PITTSBURGH – In his inaugural letter to residents of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, Sen. Dave McCormick (R-PA) said that after his first year in office, he believed it was important to hold himself accountable to the people he represents in the U.S. Senate for both his accomplishments and his shortcomings.
In an interview with the Washington Examiner, McCormick said that accountability has been a constant throughout his life – from his days as a high school wrestler, to his service in the military, to his career in business – requiring him to assess where he succeeded and where he needed to improve honestly.
"Being accountable was the standard I held myself to, and I believe it is my obligation to set the same standard of accountability serving in the U.S. Senate," McCormick said, adding that "the people of our state deserve that."
McCormick won what many viewed as an improbable victory over three-term Democratic incumbent Sen. Bob Casey (D-PA), and he was determined to hit the ground running from the moment he was sworn in. Even before taking office, McCormick, joined by his wife, Dina Powell, sat down for an hours-long dinner with soon-to-be Democratic colleague Sen. John Fetterman (D-PA) and his wife, Gisele, at a Brazilian restaurant in Pittsburgh, a meeting that was later shared on social media.
Within two weeks of being sworn in, he had opened seven offices across the state with a focus on serving constituents everywhere. "Constituent services are so important to the people of Pennsylvania. That is one of our most important jobs," McCormick told me at the time.
By year's end, McCormick said his office had closed more than 4,400 constituent cases, saving Pennsylvanians an estimated $15.7 million. In his letter, he added that he has sought to bring the outsider perspective he developed as a West Point graduate, military officer, and CEO to his work in the Senate.
"That kind of accountability does not exist in Washington, where elected officials almost never admit mistakes or acknowledge when they have fallen short," McCormick's letter reads. "To that end, I am pleased to deliver this annual report to the people of Pennsylvania -- a letter to the constituents evaluating the progress we've made compared to my promises, the challenges we still face, and what I see as the path ahead."
McCormick earned praise in Pennsylvania and nationwide for hosting the state's first Energy Summit at Carnegie Mellon University in July, which brought together leading figures from academia, the energy sector, and business development. The event was attended by President Donald Trump, Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro, and several Cabinet members, and it culminated in commitments of billions of dollars in investment for data centers.
He also played a role in Trump's historic decision regarding the Nippon-U.S. Steel deal and worked closely with Fetterman on several issues over the past year.
McCormick said, despite the historically busy year in the Senate, in which they have been in session for 197 days, he was still able to make 185 different stops across the Commonwealth.
McCormick said his accomplishments included casting votes for the "Working Families Tax Cut Act," which he said secured major new tax cuts, expanded child care tax credits, eliminated taxes on tips and overtime, established $1,000 Trump accounts, and cosponsored a new school choice tax credit.
McCormick noted in his statement that the first bill he introduced was cosponsored with Fetterman and focused on coordinating fentanyl enforcement. "Bipartisanship is hard to come by in Washington," he wrote, "but there is no reason we cannot build consensus around sound ideas to stop fentanyl. I am devoting significant effort to this problem."
McCormick said he was not afraid to be blunt when he disagreed with his colleagues, such as parts of the "DOGE" effort to cut spending, excise waste, and unwind bureaucracy.
"I did not always agree with how the Administration went about it and said so publicly. I criticized the disruptions to the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and other research funding and lobbied, alongside colleagues, to release it," he said.
"And, when the tariffs uniquely harmed Pennsylvanians, such as the levies on cocoa, I worked with the Administration to roll them back. I also publicly challenged and encouraged Governor Shapiro, with whom I have built a productive working relationship, to opt into the new school choice tax credit to create equality of opportunity for all families in the Commonwealth."
Salena Zito is a staff reporter and columnist for the Washington Examiner. She reaches the Everyman and Everywoman through shoe-leather journalism, traveling from Main Street to the beltway and all places in between.
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