Bob Casey rallies with Amy Klobuchar and carpenters union in Collier

Pennsylvania Democratic Sen. Bob Casey rallied with over 100 union carpenters and apprentices Monday morning, touting their work in Western Pennsylvania and around the country.

“We are the greatest country in the world, and one of the biggest reasons is the workers and the skill you bring,” Casey said during a 10 minute speech at the Carpenters Training Center in Collier. “There are no workers in the world — I don’t even care where they are, in China or Europe — no workers in the world that can do what you do.”

Casey was joined by Minnesota Sen. Amy Klobuchar and members of union leadership at a spacious hall in the training center for carpenters’ apprentices in Collier.

Casey, of Scranton, pledged his support for organized labor, opposing tax cuts for billionaires, and emphasized his desire for increased border patrol agents at the U.S. Southern border.

He sought to contrast himself with his rival Republican Senate candidate Dave McCormick, a former hedge fund CEO.

Casey, a three-term incumbent, said McCormick is too disingenuous to be Pennsylvania’s next senator. He criticized McCormick’s residency in Pennsylvania, saying that he is not forthcoming about living in a $16 million mansion in Connecticut.

McCormick, a Pennsylvania native who grew up in Bloomsburg, has said he splits time between Connecticut and a residence in Pittsburgh’s Squirrel Hill neighborhood. He bought the Pittsburgh home in 2021, shortly before his first run for Senate in 2022, which he lost in the Republican primary to Mehmet Oz.

Casey also said McCormick is overselling himself in political ads, claiming to have a working- class upbringing on a farm, when his father was president of Bloomsburg University and chancellor for the Pennsylvania State System of Higher Education.

He said McCormick’s deception means Pennsylvania workers shouldn’t trust him, and claimed that he won’t support the workers right to unionize and said McCormick wants to repeal the $1.2 trillion Bipartisan Infrastructure Law that has led to work for local carpenters and other trades union members at the Pittsburgh International Airport, bridge repair projects, and at renovations for the Montgomery Locks and Dam in Beaver County.

“[McCormick] had it pretty good growing up, so did I,” said Casey, whose father was Pennsylvania governor from 1987-1995. “He didn’t come from nothing. You shouldn’t lie about that if you seek to represent the people of Pennsylvania.”

McCormick spokeswoman Elizabeth Gregory said Casey is lying about McCormick’s positions, and cites his union endorsements from local and state police officers in Pennsylvania and firefighters in Philadelphia.

“Bob Casey’s lying about Dave’s positions because he’s weak and worried about his own liberal record of creating inflation and voting against Buy America requirements. Pennsylvanians are desperate for strong leadership in Washington,” Gregory said, “and that’s why in addition to supporting the trades, McCormick has put forward a comprehensive economic agenda that will lower the cost of living, bring manufacturing back to the commonwealth, unlock Pennsylvania’s natural resources, and stop China from ripping off American workers.”

Pennsylvania building trades unions, including the carpenters and those in the state’s energy sector, have all endorsed Casey.

Klobuchar said she and Casey have sat together in the Senate chamber for 10 years. She described him as her “best friend in the Senate.” She urged the union members to vote for Casey because the Senate makeup is very closely divided between 51 Democratic votes and 49 Republican votes, and Casey’s vote could be paramount.

“You know Pennsylvania is a swing state in the presidential race, but it is also in the Senate race. It is a razor-thin edge over if we can pass the PRO Act,” said Klobuchar, referring to the bill to expand labor protections to workers across the country, even in states with anti-labor organizing laws.

Casey and McCormick will debate for the first time in the race Thursday in Harrisburg. The two will debate again on Oct. 15 in Philadelphia.

A third debate in Pittsburgh is currently being negotiated between the campaigns. Casey said KDKA typically hosts debates for Senate races, and he has accepted a debate there, but McCormick has not.

The McCormick campaign told TribLive they accepted a debate on WPXI, since KDKA is already planning to air the Harrisburg debate on Thursday.

McCormick recently visited an Anchor Hocking glass plant in Charleroi to rally with workers there who are at risk of losing their jobs, and the Republican candidate criticized Casey’s absence, saying he is not adequately standing up for workers.

Casey didn’t commit to visiting Charleroi, but said he has been in close contact with elected leadership in the Mon Valley town and the United Steelworkers labor union, which represents the workers at the glass plant. He said he is seeking a confidential review from the Federal Trade Commission to review the private equity deal that he said is leading to the Anchor Hocking plant’s closure.

“The only reason we are talking about this is because of a slimy private equity deal on Wall Street. And the guy who spent most of his life leading a hedge fund, investing in China, and making deals like this, it is insulting he is going to parachute in here and be a so-called friend to workers, when the workers in that union support me, and the workers of Pennsylvania support me,” Casey said, referring to McCormick.