Bob Casey is a good guy and was a reliable liberal vote who worked hard for the people of Pennsylvania. Hedge fund bro Dave McCormick doesn’t even live here. Via the Philadelphia Inquirer:
U.S. Sen. Bob Casey (D., Pa.) conceded to Republican Dave McCormick on Thursday, formally ending his reelection bid and acknowledging defeat two weeks after the Associated Press declared McCormick’s victory and after a statewide recount of the race had been triggered.
Casey had resisted conceding, citing thousands of votes that still needed to be counted and entering court fights to maximize the number of ballots included. But as final ballots were adjudicated Thursday, Casey’s roughly 16,500-vote deficit was too large to overcome and so large that a recount would not affect it.
“I want to thank the people of Pennsylvania for granting me the privilege of serving them for 28 consecutive years in public office as auditor general, state treasurer, and United States senator,” Casey said. “Every day I served in public office, I’ve fought for Pennsylvania workers, children, seniors, people with disabilities, and our veterans. … It has been the honor of my lifetime.”
I have a favorite memory of the famously deadpan senator.
It was 2015, and there was a massive Amtrak train derailment in my neighborhood that killed eight people and injured over 200 passengers. I was eating lunch at a local restaurant when I noticed then-Mayor Mike Nutter, Sen. Bob Casey, and Sen. Pat Toomey at a nearby table. I waited until they finished and got up to the cash register to pay.
That’s when I jumped up and confronted Club for Growth’s Toomey, asking him, “Senator Toomey, are you still going to vote for the $300 million in Amtrak cuts?”
I said I hoped he finally realized that his votes and his refusal to fix train infrastructure had real life consequences — that people were dead as a result. He’d told the public they could have either new railroad bridges or an automated safety system on trains — but they couldn’t have both. I told him he was amoral, and he needed to stop putting tax cuts above human beings. (Note: The day after the derailment, the Republican-controlled U.S. House Appropriations Committee passed a measure to cut $260 million from Amtrak’s $1.36 billion budget for the next fiscal year.)
Nutter, a stuffed shirt Democrat who pretends to be liberal, started harrumphing at me and said, “Now see here, this is not the time or place.”
I looked at him and said, “This is exactly the time and place. Sen. Toomey hasn’t held one public meeting since he’s been in office and won’t meet with voters. Exactly when would be the time I get to talk to my senator?”
And then I noticed Bob Casey, who was trying very hard not to laugh. That’s all, he didn’t say a word. But it was all he could do not to crack up. It was a very human reaction, and we don’t see many from politicians.
He probably agreed with me.
