The Story:
The race for a seat in the U.S. Senate from the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania is heating up. This is what is known as an “open seat,” that is, one that has no incumbent running for re-election. Senator Pat Toomey (R) has announced that he will not run for a third term and plans to “to go back to the private sector.” Seeking to replace him? Among others, a former Vice Admiral, a television personality/surgeon, and a hedge fund manager.
Background:
Toomey’s withdrawal leaves the Democrat Party thinking it could pick up a Senate seat here. Accordingly, there are seven announced Democratic candidates. Perhaps the best known of these is Joe Sestak, a former Vice Admiral of the U.S. Navy, who served two terms in the U.S. House of Representatives from the state’s 7th district, which includes Lehigh County north of Philadelphia. Sestak ran for the same Senate seat, against Toomey, in 2016.
The Thing to Know:
On the Republican side, the prospect of succeeding Toomey has drawn its television celebrity: Mehmet Oz, a Turkish-American cardiothoracic surgeon. Oz is the host of a daytime syndicated TV program, The Dr. Oz Show.
Another Republican, David McCormick, who has expressed interest in a campaign is expected to make a formal entry soon. McCormick is the principal of Bridgewater Associates, a hedge fund with more than $140 billion in assets, and was an undersecretary of the U.S. Treasury under President George W. Bush.
The campaign, on both sides of the aisle, could prove cutthroat and revealing.
