STEVE INSKEEP, HOST:
The margins are narrowing in several Senate contests in the Midwest and Rust Belt, making it increasingly likely that Republicans can take control from Democrats.
MICHEL MARTIN, HOST:
One of the Senate seats in play belongs to Pennsylvania Democrat Bob Casey, and he was nice enough to join us here this morning. Good morning, Senator.
BOB CASEY: Michel, great to be with you and Steve. Thank you.
MARTIN: So half a dozen seats held by Democrats could change hands this year. Four of them are becoming increasingly competitive. Just this week, the Cook Political Report reassessed your race from leaning Democrat to a toss-up. Why do you think that is?
CASEY: Well, first of all, I expected this to transpire because I knew from the beginning it was going to be a close race. One of the factors - I don't know if it's the sole factor, but certainly a substantial factor is my opponent's got the largest individual super PAC in the country. Meaning - I shouldn't say he does - it's funded by a group of out-of-state billionaires, and they're on their way to spending $50 million. There's no candidate in the country that has a super PAC set up by billionaires just for him. So a lot of that advertising that's been directed at me - and as you can imagine, it's not complimentary - has ratcheted the race closer. But I also think the other factor is we're in a presidential race. And the last presidential was decided by a whopping 1.2%, and I expected this race and the presidential to be close.
MARTIN: To a spending issue, there's been almost $1 billion spent in your state between the presidential contest and your race. Isn't that just a little wild? I mean, does it feel like it's just an ever-expanding arms race?
CASEY: Yeah, it's - every time we have a new cycle, we seem to set a record. But I do think, despite that, voters get a lot of information, but they're paying really close attention. And I think by the end, that they're going to know the basic difference, the choice. In my race, there's a choice between the work I've done to deliver for the people of our state and the Senate - lowering the cost of insulin, delivering infrastructure projects, investing in families with the child tax credit, just by way of some examples. And my opponent's record is a hedge fund CEO investing in China, literally investing in adversaries, investing in companies making - building up the Chinese military, investing in foreign adversaries, making a lot of personal money and hurting the people of our state. So I think on those basic differences, I think they - they're hearing about it.
MARTIN: Do you think that your race is just about you and your record, or do you think it's tied to the presidential race? And in that sense, is the Harris campaign helping or hurting you?
CASEY: No, I think there's always some interplay, but I do think voters in a high information kind of race like ours is, will make individual determinations.
MARTIN: And it's high information, why? Because it's a statewide race, because it's not gerrymandered or because so much money's been spent on it with all these ads?
CASEY: I think the advertising drives that. But I also think people think - my sense, anyway, just my sense of how people make decisions about voting is they make a different determination or weigh different factors in a presidential race than in a Senate race. And that's natural. You're electing an executive versus a legislative or legislator. So I think they make individual determinations. And in this race, it's a different - it's a different context. It's a hedge fund CEO or former hedge fund CEO versus someone who's served in the Senate. I think people understand that.
MARTIN: Are you counting on people ticket splitting? I mean, there are races in which the so-called downballot - it's not the most respectful term, but people who are not at the presidential ticket are polling ahead of Harris-Walz. I mean, are you counting on ticket splitters, or do you think that your - all votes are going to rise together?
CASEY: There'll be some of that, but I think in this era we're living through, it's limited.
MARTIN: It's limited. Is there a way in which you want to distinguish yourself from Kamala Harris at the top of the ticket? Is there some way in which you want to say that you're different from her or that your politics are different from her?
CASEY: I think the difference is it's a different conversation because it's a Senate race. And I do think voters expect someone who's representing them in the Senate to act on behalf of the state. And it's a different set of considerations that voters take away. I do think that one thing that voters are paying close attention to in this race for the Senate is just a basic question of rights. They know that if they elect my opponent, he's not going to support the John Lewis Voting Rights Act, for example. I think they know that by now.
I think they also know that if they elect him, he's not going to vote - as I've already voted - to advance the Women's Health Protection Act to restore Roe. And they also know that when it comes to unions and workers, workers' rights being the third right that I've talked a lot about, that he's not going to support the Protecting the Right to Organize Act. So when it comes to basic rights, voting rights, women's rights, workers' rights, I think they know there's a real choice.
MARTIN: Before we let you go, as briefly as you can, taking a page out of your playbook and Josh Shapiro's, Harris seems to be trying to whittle the margins on rural areas but is that realistic when Trump actually won by more in those areas?
CASEY: There's no question it's a more difficult challenge when the former president's on the ballot as he is, as he was not in 2022. But I think there are two imperatives here. I think you've got to a - as a candidate, you've got to reduce those margins. And reduce means ever so slightly. Minus, you know, reduce it by one or two points. But I think as a senator, you've got to make sure that you're representing the whole state, and that's what I do every day.
MARTIN: That's U.S. Senator Bob Casey. He's defending his Senate seat against Republican Dave McCormick. We thank you for stopping by. I do want to mention that we asked Mr. McCormick to sit down with us during our time in Pennsylvania, but we haven't gotten a response yet. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
NPR transcripts are created on a rush deadline by an NPR contractor. This text may not be in its final form and may be updated or revised in the future. Accuracy and availability may vary. The authoritative record of NPR’s programming is the audio record.
