The race between Pennsylvania Republican Senate candidate Dave McCormick (PA) and Sen. Bob Casey, D-PA, is still hot and gaining momentum. The first debate will take place on Thursday, 8 pm ET.

 

McCormick has used powerful ads, as well as stops across the state, to show Casey’s out-of-touch with Keystone State voters. This includes issues such as the border crisis and abortion. He also focuses on energy independence and the so-called transgender issue. McCormick has done this by emphasizing Casey’s votes and actions on these issues, rather than his campaign rhetoric.

 

McCormick’s polling has shown Casey to be ahead in the race. However, McCormick is close enough to Casey to cause nightmares. Casey fears an “onslaught of attack ads” with one month left before Election Day.

 

McCormick has been rewarded for his persistence, as the five most recent polls in September reveal that the 13-point difference in one poll from July has narrowed to one to three percentage points.

 

 

 

West Virginia, with its Governor Jim Justice as the frontrunner for control of the Senate, is seen as a near-certain pick-up by the GOP. All available polls show Jim Justice to be firmly in the lead by at least 30 points. Tim Sheehy is another strong candidate for a GOP pickup in Montana. Sheehy is surging past Sen. Jon Tester, and his numbers are likely to improve after Sheehy’s strong performance on Monday.

 

If Justice and Sheehy win, Republicans will still control the Senate, regardless of the outcome of the Trump-Vance presidential ticket in November.

 

A McCormick victory (and Bernie Moreno’s in Ohio) would give the GOP a nice cushion going into 2025.

 

Here’s how you can watch McCormick and Casey debating each other: