Casey announces he will seek 4th term in U.S. Senate

SCRANTON — The first and only person to have won six statewide elections in Pennsylvania, U.S. Sen. Bob Casey announced Monday he will seek a fourth 6-year term in the Senate.

In a news release announcing his decision, Casey, 62 of Scranton, said he has built a winning coalition made up of Pennsylvanians from Erie County to Delaware County and he said he stands ready to do that again in 2024.

“I won’t back down from any fight for communities and families across our commonwealth,” Casey said. “I’m running for reelection because with so much on the line for Pennsylvania’s working families, I want to keep delivering results for Pennsylvania.”

Casey said he feels there is 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.

Casey described himself as “a proven fighter for Pennsylvania families.” He listed some of his most notable accomplishments, including:

• Taking on China and protecting Pennsylvania jobs. He said he fought to pass the CHIPS Act to give American workers a leg up and is fighting back against unfair trade practices by China.

• Breaking through Washington gridlock to make a meaningful difference in Pennsylvanians’ lives. He said he fought to pass landmark legislation to cap the cost of insulin for seniors and expand access to veterans’ health care.

• Delivering investments and federal dollars back to Pennsylvania. He said he is bringing billions in infrastructure investments to the commonwealth, including fully funding the Montgomery Locks and Dam project on the Upper Ohio in the first year of the infrastructure law.

• Standing up for Pennsylvania’s children and families — Casey said he is helping parents with the cost of raising kids by fighting to make child care more affordable and he’s keeping children safe by passing the STURDY Act, a law to strengthen safety standards to stop furniture accidents that have devastated too many families. He said he also fought to pass his bipartisan Pregnant Workers Fairness Act which helps ensure pregnant workers are treated fairly on the job.

• Fighting for our seniors — Casey said as the chair of the Senate Aging Committee, he has been a relentless champion for seniors. He said he has stood up to Wall Street banks in order to protect pensions and opposed efforts to privatize Social Security in the stock market.

The news release stated this:

“Bob Casey always stands up for working families, and that’s why Pennsylvanians trust him to fight for them in the Senate. He’s spent his life fighting against the ultra-wealthy and special interests that threaten Pennsylvania’s hardworking people — from countries like China that threaten our jobs, to big insurance companies that are raising our health care costs.”

Associated Press story

In an Associated Pres story regarding Casey’s decision to seek reelection, it was stated that by running, Casey is “bringing the power of incumbency and unmatched name recognition in Pennsylvania politics to his party’s defense of a seat in a critical presidential battleground state.”

The AP story noted that Casey, the longest-serving Democratic U.S. senator in Pennsylvania history, gives Democrats a boost ahead of a difficult 2024 Senate map. The Democratic Party must defend incumbents not only in red states — Montana, Ohio and West Virginia — but also in multiple swing states.

The AP story also notes that Casey is a key ally of labor unions and President Joe Biden.

“In Congress, Casey, a moderate Democrat, has backed all of Biden’s top priorities and forged a close relationship with the president, at least in part because the men also have a bond that goes beyond politics — they hail from the same hometown of Scranton,” the AP story states.

AP reported Marc Levy wrote: “In running for reelection, Casey’s message sounds similar to how Biden’s campaign for a second term may sound. Casey points to landmark bills produced by a Democratic-controlled Congress that would expand spending on infrastructure such as airports and broadband internet, to reinvigorate a domestic semiconductor industry, to subsidize hydrogen fuel plants and to lower drug costs for Medicare recipients.”

Levy wrote that the National Republican Senatorial Committee is already attacking Casey for voting for laws under Biden that they say have worsened inflation, and threatened Social Security and Medicare — two programs that Casey has long championed.

In the AP story, Casey said Republicans “dreamed that up” and countered that the GOP has long been hostile to Medicaid, Medicare and Social Security by proposing budgets and policy ideas that would “devastate” the programs.

The AP story noted that many Republicans acknowledge that it will be difficult to beat Casey — some privately say he can’t be beaten.

In January Casey announced that he would undergo surgery for prostate cancer. More than seven weeks after surgery, Casey has said he feels fully recovered. His office has said the procedure went well and that he would require no further treatment and he has returned to work.