Democratic Sen. Bob Casey of Pennsylvania will seek a fourth term

HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) — Democratic Sen. Bob Casey will seek a fourth term in office, bringing the power of incumbency and name recognition unmatched in Pennsylvania politics to his party’s defense of a state seat. presidential battle critic.

The announcement by Casey, the longest-serving Democratic US senator in Pennsylvania history, gives democrats a boost ahead a difficult map of the senate of 2024. They must defend incumbents not only in red states (Montana, Ohio and West Virginia), but also in several swing states.

Casey, who turns 63 in a few days, is a key ally of the unions and the president Joe Biden. In Congress, Casey, a moderate Democrat, has endorsed all of Biden’s top priorities and has forged a close relationship with the president, at least in part because the men also have a bond that goes beyond politics: They come from the Same hometown of Scranton.

Running for re-election, Casey’s message sounds similar to how Biden’s campaign for a second term might sound. Casey points to landmark bills produced by a Democratic-controlled Congress that would expand spending on infrastructure like airports and broadband Internet, to revitalize a national semiconductor industry, subsidize hydrogen fuel plants and cut drug costs for Medicare beneficiaries.

Casey has cast himself as an advocate for what he calls “corporate special interests,” saying there is more to be done to lower the cost of living for working families, like child care or prescription drugs.

“That means being willing to fight and not backing down from any fight for those communities and those families,” Casey said in an interview last week.

The Senate Republicans’ campaign arm, the National Republican Senatorial Committee, is already attacking Casey for voting in favor of laws under Biden that they say have worsened inflation and threatened Social Security and Medicare, two programs Casey has defended. for a long time.

Casey said Republicans “dreamed about it” and countered that the GOP has long been hostile to Medicaid, Medicare and Social Security by proposing budgets and policy ideas that would “devastate” the programs.

Republicans don’t have a deep bench to challenge Casey, but they do have a potential top-tier candidate: the former hedge fund CEO David McCormick, who narrowly lost the Republican nomination for the Senate in 2022 to Dr. Mehmet Oz.

Strongly supported by party higher-ups, McCormick has a solid gold resume as a decorated Gulf War veteran who graduated from West Point, earned a Ph.D. from Princeton, served at the highest levels of the administration of then-President George W. Bush and ran one of the world’s largest hedge funds.

He also has a lot of money and connections in the political, business and government spheres from which he draws endorsements and campaign contributions, none of which was enough to prevail against Oz, the Donald Trump-backed candidate who lost the general election. before the Democrats. john fetterman.

If he runs, McCormick may have a contested primary: State Sen. Doug Mastriano has said he could run, suggesting he would win a primary “hands down.” That is raising concern among party leaders after the Trump-backed Mastriano campaigned far-right in the gubernatorial race last year and was soundly defeated.

Many Republicans acknowledge that it will be difficult to beat Casey. Some say in private that he can’t be beaten.

Casey is perhaps Pennsylvania’s best-known politician, even if he has a relatively low profile in Washington without a major committee chair in his portfolio. In Pennsylvania, he has already run statewide seven times, winning six of those races, and is the son of the former two-term state governor.

He has never competed in a close Senate race — he won his 2018 race by 13 percentage points — and he kept an active program on the campaign trail last year by helping Fetterman.

Still, Casey said he always expects a tough race, given Pennsylvania’s status as a battleground state.

“I spent years traveling and going to all of our 67 counties and delivering for the people of our state and the communities of our state,” Casey said. “And that’s the kind of approach I’m going to take for the campaign: We’re going to go everywhere and try to win every vote.”

He is one of the last legislators on Capitol Hill to call himself a “ pro-life Democrat, ” and backed a bill last year to include abortion rights in federal law when it became clear the Supreme Court would overturn the landmark Roe v. Wade.

Casey is not just any Democrat on the abortion debate. His father, former Governor Bob Casey, Sr., opposed abortion rights and signed legislation in the state that spawned another landmark abortion case, Planned Parenthood v. Casey. In 1992, the Supreme Court finally upheld Roe in the case, but allowed the states to add some limitations to the procedure.

Casey has said she does not support a complete abortion ban and believes lawmakers should work to reduce the number of abortions and unwanted pregnancies in their states, and do more to support women and families.

In January, while preparing for the campaign, Casey announced that he would undergo surgery for prostate cancer. More than seven weeks after the surgery, Casey said he feels fully recovered. His office has said the procedure went well and he would not need further treatment. Since then he has returned to work.