Exclusive — PA GOP Senate Candidate David McCormick: ‘If We Stay on the Current Path, We Won’t Recognize the Country’

Republican David McCormick, the former CEO of the world’s largest hedge fund, Bridgewater Associates, who is running for Senate in Pennsylvania, told Breitbart News Saturday that the race in the Keystone State is crucial for the GOP to change the direction of the country, warning that the country could become unrecognizable in the next five years if America First politicians do not step up and carry out former President Trump’s legacy.

McCormick, whom former Republican candidate Sean Parnell endorsed, briefly spoke about his background, including his deep Pennsylvania roots, growing up working on his family’s farm, going to West Point, and serving in the military. After nine years served, he went back to Pittsburgh, where he entered the business world and eventually served in the Bush administration.

“And through that time, I stayed very connected to Pennsylvania,” he said, explaining what has inspired him to run for office.

“And for me, the country is headed in the wrong direction, so I’m a battle-tested guy. I’m Pennsylvania true,” he said, explaining he wants to fight the direction of the country because “The radical left is really taking us in a direction that’s dangerous.”

“I think a conservative, America-first agenda, continuing the great work of President Trump, is what’s necessary to really push back and fight the weakness and some of these woke policies we’re seeing … in our communities, and I think it’s a time for all patriots to ask themselves how they can help, and that’s why I’m doing this,” he said.

McCormick, who acknowledged that he successfully attained the American dream, said he wants the same for “all Americans and all Pennsylvanians,” but he sees it “slipping away.” But what particularly grabbed his attention and made him “sick” to his stomach was President Biden’s botched withdrawal from Afghanistan.

“And as a combat vet, watching the incompetence of that set of decisions, watching the lack of accountability. Watching the disloyalty. Watching the lack for strategic thinking where the Chinese landed in Bagram … weeks later. For me, that was really a breaking point,” he said, noting it fed into a broader narrative that the country is at risk.

“And it’s not the kind of thing where you’ve got, you know, a decade. I think we have, you know, five years, and if we stay on the current path, we won’t recognize the country we’re living in,” he warned, reiterating that his heart and soul are with Pennsylvania.

“For me, this is a natural thing,” he said, adding that he wants to run for Senate to fight and push back, citing Pennsylvanians who are worried about gas prices, the surge on the southern border, what their kids are learning in schools, and “walking on eggshells and cancel culture.”

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“All of those things are consequences of bad policies, consequences of weak leadership, and this Senate seat is really the beachhead, this is a way to push back on those terrible policies,” he said, noting it is critical for the country because ” if we don’t win this seat it’s very likely that Democrats will keep the majority.”

One of the biggest issues on the forefront of McCormick’s mind is China, using his time to explain how he is different than other leaders when it comes to how the country deals with China, which he described as a “high challenge.” China poses a “high threat” to the U.S. economic well-being, global stability, and natural security, he said. All of that will be affected by how the U.S. manages the communist country, he warned, praising Trump for doing the country a great service by taking a different, hardline approach on China.

“But I think we need to do a lot more and continued the direction that President Trump set,” he said, describing it as both a “complex and difficult challenge.”

It is crucial, McCormick said, to have people in the government who can do that and push back on the Chinese and protect the American worker, reminding the audience of his experience as a combat veteran who spent the early part of his military career learning how to combat communism and the USSR. He also noted that he negotiated on behalf of the U.S. government around technology controls and noted China pushed back then. He also said he has experience working with China from a business standpoint, which served as a “tiny” part, but because of that, he said, “I know what we’re dealing with. I know how challenging this can be.” He added that it is absolutely “crazy” that the U.S. pharmaceutical supply chains are dependent on China and that 95 percent of semiconductors are manufactured in Taiwan, near mainland China.

“We have let ourselves become dependent on China,” he said, adding that Trump’s policies and tariffs were smart but asserting that “We need to do even more than that” by building capabilities at home in places like Pennsylvania.

The U.S., he continued, needs a “very comprehensive” strategy to take on China, which needs to be held accountable for human rights abuses as well as its behavior on coronavirus and a massive lack of transparency.

McCormick also touched on immigration, calling the current situation “absolutely terrible because the Biden administration has set the expectation that there is a path in.” The issue, he said, has riled up members of the state, due to the infamous flights in the dead of the night, drug issues, stress on the labor market, as well as a “significant increase in crime in sanctuary cities like Philadelphia, which this year has the highest murder rate on record.”

Ultimately, McCormick said the U.S. needs to go back to America First policies, including on immigration.