PA Senator Bob Casey visits Philadelphia non-profit in farewell tour
PHILADELPHIA - Senator Bob Casey said Monday he’ll leave office with a strong record of accomplishment and suggested a "Trump wave" and big donor money led to his loss.
Casey sorted donated clothing at Cradles to Crayons a Philadelphia nonprofit serving children in poverty. It was a farewell tour for Casey, the veteran Democrat ousted in November by voters, praised Monday for providing hundreds of thousands in federal dollars for diapers.
"If you are a family struggling to pay for diapers you are going to be missing at least or maybe more than 5 days of work a month," said Michal Smith, the Executive Director of Cradles to Crayons, standing alongside Casey.
The 64-year-old’s 28 years in office, 18 in the U.S. Senate, end January 3rd, as Republican Dave McCormick is sworn in.
PA Senator Bob Casey concedes to Dave McCormick
Pennsylvania Democratic Senator Bob Casey has conceded his race to Republican Dave McCormick.
Casey pinned his loss on what he called the "wave" created by Donald Trump and 150 million in big donor, super pac support for McCormick.
Casey was asked by FOX 29’s Jeff Cole if, "sharp criticism alleging that you were not as active as you should have been actually stuck in anyway?"
Casey said, "no, they’ll be others who’ll analyze the back and forth, but I leave office with a really strong record."
Casey pointed to his support for children in urban and rural areas. He says 350-thousand kids are better off in Philadelphia, 3 thousand in rural Fulton County, due to him. Cole asked, "did you not talk about it enough? Did voters not focus enough on policy? Casey said, "voters had a lot of information going to the polls, a lot to consider this election to make their determination based on issues concerning them. They rendered their verdict."
It was a tight verdict! Casey lost by just 15,000 votes among nearly 7 million cast in a race where 3rd party candidates received 10 of thousands of votes and some voters cast ballots for Trump or Harris and stopped there
Casey said he needs a job, but didn’t rule out a return to politics next time with an eye toward the basics.
Cole asked, "do you think the cost of eggs, milk, cheese, bread cost you the election?"
Casey said, "there’s no question that when families face higher costs public officials have to be responsive to that."