Pennsylvania Republican Senate nominee Dave McCormick said Sen. Bob Casey (D-PA) does not “have a record to run on” after nearly two decades in the U.S. Senate, so he must resort to negative attacks.
Casey levied a personal attack on McCormick before McCormick even spoke during the debate and followed it up with another attack during a rebuttal of the initial question regarding the Middle East. After the second instance, McCormick said that, throughout the campaign, Casey has resorted to personal attacks to cover for a lack of achievement in the upper chamber.
“You’ve heard throughout this campaign — when you don’t have a record to run on as Sen. Casey does not, you attack your opponent,” McCormick said. “His voice is primarily attacking me.”
McCormick noted he unveiled a website on Thursday called Caseylies.com, in which he says they can find “actual facts by third-party sources. Caseylies.com details “lies” from Bob Casey on the cost of living, taxes, protecting social security, the open border, the war on fossil fuels, and many more topics.
He added viewers should wonder if he is running a negative campaign as a three-term incumbent.
“You should ask yourself, why is a senator with an 18-year track record who should be able to run on his record, running his entire campaign with a negative set of attacks on me, most of them lies?” McCormick said.
On Israel policy specifically, the moderator asked the candidates if they would send troops to the region in support of the Jewish State. McCormick said he would not currently send troops but emphasized the U.S. must support Israel, which “is in the fight for its life.”
“My wife and I went to Israel in January. We saw firsthand the brutality that Hamas brought to the Jewish people,” he added.
He also said Casey “was the deciding vote” on funding that “gave Iran $100 billion of sanctioned money that’s been used to underwrite terrorism.”
When asked if there was a “red line” that Israel could cross to lose his support, McCormick said, “The problem is that we haven’t been standing enough with Israel.”
Casey said there was “no” red lie for him and that Congress would need to declare war and debate before the U.S. sent troops.