Vulnerable Senate Democrat Bob Casey (D-PA) has cut an ad identifying himself with former President Donald Trump as polling shows him with a narrow lead in the Keystone State.
Casey released an ad this week creating distance with President Joe Biden while embracing Trump on economic policy. The ad does not mention Vice President Kamala Harris at all.
“Casey bucked Biden to protect fracking, and he sided with Trump to end NAFTA and put tariffs on China to stop them from cheating,” it says while featuring a couple who disagree on politics but agree on Casey. “So in this house, we agree, it’s Bob Casey who’s doing right by Pennsylvania.”
Casey is not the first Senate Democrat to affiliate with Trump. Sens. Sherrod Brown of Ohio and Tammy Baldwin of Wisconsin did so earlier this cycle to signal cross-party appeal. But his commercial comes as a number of swing states, including Pennsylvania, have trended from blue to red in recent weeks, according to the RealClearPolitics polling averages.
Trump took the polling lead in Pennsylvania on Sept. 29, and Michigan, Nevada, and Wisconsin flipped toward Trump in mid-October. All of them are extremely close in public polling, but Casey’s ad could be a sign that Democrats are worried about shifting momentum in the presidential race.
In the Senate race, Casey’s lead against Republican Dave McCormick has narrowed on average to 3.8 percentage points.
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The Harris campaign has switched up its campaign strategy since the beginning of October. Both Harris and her running mate, Gov. Tim Walz (D-MN), are doing more media interviews and bringing out high-profile surrogates such as Presidents Barack Obama and Bill Clinton.
Democrats have told the Washington Examiner they are worried the window for Harris to persuade undecided voters is closing despite the more aggressive strategy.