Republican Senatorial candidate Dave McCormick addressed the Republican National Convention Tuesday night, praising Donald Trump's "remarkable strength and resolve" in the face of an assassination attempt this past weekend and urging Republicans to back his effort to topple incumbent Democrat Bob Casey.
"The choice this November is clear," McCormick said during his four-and-a-half minute address. "It's a choice between strength and weakness. And between America's greatness or its sad, disgraceful decline."
McCormick spoke along with a number of other Senate hopefuls, taking the stage shortly before 7:30 p.m. His remarks were even-tempered when compared to speakers such as Arizona Senate candidate Kari Lake, who began her speech by lashing out at the media. He largely reprised talking points that have been a staple of his campaign appearances, touting his family ties to Pennsylvania, a military career that includes combat service in the 82nd Airborne Division, and repeating a joke that dates back to his campaign launch last year; that when Casey first held public office, "the No. 1 song ... was the Macarena."
"Does everybody remember the Macarena?" he asked delegates, to some scattered laughter.
On a night when the convention theme was "Make America Safe Again," McCormick invoked crime fears, particularly those involving immigrants, along with a list of complaints about inflation and characterizations of Casey as "a do-nothing, out-of-touch liberal."
"Innocent young women like our daughters are being raped and murdered by illegal immigrants," McCormick said while faulting Casey for voting to confirm federal "pro-criminal judges who have made our streets more dangerous."
Overall crime rates nationwide have declined nationwide since a spike during the COVID pandemic, but concern about chaos was stoked by the attempt on Trump's life at a Butler County rally on Saturday. McCormick, who addressed the rally himself and was on the stage as Trump spoke, told the convention that he "witnessed firsthand from a front-row seat in Butler, President Trump’s remarkable strength and resolve in a terrifying, terrifying and unpredictable moment.
"The President rose brilliantly to the challenge," he said.
Democrats were unimpressed. In a statement after the speech, the Pennsylvania state party pointed out that McCormick has only recently laid claim to being a Pennsylvania resident, having lived in Connecticut for years. "Pennsylvanians will re-elect Senator Casey, a leader Pennsylvanians can trust to create jobs, fight fentanyl, and deliver for working families.”
Pennsylvania was also represented Tuesday night by Erin Koper, a Pittsburgh resident who leads the Allegheny County Council of Republican Women. Speaking later in the evening, Koper said she had a "front-row seat to the chaos caused by Democrats and their soft-on-crime policies."
Koper is a community activist in Elliott, where a homeless encampment and other problems have raised safety concerns. In her speech, she blamed Pittsburgh Mayor Ed Gainey, U.S. Rep. Summer Lee "and especially socialist County Executive Sara Innamorato" for a decline in safety.
"The Democrats have given Pittsburgh 'defund the police' on steroids," she said, pointing to shrinking ranks in the police department and rising response times. (Ranks in the city's police bureau have thinned due to retirements and other departures rather than short-funding: Under Gainey and his predecessor, annual police budgets have grown by $20 million over the past five years.)
Koper did cite one positive development in the Pittsburgh political scene: District Attorney Steve Zappala's victory — on the Republican ballot — over progressive challenger Matt Dugan.
"It can happen again this November," Koper said. "If we stand together, we will beat the soft-on-crime Democrats and make our streets safe again."
