Republican U.S. Senate nominee Dave McCormick released a new advertisement on Tuesday that declares his opponent, Senator Bob Casey (D-PA), and Vice President Kamala Harris “dangerously liberal on the border.” The video comes after polling data suggested immigration remains a top issue for Pennsylvania voters earlier this year.
The McCormick campaign, in a statement, said the new video highlights public support by Casey and Harris “for decriminalizing illegal border crossings, sanctuary cities, abolishing U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, blocking funding for a border wall, and more.”
“It is wrong to deport 11 million people,” said Casey during one clip used for the ad. Immediately after, in another clip, Harris declared, “We have 11 million people here who need a pathway to citizenship.”
Another video used later in the ad features Casey describe the vice president as “inspiring,” then cuts to video of Harris confirming, “I am a radical. I do believe we need to get radical.”
The ad concludes with Casey stating that Harris is “prepared right now to do this job,” and “prepared to be commander in chief.”
McCormick’s campaign released the video as polling from April suggests immigration is the second most important issue to voters in battleground states, including 16 percent of Pennsylvania, where it was only outranked by concerns about the state of the economy.
It also comes after the McCormick campaign was lauded by conservatives for the ad it released shortly after Casey endorsed Harris, helping her become the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee after President Joe Biden called off his reelection bid.
That ad has since attained nearly 3 million views on the social media platform X, where McCormick wrote that Casey “just endorsed the most liberal nominee in U.S. history.”
Conservative pundits celebrated, including The Daily Wire host Matt Walsh, who called it the “[m]ost comprehensive anti-Harris ad I’ve seen so far,” while Rolling Stone contributor Noah Schachtman warned, “Team Kamala is going to need an effective response to attacks like this one, and in a hurry.”
Casey continues to lead in the Keystone state polls, with the RealClearPolling aggregate of polls showing the Democrat leading McCormick by 6.3 percent, but pollsters at Cygnal stated in early July that the Republican was “within striking distance.”
Should the race continue to narrow, experts warned this week that Pennsylvania lawmakers’ failure to give election workers more time to process mail-in ballots could result in a lengthy process to determine election victors in the commonwealth, as seen after the 2020 elections.
Watch the McCormick campaign’s full video:
– – –
Tom Pappert is the lead reporter for The Tennessee Star, and also reports for The Pennsylvania Daily Star and The Arizona Sun Times. Follow Tom on X/Twitter. Email tips to [email protected].
Photo “Bob Casey” by Bob Casey. Photo “Kamala Harris” by Kamala Harris.