick debated, a slew of people aligned with Casey’s campaign held signs calling McCormick an out-of-state candidate.

McCormick tried to deflect the line of attack on the debate stage by arguing Casey has little