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SCRANTON — Before former President and Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump took the stage at Riverfront Sports on Wednesday afternoon, a pair of congressional candidates did a bit of campaigning themselves.
Dave McCormick is running for the Senate seat held by Scranton’s own Bob Casey, who is seeking his fourth term in the Congress’ upper chamber.
McCormick referred to Casey as a “career politician” who has been in elected office for nearly 30 years, but who is not the same person voters cast their ballot for in his first run for office. That came in 1996, when Casey won the statewide Auditor General election.
“When [Casey] first ran for office, the number one song was the ‘Macarena,’” said McCormick, drawing a laugh from the audience.
McCormick saddled his opponent with the nickname “Punxatawney Bob,” saying that Casey only “sticks his head out every six years” while campaigning.
By contrast, McCormick called himself a “seventh-generation” Pennsylvanian and a political outsider who spent his younger years in the central region of the commonwealth, such as in Bloomsburg, where he attended high school.
McCormick railed against the immigration policies he attributed to President Joe Biden, Vice President Kamala Harris, and Casey. He tied those immigration policies to 116,000 fentanyl-related deaths nationally in the past year.
“For all of you who remember the Vietnam War, in eight years of fighting, we had 58,000 deaths,” said McCormick. “We had two Vietnams last year.”
The number of deaths due to fentanyl in any given time frame can vary, but a May report from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) indicated that 74,702 people died from fentanyl overdoses in 2023.
Additional points within McCormick’s speech included support for the fossil fuel industry, curbing crime and railing against regulations and any “defunding the police” policies.
More broadly, McCormick spoke of the American dream and the importance of the upcoming election.
“I’ve got more years behind me than in front of me,” McCormick said, recalling a conversation he had with a group of younger voters. “This election is going to determine whether the America that we all love, the America that’s been the most exceptional country in the world, is there for all of you. And right now, we’re not on a good path.”
McCormick continued his recollection, using its climax as a closing rallying cry for Wednesday’s audience.
“You need to treat this election like your life depends on it — because it does.”
Bresnahan takes the stage
Remarks from Rob Bresnanan, the Republican candidate in the 8th Congressional District, preceded McCormick’s on Wednesday. His opponent is the six-term congressman Matt Cartwright, D-Moosic, who has represented a Northeast Pennsylvania district in the House of Representatives since 2013.
The 8th District includes all of Lackawanna, Pike and Wayne counties, and large chunks of Luzerne and Monroe counties.
Bresnahan started off by touting his union ties, and boiled his campaign down to three priorities: a stable economy, a secure border and “communities that are safe.”
“I don’t think any of those things are the reality right now,” Bresnahan told rallygoers.
Bresnahan pointed to over $1 trillion in American credit card debt and an ever-ballooning national debt as major economic concerns.
“Americans, us, our people, are financing grocery bills. They’re financing prescription medication. They’re financing their existence,” said Bresnahan.
Regarding the Southern border, which he claimed to have visited more frequently than Kamala Harris, Bresnahan said that “open borders” are resulting in a humanitarian crisis and a spike in fentanyl deaths.
Bresnahan said that he will act as a nonpartisan advocate for the district he aims to represent on these issues and others, such as infrastructure investments.
“The way I pull that lever, when I go to Washington, D.C., it will be for what’s best for Northeast Pennsylvania, and I don’t care if it’s a Democrat idea, a Republican idea, or an Independent idea.”
Additional speakers before former President Trump included Lackawanna County Commissioner Chris Chermak and entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy, who ran in the 2024 Republican primaries for President of the United States.