Politics & Government

Former Hedge Fund CEO David McCormick Enters PA U.S. Senate Race

David McCormick, a Connecticut resident who recently purchased a house in Pittsburgh, is vying for the Republican U.S. Senate nomination.

FILE - President-elect Donald Trump poses for photos with David McCormick at the Trump National Golf Club Bedminster clubhouse, Sunday, Nov. 20, 2016, in Bedminster, N.J.
FILE - President-elect Donald Trump poses for photos with David McCormick at the Trump National Golf Club Bedminster clubhouse, Sunday, Nov. 20, 2016, in Bedminster, N.J. (AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster, File)

PITTSBURGH, PA — Former hedge fund CEO David McCormick has jumped into the increasingly crowded Republican race for Pennsylvania's soon-to-be vacant U.S. Senate seat. McCormick, who ran the Connecticut-based Bridgewater Associates, announced his candidacy Thursday with the release of a TV commercial.

"I'm Dave McCormick," he states in the spot, filmed in a high school gymnasium. "I've been fighting my whole life from wrestling in this gym to one just like it at West Point. I fought for freedom in Iraq and American capitalism, not socialism. And now I'm running for the US Senate to fight the woke mob, hijacking America's future."

Other Republicans seeking to succeed the retiring Pat Toomey include celebrity TV doctor Mehmet Oz; Montgomery County real estate developer Jeff Bartos; Kathy Barnette, a conservative commentator and 2020 congressional nominee from Montgomery County and Carla Sands, the former U.S.ambassador to Denmark.

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McCormick, 56, likely will face criticism from the other candidates that he has lived in Connecticut since 2009. He recently purchased a house in Pittsburgh.

McCormick could attempt to counter critics by noting his ties to former President Donald Trump. His wife, Dina Powell McCormick, was Trump's deputy national security adviser.

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Several former Trump aides also will be advising his campaign, CNN reported. They include Hope Hicks, Stephen Miller and Cliff Sims.

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