Republican David McCormick GS ’94 ’96 defeated three-term incumbent Democratic Pennsylvania Senator Bob Casey on Nov. 7, according to the Associated Press (AP), bolstering the already-decided Republican majority in the Senate.
With his win, McCormick became the seventh Princeton alum to be elected to Congress this year.
In a tightly contested race, McCormick led Casey by a 0.5 percent margin when the AP called the race at 4:09 p.m. on Thursday. Pennsylvania — whose two Senate seats were previously held by Democrats — saw Casey’s seat flip Republican in a shift that echoed the broader red wave that swept the nation.
As of Thursday night, an estimated 98 percent of the votes were in, with McCormick leading with 49.0 percent of votes to Casey’s 48.5, a difference of approximately 30,000 votes.
McCormick, 59, made his second bid for Senate after a narrow loss in the primaries to Dr. Mehmet Oz in 2022. He stepped down as CEO of Bridgewater Associates, one of the world’s largest hedge funds, to enter that race. He had previously served as a member of the Defense Advisory Board during former President Donald Trump’s administration and as the U.S. Treasury Under Secretary for International Affairs in the Bush administration.
At Princeton, McCormick was a graduate student in the School of Public and International Affairs (SPIA). His dissertation, which focused on the transformation of the U.S. military following the Cold War, was adapted into his book, “The Downsized Warrior.” Prior to attending Princeton, McCormick graduated from the United States Military Academy at West Point with a Bachelor of Science in Mechanical Engineering and served as an officer in the Army during the First Gulf War.
In 2021, McCormick was a speaker for SPIA’s G.S. Beckwith Gilbert ’63 Lecture Series and discussed U.S. national security challenges and international alliances.
The race was among the most expensive federal elections this cycle: as of last week, over $130.5 million had been spent by political action committees supporting McCormick.
McCormick’s campaign ran on national issues from taking military action against fentanyl smuggling across the southern border to the conflict in the Middle East. He picked up an endorsement from Trump in April, despite Trump’s backing Oz in 2022.
McCormick faced controversy during his campaign about whether he actually lived in Pennsylvania. While he does own a home in Pittsburgh and several acres of Pennsylvania farmland, he has owned several properties in other states. Previously, he had listed one of his homes in Connecticut as his primary residence on public documents.
Reactions on campus to McCormick’s victory were mixed.
The president and vice president of the Princeton College Republicans, William Neumann ’27 and Santhosh Nadarajah ’25, expressed excitement at McCormick’s win. In a joint statement to The Daily Princetonian, they wrote that “as Princetonians, we are elated at the expansion of the ‘Princeton Republican’ caucus in the U.S. Senate. [We] want to extend our congratulations to McCormick, and wish him well in the U.S. Senate.”
“It’s really shocking,” Quentin Colón Roosevelt ’27, Social Chair of the Princeton College Democrats, said. “The polls consistently had Bob Casey outperforming Kamala [Harris] by seven points.”
Roosevelt is a contributing Opinion writer for the ‘Prince.’
Roosevelt continued, “It’s really bad that we’re not going to be able to get a shot to pick this up again [for] six more years. It was a pretty major setback to lose [this] seat.”
If McCormick’s final victory margin is less than 0.5 percent, an automatic recount would be triggered under Pennsylvania law — unless Casey requests for the recount not to happen. Casey has not yet conceded the race, and at least 100,000 ballots remain to be counted, including provisional, military and overseas ballots.
A win for McCormick widens the Republican Senate majority to 53 seats and marks the first state-wide general election Casey has lost since 1997.
Vitus Larrieu is a senior News writer and head Podcast editor for the ‘Prince.’
Sena Chang is a News contributor for the ‘Prince.’
Please send any corrections to corrections[at]dailyprincetonian.com.
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