David McCormick parrots Trump’s election denying rhetoric

Republican Pennsylvania Senate candidate David McCormick has started to spread former President Donald Trump’s election denying rhetoric as the 2024 general election approaches.

McCormick has mirrored Trump’s exact words on several occasions recently, like claiming to need an army for election security as well as labeling ballot drop boxes a “voter security disaster” and a “chain of custody” issue. McCormick mimicked this rhetoric during recent appearance on “The Sean Spicer Show” and “The Rich Zeoli Show,” respectively.

Although Trump has been sowing disbelief in the 2020 election since the results came in almost four years ago, McCormick has been relatively quiet on the subject until recently. The Senate candidate was even critical of Trump’s polarizing nature and role on Jan. 6 at one point. During an interview with Bloomberg from January 2021, McCormick held Trump responsible for the riot at the Capitol and referred to it as a “dark chapter.”

“I think what we have to not embrace is the divisiveness that’s characterized the last four years and the polarization,” McCormick said. “And I think the president has some responsibility, a lot of responsibility for that. And I think that this last dark chapter on the Capitol will be, history will look very unfavorably on that and all the people that were involved in that.”

McCormick has had a shaky relationship with Trump in the past. In 2022, McCormick claimed to have met with Trump at the former president’s home at Mar-a-Lago in Palm Beach, Fla. But Trump apparently refused to endorse McCormick’s campaign unless the candidate publicly said that the 2020 election was stolen. When the candidate refused, Trump supported McCormick’s primary opponent Dr. Mehmet Oz and repeatedly bashed McCormick, saying he was “not MAGA.”

Trump did not endorse McCormick’s 2024 campaign until April, seven months after McCormick officially launched his campaign last September. McCormick easily won the primary election this time, setting up a race with incumbent Sen. Bob Casey (D) in November. McCormick has trailed by as much as 11 percentage points in recent polling from Sienna College.