‘Disqualifying’: Democratic Senator Accuses GOP Opponent Of Running Hedge Fund That Invested In Weapons Used By Hamas

Sen. Bob Casey (D-PA) debated his Republican challenger David McCormick on Tuesday night in what turned out to be a tense slugfest between the two candidates.

Casey hammered McCormick over his running for office in Pennsylvania while initially living in Connecticut, while McCormick attacked the three-term incumbent over his long stay in Washington and tried to tie him to President Joe Biden.

“McCormick starting the race lying to the people of Pennsylvania about where he lives. How do you lie about where you live? And when you’re running for an office where you seek to represent the people of our state? He said he was living in Pennsylvania. He wasn’t. He was living in Connecticut,” Casey said after his opponent accused him of lying about his record, adding:

The Associated Press wrote about it August the 14th, 2023. He lied to the people about that. He also lied about how he grew up. He said at one point he was a farmer and that he grew up on a farm. And then he started lying about other things in this campaign. But if this is a question about who’s been telling a lie, how do you lie to people about where you live?

“He is a status quo candidate,” McCormick claimed during the debate, adding, “He is a weak, 30-year incumbent. Bob Casey didn’t change Washington. Washington changed Bob Casey. ”

Casey also hammered McCormick over his time as the CEO of a major hedge fund. “We have to start with October the 7th, 2023, when a terrorist organization, Hamas invaded Israel, murdered 1200 innocent Israelis, and in addition to murdering all those Israelis who raped women and took hostages. That threat to the people of Israel has to be defeated,” Casey said, when asked about the war in the Middle East, adding:

It’s been badly undermined so far, but it is still a threat. Hezbollah is a threat to Israel. The Iranian regime is a threat to Israel. The Houthis, so many extremist organizations in that region. We’ve got to continue to support Israel’s efforts not just to defend itself, but to take the fight to those terrorists that are threatening them every single day. And I’ll continue to support Israel, as I always have.

But a big difference in this race is while I was doing that, supporting Israel all these years, my opponent was running that hedge fund in Connecticut, the largest hedge fund in the world. I mentioned the investments in China and Russia. He also invested in a Chinese arms manufacturer that had ties to Iran. And those weapons that they produced made their way to Hamas. That is disqualifying.

The Pittsburgh Post Gazette summed up the tone of the debate, writing, “From name-calling (“Punxsutawney Bob” and “lap dog licking the shoes of the Republican nominee”) to accusations that Mr. Casey was “born with a political spoon in his mouth” and that Mr. McCormick’s support for corporate tax cuts could “explode the [national] debt,” the feisty rematch featured plenty of fireworks and the same themes seen in countless campaign ads across the state.”

Watch the clip above.