The Pennsylvania senate race is one of the most watched in the country. NBC10’s Lauren Mayk spoke to David McCormick, the latest candidate to join the race, in his first local interview.
What to Know
- Hedge fund manager David McCormick is from Bloomsburg, Pennsylvania, but has lived for years in Connecticut, where he was CEO of Bridgewater Associates.
- He is a West Point graduate and Army veteran, and recently purchased a home in Pittsburgh.
- McCormick joins a crowded Republican field of candidates in the May primary for the party's nomination to run in the November general election to replace outgoing Sen. Pat Toomey.
David McCormick, who recently resigned as CEO of the world’s largest hedge funds, Connecticut-based Bridgewater Associates, has filed federal paperwork to enter the race for U.S. Senate in his native Pennsylvania.
The financier with connections to the former Bush and Trump administrations, already began airing TV commercials across Pennsylvania before he jumped into the race. He also recently bought a house in Pittsburgh and held closed-door meetings with Republican Party brass and donors.
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McCormick joins a crowded field of candidates vying to win the party's nomination in the May primary and take on whoever wins the nomination among the equally crowded field of Democrats.
McCormick's entry into the race was one of the worst-kept secrets in Pennsylvania politics. His former company wrote on its website following his departure that McCormick “made the decision to leave Bridgewater Associates in order to consider running for the open Senate seat in his home state of Pennsylvania.”
The 56-year-old had worked for Bridgewater Associates and lived in Connecticut since 2009.
The race to replace retiring two-term Republican Sen. Pat Toomey in bellwether Pennsylvania is expected to be one of a handful of competitive contests across the country this year that will determine control of the Senate.
The primary election is May 17.
The Republican primary field is in flux with the exit of former President Donald Trump’s endorsed candidate, Sean Parnell, and the entrance of Mehmet Oz, the heart surgeon, author and TV personality.
Other candidates — including conservative activist Kathy Barnette, real estate investor Jeff Bartos and Carla Sands, Trump’s former ambassador to Denmark — have been making the rounds of party functions for most of the past year. Bartos toured the state by bus.
Democrats running include John Fetterman, Pennsylvania's lieutenant governor, and third-term U.S. Rep. Conor Lamb of suburban Pittsburgh.
McCormick has connections across finance, government and politics.
He is a former senior official in President George W. Bush’s administration and is married to Dina Powell, who was a deputy national security adviser in Trump's administration before she returned to work at investment bank Goldman Sachs.
In Pennsylvania's Republican circles, Christine Toretti, Pennsylvania's longtime Republican national committeewoman, and former state party chair Rob Gleason are among McCormick's backers, as are fundraisers Pat Deon and Bill Sasso.
Whether McCormick's high-level support will translate into victory in the May 17 primary election remains to be seen.
