Trump endorses Dave McCormick for Senate in Pennsylvania

(CNN) — Former President Donald Trump on Saturday endorsed the Senate campaign of Republican Dave McCormick in Pennsylvania after initially being reluctant to endorse the former hedge fund executive who is challenging Democrat Bob Casey in a critical Senate battleground.

Posted 1:36 a.m. Apr 14 — Updated 1:36 a.m. Apr 14

Kate Sullivan

, CNN

CNN — (CNN) — Former President Donald Trump on Saturday endorsed the Senate campaign of Republican Dave McCormick in Pennsylvania after initially being reluctant to endorse the former hedge fund executive who is challenging Democrat Bob Casey in a critical Senate battleground.

“I am officially giving my endorsement to David McCormick tonight. He’s a good a man. He wants to run a good ship. He’s a smart guy, who was a very successful guy. He’s given up a lot to do this,” Trump told supporters at a rally in Schnecksville, Pennsylvania, his last official campaign event before jury selection in his criminal hush money trial in New York begins Monday.

McCormick, who announced his campaign for Senate in September, is running unopposed in the April 23 Republican primary.

“I’ll tell you what: He’s the nominee of the Republican Party, David McCormick. Go out and vote for him because Casey doesn’t do a damn thing,” Trump said.

As CNN previously reported, people close to the former president said Trump’s resistance to weighing in early on the Senate race in Pennsylvania was not entirely surprising: Trump and McCormick have a fraught history, dating back to McCormick’s failed 2022 primary bid for the state’s other Senate seat against celebrity heart surgeon Mehmet Oz.

McCormick was not at Saturday’s rally. His campaign told CNN the candidate had a previously scheduled family event, a commitment he made long before Trump announced his planned rally.

McCormick thanked Trump for the endorsement in a social media post after the rally, saying, “Together we will deliver a big win for Pennsylvania and America in November.”

The former president has now endorsed all candidates backed by the National Republican Senatorial Committee in the major swing states, except Nevada. (And while he has not yet formally backed a candidate in the Senate race in Nevada, he posted on social media Friday that Republican hopeful Sam Brown and the former president himself were the “Clear Choices of Nevada’s Republican Voters and Donors.”)

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