Democratic Sen. Bob Casey announced Monday he will seek a fourth term next year in Pennsylvania, a battleground state, as Democrats fight to keep their Senate majority.
In announcing his re-election bid, Casey pointed to legislation passed by a Democratic-controlled Congress during the first two years of the Biden administration that expands investments in infrastructure, semiconductor manufacturing and research and lowers prescription drug costs for Medicare recipients.
“I’m running for re-election because with so much on the line for Pennsylvania’s working families, I want to keep delivering results for Pennsylvania,” Casey said in a statement. “There’s still more work to cut through the gridlock, stand up to powerful corporate special interests, and make the lives of hardworking Pennsylvanians a little bit easier.”
No other candidates have been officially announced.
On the Republican side, former hedge fund executive Dave McCormick, who lost a close Senate primary to celebrity doctor Mehmet Oz last year, is seen as a top GOP recruiting target. McCormick has been touring the state to promote a recently published book. Also weighing a GOP primary bid is state Sen. Doug Mastriano, an ultraconservative election denier who was defeated by Democrat Josh Shapiro in last year’s race for governor.
Casey, who underwent surgery for prostate cancer this year, is the longest-serving Democratic senator in the state's history. Democrats face a daunting Senate map next year, with 21 Senate Democrats up for re-election, along with the two independents who caucus with them.
Former President Donald Trump in 2020 won three states with Democratic senators who are up for re-election next year: Montana, Ohio and West Virginia. Casey is one of five Senate Democrats who are from states President Joe Biden won by less than 4 percentage points in 2020, making them potentially vulnerable for re-election next year.
Casey, who turns 63 this week, was first elected to the Senate in 2006 and secured re-election in 2012 and 2018 even as the state swung between Republicans and Democrats in presidential races. Casey, a moderate Democrat, is a key Biden ally and an outspoken supporter of labor unions.
Casey has joined Republicans and other Democrats in the Senate to negotiate bipartisan bills. He entered Congress with a pro-gun rights position that contrasted with that of other Democrats, but he came around to helping negotiate legislation such as background checks for gun purchases.
Casey, who has long held anti-abortion views, had a complicated stance on the government’s role in abortion rights. However, he joined Democrats last year in coming out in support of some protections for abortion rights in the wake of the Supreme Court decision overturning Roe v. Wade, marking a shift from his resistance to codifying such protections nationwide.
He is the son of Bob Casey Sr., a former governor of Pennsylvania who opposed legal abortion and defended his state’s restrictions in the 1992 landmark Supreme Court case Planned Parenthood v. Casey.
