A Hedge Fund Manager, a Celebrity Doctor, and Pennsylvania’s Crowded Senate Field

Dave McCormick and Mehmet Oz sit atop the pack of would-be successors to retiring Sen. Pat Toomey.

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HOMESTEAD, Pa.— Former Army Ranger and New York Times bestselling author Sean Parnell flashes a toothy smile as he greets prospective Pennsylvania voters in Rock Bottom Restaurant & Brewery. “He’s single now,” a rally attendee named Carol tells her friend Carolyn as she points to him.

Carol and Carolyn are like many Republican voters excited about the crowded primary field in the Keystone State: They go out of their way to attend campaign events in their free time, debate anyone who will listen—including reporters—and have grassroots, word-of-mouth advertising power that can make or break candidates.

Before Parnell strolled into the bar late Wednesday evening, the two friends argued over the latest Twitter brawl between GOP Sen. Mitt Romney and former Rep. Tulsi Gabbard over whether the U.S. funded biolabs with “dangerous pathogens” in Ukraine. But now Carol’s eyes are glued to Parnell, whose slicked back hair and cowboy boots help him stand out among the crowd of mostly elderly small-town Pennsylvanians. 

Tonight, though, Parnell is just the opening act. The former Trump-endorsed candidate for U.S. Senate in Pennsylvania dropped out of the race in November after losing a custody battle over his children to his estranged wife, who had accused him of domestic abuse. With his political ambitions on the backburner, at least for now, Parnell takes the stage to introduce the current Republican frontrunner in the battle for retiring GOP Sen. Pat Toomey’s seat: Dave McCormick.

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  1. Avatar photo
    Ben Connelly

    “ “He’s single now,” a rally attendee named Carol tells her friend Carolyn as she points to him.”

    What the…? I hope she was joking but think she probably wasn’t.

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  2. Petrean_04

    Do both their websites really say that they're supportive of energy dependence, or energy *independence*?

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  3. Pawpaw

    Re: VA's Silver Surge---as a poll worker, assisting voters at the voting booth. Yes, last Nov, we had a surge. Was struck by several seniors asking for assistance with this "new" (to them) machine, which had already been in use in recent cycles. Apparently, these seniors had not voted during Trump-Biden, but did come out for Youngkin-McAuliffe. We were scrambling across the county to make sure we had enough ballots to get thru the day. We usually have a WIDE margin on hand, but not this time.
    Do we have any granular, reliable polling data from VA, on what motivated seniors to turn out? Compared to 2017, returning a bit to the 'good old days' of calmer, more substantive candidates and campaigns?

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  4. Brian M.

    I have to say, this picture of McCormick surprises me a little bit. The picture that he paints of himself to primary voters on the Philly-area airwaves is repugnant to me. From his knowing statement to the viewer that "we all know China created Covid" to another commercial that incorporates the Let's Go Brandon chant, to the divisive opponent attack ads, it's an ugly portrait. Oz just looks plain insincere. I don't know how either pivots after the primary. Fetterman, by contrast, has nothing but hope in his ads, clearly looking ahead to the general election.

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  5. Frederick F

    This looking like it’s going to be a depressing race. I would have at least considered Lamb if no good R was chosen, but Fetterman is pretty extreme.
    McCormick wants to be Youngkin, but Youngkin had issues (even if I oppose some, like the speech codes), where McCormick seems to only have applause lines for the cranky.
    Already starting to miss Toomey, and he’s not even gone.

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    1. Natty Bumpo

      Agree on Lamb. I guess we are electing nominees based on how much money they raise, since that seems to be the basis for saying Fetterman will be nominated.

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  6. Avatar photo
    Karyllcooper

    As a Pennsylvanian, I can confirm that the ad wars are already too much to bear. We no longer turn on the TV; local news has practically no ads other than Oz and McCormick. McCormick's ads amount to, "I'm a great guy, and he's not!" Oz's ads amount to, "I'm a great American, and he's not!". As a Republican, I back Sands, but it seems likely that I won't get what I want.

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    1. Avatar photo
      Michelle O

      I de-registered as a Republican in 2016 and have been debating re-registering R for the PA Senate race, but given the way the race has shaped up, it looks like it's not worth my time or dignity.

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    2. Natty Bumpo

      Agreed about Oz and McCormick. I kind of liked Bartos.

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  7. Paul Withington, II

    I'm still waiting for McCormick to clearly present his principles and what he wants to do rather than stating what he's against and that he'll "fight for us".

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  8. Avatar photo
    EricRemcon@gmail

    It would brighten my spring this year to see Pennsylvania voters boot a former surgeon who turned into a snake oil quack for profit (it must have been a deliberate choice, otherwise it is way too easy to become a surgeon) to the curb with less than 30% of the vote total. America needs to prove it can vote for someone based on issues instead of celebrity or name recognition this race would be a great place to start!

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  9. The original Optimum.net

    Comments disabled in TMD?????

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    1. Avatar photo
      VcL

      I don't think so...maybe you had an internet glitch?

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      1. The original Optimum.net

        It was non existent in the e-mail. Internet had it.

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  10. Avatar photo
    Pboyd

    I miss Charles Krauthammer.

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