Oz Senate defeat opens door for ex-hedge fund CEO McCormick
When politicians, business and civic leaders descend on New York City’s Waldorf Astoria on Friday for the annual Pennsylvania Society gathering, Democrats in the crowd will be celebrating the first time in 75 years that the state’s voters have not elected at least one Republican senator.
David McCormick, the former chief executive officer of hedge fund giant Bridgewater Associates, will be in attendance, too. His fellow Republicans are pushing for him to go up against threeterm Sen. Bob Casey in 2024 to restore the Commonwealth’s split in the chamber. Mr. McCormick himself is weighing another run, people familiar with the matter said.
“He’s giving it the due thought it deserves,” said Sam DeMarco, chairman of the Republican Committee of
Allegheny County, who knows Mr. McCormick well enough to encourage him to run, and said his presence at the Pennsylvania Society event is an encouraging sign.
Mr. McCormick, 57, will release a book in March on leadership that “outlines a conservative agenda for American renewal,” his publisher said, a move that often precedes a run for public office.
He lost this year’s Senate primary to former TV host Mehmet Oz by 951 votes. Mr. Oz went on to lose this month to Lt. Gov. John Fetterman by five points despite Mr. Fetterman being sidelined by a stroke that hampered his performance in the one and only debate. Mr. Fetterman’s victory in a seat now held by Republican Pat Toomey was a key pickup for Democrats, who will keep control of the Senate with at least 50 votes.
Mr. McCormick launched this year’s Senate campaign only five months before the primary after stepping down from the top job at Bridgewater, the world’s largest hedge fund. He spent $14 million of his own money, on top of $21 million raised by a proMcCormick super-PAC financed in large part by another hedge fund chief, Citadel founder Ken Griffin. But despite branding himself as an “America First” conservative, he lost the endorsement of former President Donald Trump.