McCormick, other Republicans launch bus tour in Erie, as race shifts to general election

Republican U.S. Senate candidate Dave McCormick and GOP candidates for a state row office kicked off the general election in Erie County Wednesday morning as part of a six-city, two-day bus tour.

Treasurer Stacy Garritty and Auditor Tim DeFoor, both incumbents, joined Dave McCormick and others at a post-primary campaign event at Voodoo Brewing Co., 101 Boston Store Place, to tell supporters how critical the Nov. 5 election will be for the future of the state and country, and encourage them to get hesitant friends, family members and neighbors off the sidelines to vote — even if it means casting a mail-in ballot, which the party had widely shunned since the 2020 presidential election.

"If we don't take back America this go-around, I'm not sure what will be left four years from now," said state Sen. Dan Laughlin, R-49th Dist., who was among several Republicans to make statements to the audience ahead of McCormick.

Laughlin noted that his Senate seat is a top target of Democrats as they attempt to hold onto their slim majority in the state House and take control of the upper chamber. McCormick's bid to unseat three-term incumbent Democrat Sen. Bob Casey Jr., he added, could allow the GOP to retake the U.S. Senate.

McCormick, who ran in 2022 for the seat formerly held by Republican Patrick Toomey, took aim at both Casey and the man who went on to win Toomey's seat, Sen. John Fetterman.

"We've got one who won't wear a suit," McCormick said, referring to Fetterman, "and another who is an empty suit."

The group of Republicans criticized President Joe Biden for his handling of the southern border and blamed him for post-pandemic inflation. They said Casey has been in lockstep with Biden on a "war on energy."

McCormick, who served in the U.S. Treasury Department during George W. Bush's presidency and is the former CEO of one of the world's largest hedge funds, easily secured his party's nomination Tuesday after coming up short in 2022 to Dr. Mehmet Oz, who went on to lose to Fetterman. Casey, seeking a fourth, six-year term, also sailed to an easy win.

"All of you are here for the same reason that we're running because you're worried," McCormick said. "You're worried that the country you love is slipping away. You're worried you're going to wake up sometime soon and not recognize the America that we see. We're in trouble."

U.S. Rep. Mike Kelly, R-16th Dist., said McCormick has "impeccable character" and compared him to former President Donald Trump, the party's presumptive nominee, saying neither McCormick nor Trump needed to leave lucrative careers but felt compelled to out of service to their country.

Garritty, the state treasurer who's seeking a second term, made no mention Wednesday of her opponent, Allegheny County small businesswoman Erin McClelland or state Rep. Ryan Bizzarro, the Erie Democrat who many had expected to win his party's nomination. McClelland scored an upset Tuesday in topping Bizzarro for the Democratic nomination. Bizzarro, who is also seeking re-election to his House seat, had the endorsement of the state party and a slew of labor unions and other political organizations in the treasurer's race.

"Democrats want to live in the past," Garrity said at one point. "Let's leave them in the past."

Both Erie County Republican Party Chairman Tom Eddy and state Sen. Scott Hutchinson were in attendance.

Republican Attorney General candidate Dave Sunday did not attend the Erie event Wednesday, but was expected to join the GOP slate in stops in Washington and Altoona in the afternoon. The bus tour continues Thursday in Harrisburg, Wilkes-Barre and Media.

Matthew Rink can be reached at mrink@timesnews.com or on X at @ETNRink.

This article originally appeared on Erie Times-News: In Erie, McCormick, other GOP candidates urge voters to get involved