Casey and McCormick to face each other as nominees in Pennsylvania's high-stakes US Senate contest

HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) — Democratic Sen. Bob Casey and Republican challenger David McCormick will face each other in Pennsylvania's high-stakes U.S. Senate contest this fall, as Tuesday’s primary election put the men on track for a race that is expected to cost hundreds of millions of dollars and help decide control of the Senate next year.

Casey and McCormick won their respective party primary contests after they were uncontested and now enter what is likely to be a grueling, expensive and hard-fought 2024 general election campaign that culminates in the Nov. 5 vote.

Casey, seeking his fourth term, is perhaps Pennsylvania's best-known politician and a stalwart of the presidential swing state's Democratic Party — the son of a former two-term governor and Pennsylvania’s longest-ever serving Democrat in the Senate.

McCormick is a two-time Senate challenger, a former hedge fund CEO and a Pennsylvania native who spent $14 million of his own money only to lose narrowly to celebrity heart surgeon Dr. Mehmet Oz in 2022's seven-way GOP primary. Oz then lost to Democratic Sen. John Fetterman in a pivotal Senate contest.

This time around, McCormick has consolidated the party around his candidacy and is backed by a super PAC that's already reported raising more than $20 million, much of it from securities-trading billionaires.

McCormick's candidacy is shaping up as the strongest challenge to Casey in his three reelection bids. McCormick has worked to shore up support in the GOP base, and on Tuesday night hammered his message at his election night gathering in Pittsburgh that Casey is a do-nothing senator.

“We're now turning to the general election and here's the truth: Pennsylvania deserves better than Bob Casey, You deserve better," McCormick said. "Bob Casey's defining achievement in his political life, 30 years in political office, has been to be the son of Bob Casey Sr. That is what defines his political career.”

Casey, in Washington on Tuesday to cast votes in favor of $95 billion in war aid to Ukraine, Israel and Taiwan, said on social media that “there are 196 days until the general election, and we're going to win.” Meanwhile, the state Democratic Party unveiled a minute-long digital ad slamming McCormick as a “millionaire hedge fund executive who is lying to Pennsylvanians.”

The Senate candidates will share a ticket with candidates for president in a state that is critical to whether Democrats can maintain control of the White House and the Senate.

President Joe Biden and former President Donald Trump won their party nominations easily after all major rivals dropped out. Both men made campaign trips to swing-state Pennsylvania in recent days, and voters can expect to see plenty of them, their TV ads and their surrogates campaigning over the next six months in a state that swung from Trump in 2016 to Biden in 2020.

Of note, however, could be the number of “ uncommitted ” write-in votes cast in the Democratic primary to protest Biden’s handling of the Israel-Hamas war.

In the Senate contest, Democrats have attacked McCormick's opposition to abortion rights, his frequent trips to Connecticut’s ritzy “Gold Coast ” where he keeps a family home, and the focus on investing in China during his dozen years as an executive at the hedge fund Bridgewater Associates, including as CEO.

Casey has been a key player for Democrats trying to reframe the election-year narrative about the economy by attacking “greedflation” — a blunt term for corporations that jack up prices and rip off shoppers to maximize profits — as fast-rising prices over the past three years have opened a big soft spot in 2024 for Democrats. Recent indications that the U.S. economy avoided a recession amid efforts to manage inflation have yet to translate into voter enthusiasm for giving Biden a second term.

McCormick, meanwhile, has accused Casey of rubber-stamping harmful immigration, economic, energy and national security policies of Biden, and made a bid for Jewish voters by traveling to the Israel-Gaza border and arguing that Biden hasn’t backed Israel strongly enough in the Israel-Hamas war.

Casey is one of Biden’s strongest allies in Congress. McCormick and Trump have endorsed each other, but are an awkward duo atop the GOP's ticket after Trump savaged McCormick in 2022's primary in a successful bid to lift Oz to his primary win.

Democrats currently hold a Senate majority by the narrowest of margins, but face a difficult 2024 Senate map that requires them to defend incumbents in the red states of Montana and Ohio and fight for open seats with new candidates in Michigan and West Virginia.

A Casey loss could guarantee Republican control of the Senate.

Elsewhere on the ballot Tuesday, Pennsylvanians will decide nominees for an open attorney general's office and two other statewide offices — treasurer and auditor general — plus all 17 of the state's U.S. House seats and 228 of the state's 253 legislative seats.

For attorney general, Republicans nominated Dave Sunday, York County's district attorney, in a two-way race while Democrats nominated former state Auditor General Eugene DePasquale of Pittsburgh in a five-person primary field. Democrats also will decide on a challenger to incumbent Republican state Treasurer Stacy Garrity and nominated state Rep. Malcolm Kenyatta of Philadelphia to challenge state Auditor General Tim DeFoor.

For Congress, 44 candidates were on ballots, including all 17 incumbents. All three incumbents facing primary challengers — Republican Rep. Brian Fitzpatrick in suburban Philadelphia and Democratic Reps. Dwight Evans in Philadelphia and Summer Lee in a Pittsburgh-based district — won their races.

Lee's primary against challenger Bhavini Patel has shaped up as an early test of whether Israel’s war with Gaza poses political threats to progressive Democrats in Congress who have criticized how it has been handled.

Republicans nominated state Rep. Ryan Mackenzie in a three-way race to challenge Democratic Rep. Susan Wild, whose Allentown-based district is politically divided, while Democrats nominated former TV news personality Janelle Stelson from among six candidates to challenge Republican Rep. Scott Perry of southern Pennsylvania.

Perry has become a national figure for heading up the ultra-right House Freedom Caucus during a speakership battle and his efforts to help Trump stay in power after losing the 2020 presidential election.

Follow Marc Levy on Twitter at http://twitter.com/timelywriter.

Republican David McCormick, making his second bid for a Pennsylvania U.S. Senate seat, addresses supporters at his election night watch party in Pittsburgh, Tuesday, April 23, 2024. (AP Photo/Gene J. Puskar)

Republican David McCormick, left, is joined by his wife Dina Powell after making remarks at his election night watch party in Pittsburgh, Tuesday, April 23, 2024. McCormick is making his second bid for a Pennsylvania U.S. Senate seat, this time to take on Democratic Sen. Bob Casey. (AP Photo/Gene J. Puskar)

Republican David McCormick, making his second bid for a Pennsylvania U.S. Senate seat, addresses supporters at his election night watch party in Pittsburgh, Tuesday, April 23, 2024. (AP Photo/Gene J. Puskar)

Republican David McCormick, making his second bid for a Pennsylvania U.S. Senate seat, addresses supporters at his election night watch party in Pittsburgh, Tuesday, April 23, 2024. (AP Photo/Gene J. Puskar)

Republican David McCormick, center, making his second bid for a Pennsylvania U.S. Senate seat, greets supporters at his election night watch party in Pittsburgh, April 23, 2024. (AP Photo/Gene J. Puskar)

Republican David McCormick, making his second bid for a Pennsylvania U.S. Senate seat, addresses supporters at his election night watch party in Pittsburgh, April 23, 2024. (AP Photo/Gene J. Puskar)

Republican David McCormick, left, making his second bid for a Pennsylvania U.S. Senate seat, greets supporters at his election night watch party in Pittsburgh, Tuesday, April 23, 2024. (AP Photo/Gene J. Puskar)

Republican David McCormick, making his second bid for a Pennsylvania U.S. Senate seat, addresses supporters at his election night watch party in Pittsburgh, Tuesday, April 23, 2024. (AP Photo/Gene J. Puskar)

Jerome Upchurch reads voter's information in Spanish, posted outside the Fleisher Art Memorial election polling place on Tuesday, April 23, 2024, in South Philadelphia. (Jose F. Moreno/The Philadelphia Inquirer via AP)

Joe Khan, a Democratic candidate for Pennsylvania Attorney General, walks from his polling place in Doylestown, Pa., Tuesday, April 23, 2024. (AP Photo/Matt Rourke)

Allegheny County Executive Sara Innamorato leaves her polling place in the Lawrenceville neighborhood of Pittsburgh, on Tuesday, April 23, 2024. (Arturo Fernandez/Pittsburgh Post-Gazette via AP)

"I Voted" stickers are set out at a polling place in Newtown, Pa., Tuesday, April 23, 2024. (AP Photo/Matt Rourke)

"I Voted" stickers are set out at a polling place in Newtown, Pa., Tuesday, April 23, 2024. (AP Photo/Matt Rourke)

Campaign signs are posted outside of a polling site in Doylestown, Pa., Tuesday, April 23, 2024. (AP Photo/Matt Rourke)

A voter and child walk past campaign signs posted outside of a polling site in Doylestown, Pa., Tuesday, April 23, 2024. (AP Photo/Matt Rourke)

Voting booths are set up at a polling place in Newtown, Pa., Tuesday, April 23, 2024. (AP Photo/Matt Rourke)

Max Weisman, Communications Director with City Councilman Isaiah Thomas volunteers at a polling place inside the Free Library Falls of Schuylkill Branch in East Falls section of Philadelphia, as it prepares to open on election day, Tuesday, April 23, 2024. (Alejandro A. Alvarez/The Philadelphia Inquirer via AP)

Workers wait for voters at a polling place of in Bristol, Pa., Tuesday, April 23, 2024. (AP Photo/Matt Rourke)

A voter marks their ballot at a polling place in Bristol, Pa., Tuesday, April 23, 2024. (AP Photo/Matt Rourke)

A voter marks their ballot at a polling place in Bristol, Pa., Tuesday, April 23, 2024. (AP Photo/Matt Rourke)

A voter marks their ballot at a polling place in Bristol, Pa., Tuesday, April 23, 2024. (AP Photo/Matt Rourke)

Shown is an "I Voted" stickers at a polling place in Newtown, Pa., Tuesday, April 23, 2024. (AP Photo/Matt Rourke)

Voting booths are set up at a polling place in Newtown, Pa., Tuesday, April 23, 2024. (AP Photo/Matt Rourke)

FILE - Sen. Bob Casey, D-Pa., smiles while speaking during an event at AFSCME Council 13 offices, March 14, 2024, in Harrisburg, Pa. Tuesday's Pennsylvania primaries will cement the lineup for a high-stakes U.S. Senate race between Democratic Sen. Bob Casey and Republican challenger David McCormick, a contest that is expected to cost hundreds of millions of dollars and could help decide control of the Senate next year. (AP Photo/Marc Levy, file)

FILE Republican David McCormick addresses supporters at the Heinz History Center in Pittsburgh , Sept. 21, 2023. Tuesday's Pennsylvania primaries will cement the lineup for a high-stakes U.S. Senate race between Democratic Sen. Bob Casey and Republican challenger David McCormick, a contest that is expected to cost hundreds of millions of dollars and could help decide control of the Senate next year. (AP Photo/Gene J. Puskar, file)

FILE - This photo combo shows. Republican David McCormick, left, addressing supporters at the Heinz History Center in Pittsburgh, Sept. 21, 2023 and Sen. Bob Casey, D-Pa., speaking during an event at AFSCME Council 13 offices, March 14, 2024, in Harrisburg, Pa.. (AP Photo/Gene J. Puskar, Marc Levy, file)

Israel's military has ordered tens of thousands of people in the southern Gaza city of Rafah to begin evacuating, signaling that a long-promised ground invasion could be imminent.

The announcement on Monday complicated last-ditch efforts by international mediators to broker a cease-fire. Hamas and Qatar, a key mediator, have warned that an invasion of Rafah could derail the talks.

Israel has described Rafah as the last significant Hamas stronghold after seven months of war, and its leaders have repeatedly said they need to carry out a ground invasion to defeat the Islamic militant group.

Lt. Col. Nadav Shoshani, an army spokesman, said some 100,000 people were being ordered to move to a nearby Israel-declared humanitarian zone called Muwasi. He said Israel was preparing a “limited scope operation” and would not say whether this was the beginning of a broader invasion of the city.

The Israel-Hamas war has driven around 80% of Gaza’s population of 2.3 million from their homes and caused vast destruction in several towns and cities. The death toll in Gaza has soared to more than 34,500 people, according to local health officials.

The war began Oct. 7 when Hamas attacked southern Israel, abducting about 250 people and killing around 1,200, mostly civilians. Israel says militants still hold around 100 hostages and the remains of more than 30 others.

Currently:

— Israeli army tells Palestinians to evacuate parts of Rafah ahead of an expected assault

— Hamas says latest cease-fire talks have ended. Israel vows military operation in ‘very near future’

— Israel orders Al Jazeera to close its local operation and seizes some of its equipment

— Netanyahu uses Holocaust ceremony to brush off international pressure against Gaza offensive

— Anti-war protesters leave USC after police arrive, while Northeastern ceremony proceeds calmly

— Israeli strike kills 4 civilians in southern Lebanon, state media says

Follow AP’s coverage of the war at https://apnews.com/hub/israel-hamas-war

Here's the latest:

JERUSALEM — The Israeli army has ordered tens of thousands of people in the southern Gaza city of Rafah to begin evacuating, signaling that a long-promised ground invasion could be imminent.

The announcement on Monday complicated last-ditch efforts by international mediators, including the director of the CIA, to broker a cease-fire. Hamas and Qatar, a key mediator, have warned that an invasion of Rafah could derail the talks.

Israel has described Rafah as the last significant Hamas stronghold after seven months of war, and its leaders have repeatedly said they need to carry out a ground invasion to defeat the Islamic militant group.

Lt. Col. Nadav Shoshani, an army spokesman, said some 100,000 people were being ordered to move to a nearby Israel-declared humanitarian zone called Muwasi. He said Israel was preparing a “limited scope operation” and would not say whether this was the beginning of a broader invasion of the city. But last October, Israel did not formally announce the launch of a ground invasion that continues to this day.

BEIRUT — An Israeli airstrike on northeastern Lebanon wounded three people and destroyed a building, Lebanon’s state-run National News Agency says.

The strike on the village of Safri early Monday targeted a factory in the eastern Bekaa Valley, the agency said without giving further details.

The Israeli military said its fighter jets struck a Hezbollah military structure in Safri.

Monday’s strike came after a tense day along the Lebanon-Israel border during which an Israeli airstrike on a village near the border killed four Lebanese civilians.

The militant Hezbollah group said it fired dozens of rockets in retaliation toward northern Israel.

The Lebanon-Israel border has seen almost daily exchange of fire since a day after the Israel-Hamas war started on Oct. 7.

Israeli strikes have killed more than 350 people in Lebanon, most of them fighters with Hezbollah and allied groups but also including more than 50 civilians. In Israel, strikes from Lebanon have killed at least 10 civilians and 12 soldiers.

The office of late Al Jazeera network journalist Shireen Abu Akleh is decorated with memorial items, inside the network's office, in the West Bank city of Ramallah Sunday, May 5, 2024. Israel ordered the local offices of Qatar's Al Jazeera satellite news network to close Sunday, escalating a long-running feud between the broadcaster and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's hard-line government as Doha-mediated cease-fire negotiations with Hamas hang in the balance. (AP Photo/Nasser Nasser)

Palestinians react next to the bodies of their relatives who were killed in an Israeli airstrike in Gaza Stirp, at the Al Aqsa hospital in Deir al Balah, Gaza, Sunday, May 5, 2024. (AP Photo/Abdel Kareem Hana)

Palestinians react next to the bodies of their relatives who were killed in an Israeli airstrike in Gaza Stirp, at the Al Aqsa hospital in Deir al Balah, Gaza, Sunday, May 5, 2024. (AP Photo/Abdel Kareem Hana)

A Palestinian woman mourns her relative, 7-month old baby Hani Qeshta, who was killed in an Israeli bombardment on a residential building with Qeshta's family, at the morgue of Al Najjar hospital in Rafah, southern Gaza Strip, Sunday, May 5, 2024. (AP Photo/Ismael Abu Dayyah)

Israeli soldiers drive a tank at a staging ground near the border with the Gaza Strip, in southern Israel, Sunday, May 5, 2024. (AP Photo/Tsafrir Abayov)

The Qeshta family is seen in body bags at the morgue of Al Najjar hospital in Rafah, southern Gaza Strip, Sunday, May 5, 2024. The family was killed in an Israeli bombardment on a residential building in Rafah. (AP Photo/Ismael Abu Dayyah)