McCormick exploits Pennsylvania Senate race gap by accusing Casey of border mismanagement.

In Pennsylvania, Dave McCormick, the Republican Senate candidate, is attacking Sen. Bob Casey, D-Pa., for not taking enough action to secure the southern border and address the fentanyl overdose crisis that is devastating the state.

Blair County Sheriff Jim Ott remembered the loss of his son due to a fentanyl overdose in a new ad placed after Labor Day.

"If the border was secure, my son would be alive today. We can't bring back the people we've lost. But we can get rid of weak politicians like Bob Casey who let it happen," he said.

The ad buy for $2.2 million will be a 30-second commercial that will be shown on both TV and digital platforms across the state.

The presidential election is less than 10 weeks away, and operatives traditionally consider Labor Day as the time when voters start committing to their candidate choices. Although McCormick has been lagging behind Casey in recent polls, GOP strategists anticipate voters will start paying more attention and support the Republican party.

In a recent poll by Quinnipiac University, Casey emerged victorious over his opponent with 55% of the vote among likely voters in Pennsylvania.

In a closely watched Senate race, McCormick faces challenges due to low name recognition and a popular incumbent, as explained by Quinnipiac University Polling analyst Tim Malloy.

A recent Planet Chronicle poll has shown that immigration is a significant issue not only nationally but also in Pennsylvania. In a July survey, 16% of Pennsylvania voters considered immigration the most important issue in the upcoming election, while 39% said the economy was the most important.

The Senate election in Pennsylvania is predicted to be impacted by the presidential race, which could benefit McCormick if Trump decides to run in the state.

In July, the Planet Chronicle Poll indicated that Trump and Vice President Harris were evenly matched in Pennsylvania.

In response to the recent criticism of Casey's immigration record, Kate Smart, the campaign spokesperson for Senator Casey, stated to Planet Chronicle Digital that Casey is collaborating with law enforcement to curb the flow of fentanyl and has enacted bipartisan legislation to penalize Chinese fentanyl manufacturers. Meanwhile, David McCormick, a rival candidate, invested heavily in China's largest fentanyl producer and even opposed a bipartisan border agreement that would have helped prevent fentanyl from entering the country.

According to publicly available records with the Department of Labor, as of 2021, Bridgewater Associates, where McCormick served as CEO from 2020 to 2022, had a nearly $1.7 million investment in Chinese company Humanwell across seven different hedge funds.

The pharmaceutical manufacturing company does not produce chemical fentanyl precursors, which are transported illegally through the southern border, but it does produce medical-grade opiates.

The Drug Enforcement Administration reports that illicit fentanyl, which is mainly produced in secret labs overseas and brought into the US via Mexico, is being circulated nationwide and sold on the black market.

The primary cause of the substantial increase in overdose deaths due to synthetic opioids, according to the agency, is illicitly manufactured fentanyl.