Republican Senate candidate Dave McCormick, running in the politically pivotal battleground of Pennsylvania, is focused on winning over Jewish voters who have become disillusioned with the Democratic Party as part of his campaign against Sen. Bob Casey (D-PA).

McCormick has regularly highlighted his stalwart support for Israel as it defends itself against Hamas, Hezbollah and Iran — and been a leading voice in condemning rising antisemitism, especially against the anti-Israel activism taking place at universities, including at the University of Pennsylvania.  

As he battles against Casey, he’s also been trying to contrast Sen. John Fetterman’s (D-PA) outspoken, unapologetic praise for Israel in contrast to his Democratic colleague’s lower-key displays of support for the Jewish state.

“A lot of Jewish voters that I encounter are wrestling with their political allegiances, wrestling with what they’re seeing play out from their television, wrestling with how to think about their strong support for Israel and their dismay at the antisemitism,” McCormick told Jewish Insider last week. “This election really is forcing a lot of soul-searching, and I’m hoping to be able to win their confidence as someone who’s a strong voice on these issues and will be a strong voice as their senator.”

The Pennsylvania Senate race is one of the most expensive and hotly contested Senate matchups in the country, taking place in the state that’s shaping up as a must-win for both presidential campaigns. Casey has been leading McCormick in public polls, benefiting from his higher name recognition and solid favorability ratings.

To close the deficit, McCormick’s campaign is working to make inroads with some Democratic-leaning communities that have become disaffected with Democrats. 

Jewish voters, who make up about three percent of the state’s population, could well make the difference in a close race. Typically, Democrats win more than 70% of the Jewish vote nationally, but recent polling suggests Republicans are making inroads within the community.

Since Oct. 7, analysts have noticed some slippage in Jewish voters’ historic allegiance to Democrats, pointing to the rise of an anti-Israel faction within the party amid rising antisemitism on college campuses and in cities across the country.

Teach Coalition, a group run by the Orthodox Union aimed at advocating for yeshivas and Jewish day schools, commissioned a poll with Honan Strategy Group earlier this month on Jewish voters in Pennsylvania. It found that Republicans were making incremental gains in the state among Jewish voters. 

The poll, conducted between July 26 and August 1, shows Vice President Kamala Harris only leading former President Donald Trump with Pennsylvania Jewish voters 52-41%, with 7% saying they’re undecided or declining to answer. 

Asked about the Senate race, 47% of respondents said they’d back Casey and 32% said they’re supporting McCormick, but 21% were unsure or refused to say. Were those numbers to hold through November, they’d mark a notable decline in support from a community that has long been viewed as a solid voting bloc for Democrats. 

McCormick pointed to numerous areas where he’s been quicker than Casey to speak out on issues of concern to the Jewish community. He noted that Casey declined to call for former University of Pennsylvania President Liz Magill’s resignation after her widely criticized testimony before the House Education and the Workforce Committee; criticized Casey’s refusal to call for the encampments on UPenn’s campus to be torn down; noted his endorsement of Rep. Summer Lee (D-PA), an anti-Israel member of the Squad who faced a more moderate challenger in her primary; and his vote for the 2015 Iran nuclear deal.

He also argued that Casey’s failure to secure a vote on the Antisemitism Awareness Act — a bill that Casey leads and which McCormick says he’d support in the Senate — or push for an antisemitism hearing on the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee are proof that he isn’t getting the job done for Pennsylvania Jews. 

“That legislation is a good idea. Of course we need to have strong definitions and combat antisemitism,” McCormick said. “I think the fact that it’s not moving forward is just an indication of the absolute weakness of Casey. The thing about this is you can’t have moral ambiguity.”

Casey is one of a number of Democratic senators who have been privately asking Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) to commit floor time to the legislation and has introduced it as an amendment to the 2024 National Defense Authorization Act. He is also one of the Senate HELP members who has privately advised Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT), who chairs the committee, to hold a hearing on campus antisemitism. Neither effort has been successful, but Casey has not criticized either senator in public. 

Casey has also broken with the administration at times, including pushing for redesignating the Houthis as a foreign terrorist organization and indicating he’s open to sanctions on the International Criminal Court for its moves against israel. And he recently blasted a failed effort in Pittsburgh to place an Israel divestment measure on the November ballot.

He also helped secure $1 million in federal funding to help Tree of Life in Pittsburgh establish antisemitism education programs and is working to bring Philadelphia’s Weitzman National Museum of American Jewish History into the Smithsonian.

Casey also signed letters in recent months calling for stronger enforcement of oil sanctions on Iran, supporting increased funding for the State Department’s antisemitism envoy and condemning the United Nations’ response to sexual violence by Hamas.

“Senator Casey has been a leader in the Senate both supporting Israel and fighting back against antisemitism, including serving as the lead cosponsor of the Antisemitism Awareness Act. That’s why America’s leading pro-Israel organizations have endorsed him,” Casey spokesperson Kate Smart said.

The Casey campaign has also hit McCormick for investing millions in Rumble, a right-wing web hosting platform that has become popular with extremists and antisemites. Casey’s campaign went on air this summer with an ad attacking the Republican for his Rumble investment.

Mike Mikus, a veteran Democratic strategist in the state, maintained that Casey remains the favorite in the race. He also rejected the notion that Casey was bleeding any significant support with Pennsylvania’s Jewish community, noting that it is his style to operate more behind the scenes rather than in the political spotlight. 

“I think this is Bob Casey’s race to lose. Dave McCormick, to date, has not been able to get any momentum whatsoever. Really, I have not seen his ads or any of his tactics changing the outcome or at least the trajectory of the outcome of this race up till now. November is obviously a few months away, but I think Bob Casey is still relatively popular,” Mikus said. 

“In relation to the party as a whole, no, we’ve not seen defections of Jewish voters to the Republican Party. But specifically when it comes to this race, Bob Casey has always had strong backing in the Jewish community, and I think that’s going to continue through November,” he added. “McCormick says he’ll be a louder supporter [of Jewish causes]. Bob Casey, that’s not who he is. He’s not somebody who beats his chest and makes a lot of noise, but he does the work in the background to build consensus and get things done.”

McCormick, though, has been assiduously courting moderates as part of his campaign strategy. In addition to his praise of Fetterman, he also spoke positively about Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro for his decision to honor the Trump supporter who was killed during the assassination attempt on the former president at a campaign rally in Butler last month. 

“This has been a tough few days for our commonwealth,” McCormick wrote on X, formerly Twitter, last month alongside a photo of the two shaking hands. He added that he was “grateful” to the governor “for his strength and leadership following the tragedy in Butler on Saturday. Great to see you today at the FOP conference in Bethlehem.”

McCormick told JI he’d be willing to work with Fetterman on any legislative effort relating to Israel or antisemitism if elected, referring to both as bipartisan issues of geopolitical concern.

“If John Fetterman and I had breakfast, we would disagree on probably 95% of what he thinks is right for the country versus what I think. We couldn’t be more diametrically opposed on most things, but on this, on antisemitism and support for Israel, he has been a voice of moral clarity. He has taken on the radical left part of his party and the antisemitic parts of his party. Bob Casey’s done none of that,” McCormick said. 

(Fetterman, for his part, has championed Casey’s candidacy and last year criticized McCormick for not living in the state. “I love Bob Casey, and he is certainly firmly on Israel’s side. He’s gonna beat that guy from Connecticut,” he told JI in Jerusalem in June.)

McCormick also believes all roads to addressing both issues lead to Iran, which he believes the U.S. can only deter through demonstrations and projections of strength. He thinks the U.S. should enforce the “very robust sanctions regime” already in place and reestablish deterrence through a “degree of robustness” in how the U.S. responds to attacks on American troops through Iranian proxies. 

“You have to introduce a degree of uncertainty into how you’re going to respond and when you’re going to respond,” McCormick explained of his preferred approach to Iran. “You need to be able to take bold action periodically in response to terrorist activity that keeps your foes and your adversaries guessing.”

“I think Trump did this really beautifully. I think the Israelis do this beautifully,” he added.

Senior Congressional correspondent Marc Rod contributed to this report.