Pennsylvania Republican Senate Candidate Suffers Football Mix-Up

Pennsylvania Republican Senate candidate David McCormick faced ridicule online after mixing up the Philadelphia Eagles and the Pittsburgh Steelers, both football teams in the state he hopes to represent.
McCormick announced on social media that he was seeing an NFL game on Sunday, mistakenly attributing the Steelers to Philadelphia before their face-off against the Las Vegas Raiders.
In a post on X (formerly Twitter), McCormick wrote: “Fun tailgate in Philly today. Excited to watch the Steelers throttle the Raiders!”
The Steelers are a Pittsburgh team, while McCormick attended the tailgate for the Philadelphia Eagles.
“Republicans would not run into this kind of issue if they simply nominated people who actually lived in Pennsylvania,” one viewer replied, referencing a frequent critique of McCormick’s residency—while McCormick owns a home in Pittsburgh, “he maintains a residence in Connecticut as his daughters finish high school,” his campaign told the Associated Press last year.
“If only the Philadelphia football team’s merchandise had their name and a drawing of their animal mascot on it. Ah well,” another wrote.
Pennsylvania Senator John Fetterman, a Democrat, responded to McCormick’s post with a gif of McCormick’s opponent in the race, incumbent Democratic Senator Bob Casey, giving a thumbs up and smiling and clapping.
Newsweek reached out to Dave McCormick, Bob Casey, John Fetterman, the Philadelphia Eagles and the Pittsburgh Steelers via email for comment.
The competitive seat in Pennsylvania is vital in determining which party has control of the Senate in the next election.
Recent polling puts McCormick within reach of ousting Casey despite the incumbent’s almost two-decade stay in the seat. A New York Times/Siena College found that 48 percent of Pennsylvanian voters support Casey, while 44 percent back McCormick. Eight percent of respondents were undecided or declined to answer.
Pennsylvania remains one of the closest swing state races for Vice President Kamala Harris and former President Donald Trump. McCormick has been endorsed by Trump and will be hoping to ride his coattails in November.
Casey’s 4-point lead is just beyond the poll’s margin of error of 3.8 percentage points. The Senate is currently controlled by Democrats, who hold a narrow majority of 51 seats, while Republicans hold 49 seats. In a 50-50 split, the sitting vice president breaks the tie, so the winner of the 2024 election could also decide control of Congress.
The Steelers beat the Las Vegas Raiders 32-13 on Sunday.
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