PHILADELPHIA (KYW Newsradio) — Thursday’s debate between Pennsylvania U.S. Sen. Bob Casey and his Republican challenger Dave McCormick was a policy-heavy carousel of pointed jabs and attack rhetoric that clocked in at just under an hour.
Both candidates talked through a panoply of topics, including the Israel-Hamas War and Iran’s recent attack on Israel, U.S. immigration policy, the economy, abortion, the Senate filibuster, and energy strategy.
The two men started off actually agreeing with one another, both saying they would continue to support Israel in its various conflicts, but that they wouldn't commit U.S. troops on the ground.
On immigration, McCormick stuck with the Republican line that the current border situation has created a security crisis for Americans.
“We have made Americans less secure. We made our country less secure. We made Pennsylvania less secure because of the weakness of Bob Casey and the Democrats on this issue. I will be strong on this issue on day one,” McCormick said.
He also pointed to an influx of fentanyl across the border that has affected communities around the country.
Casey rebutted by saying problems with border security come down to a lack of investment from the U.S. government.
“We don't have the resources at the border that we need. If we want real border security, we've got to invest in it. We've got to invest in hiring thousands more Border Patrol,” Casey said.
“That's in the bill that I voted for twice this year — the bill that my opponent opposes, because the leader of his party said, ‘Don't support it, because it might help us politically not to have the problem solved.’ That same — that same bill — is supported by the Border Patrol union. So, I guess Mr. McCormick knows more about border security than the Border Patrol? I don't think so.”
On the economy, the other hot-button issue of the election, Casey attacked former President Donald Trump's tax cuts, which McCormick is in favor of.
“His plan is to double down on a debt explosion. We already had a debt explosion of $2 trillion under the 2017 bill. Now he wants to double down on that, support a bill in 2025 that will jack up the debt by $4 trillion, at least. Some people believe it's higher than that. That's his plan,” Casey said.
“You know what happens when that plan goes into effect? Social Security and Medicare and Medicaid are on the chopping block. We cannot allow that to happen. If we're going to have tax reform in 2025, it has to be a cut for the middle class.”
McCormick argued that those cuts would benefit the middle class.
Casey spoke of shrinkflation, something he ties to corporations driving prices up.
“When they take a product, shrink the contents of the product or what's in a bag, and don't shrink the price, that's deceptive. That's ripping people off. People know this. They go to the grocery store and they see it.”
He also attacked McCormick for his support of former President Donald Trump's 2017 tax cut, which McCormick wants to extend.
“I would also, in that extension, want to add additional dollars for a child tax credit. I'd want to add money for fertility tax credit, IVF tax credit, which I proposed. But yes, I would extend those tax cuts,” McCormick said. “And the corporate tax cuts were, are, necessary to ensure that America continues to be competitive. Bob Casey doesn't understand how the economy works. That's why he's trying to do all this economic voodoo stuff with price controls.”
They also talked abortion, with both attacking each other for flipping positions on the issue. Casey called out McCormick for saying he was happy when Roe v. Wade was overturned, but McCormick said it is a state issue.
“The voters in these different states have to decide what's best for them. They have different preferences, different desires, so that's why I say states rights.”
He also said he supported tax breaks for IVF treatment and contraception and wouldn't back a national abortion ban.
Casey, who once was a pro-life Democrat, affirmed his support of what was overturned by the Supreme Court.
“I support Roe v. Wade,” Casey said. “And Roe v. Wade was the consensus across the country. It would allow reasonable restrictions. That's what I support.”
Both candidates used a lot of the same lines of attack they’ve used on the campaign trail. McCormick tried to frame Casey as a career politician who is weak and does not stand up to his party, and Casey tried to paint McCormick as just another rich guy vying for office, conjuring a dark picture of McCormick's past business ventures with China.
Casey, 64, — a staunch ally of labor unions, a former state auditor general and treasurer and Pennsylvania’s longest-serving Democrat in the Senate — is seeking a fourth term after cruising to double-digit victories in his last three races. He has campaigned on preserving the middle class, abortion rights, labor rights and voting rights, and has called McCormick and Trump a threat to all of those.
He faces what he calls his toughest reelection challenge yet in McCormick, 59, who makes his second run for the Senate after losing narrowly to Dr. Mehmet Oz in 2022's Republican primary. McCormick is a former hedge fund CEO who served at the highest levels of former President George W. Bush’s administration and sat on Trump's Defense Advisory Board.
He has accused Casey of rubber-stamping Biden administration policies on immigration, the economy, energy and national security that he blames for inflation, domestic turmoil and war. He also has attacked Casey as out of touch after being in elected office for almost three decades.
Casey, in turn, has attacked McCormick as a carpetbagger from Connecticut's ritzy “Gold Coast.” The senator has accused his opponent of getting rich at the expense of others while an executive at a hedge fund there, while maintaining his own core values were shaped in Pennsylvania.
The highly contentious and expensive contest for Casey’s seat could determine control of the U.S. Senate. Democrats currently hold a Senate majority by the narrowest of margins and face a difficult 2024 Senate map. A Casey loss could guarantee Republican control.
This Oct. 3 debate, in Harrisburg. was the first of two opportunities for the two candidates to face off against each other. The next one will be in Philadelphia on Oct. 15.
KYW Newsradio's Jim Melwert contributed to this report.