Who’s running for U.S. Senate in Pennsylvania?

PENNSYLVANIA (WHTM) — Republican Pat Toomey’s Senate seat is up for grabs and the list of candidates who want to fill it is set for the general primary on May 17. Ahead of voting day, abc27 has compiled a list to help decipher who’s who in the 2022 race.

Tuesday, March 15, marks the official day for candidates to hand in their signed petitions to officially add their names to the ballot. Senator candidates must receive 2,000 signatures.

The information provided about each candidate below is based on their campaign websites or information gathered by abc27 reporters. To learn more beyond the information provided, visit each of the candidate’s campaign websites below:

Republicans

Dave McCormick

The former hedge fund CEO for Bridgewater Associates joined the Senate race at the start of January 2022. Just two weeks later, Senator Ted Cruz of Texas headlined a rally for Dave McCormick at a skeet shooting facility near Allentown.

McCormick’s career in politics includes his time as a Treasury official for former President George W. Bush’s administration.

Another frequent frontrunner, often neck-and-neck with Oz, is McCormick. Since he announced his run for Senate, McCormick has also been endorsed by Pennsylvania Senior Republican Congressman Glenn “GT” Thompson, former Senate candidate Sean Parnell, and others.

In the recent WHTM/Emerson College Polling/The Hill poll, McCormick finished first in the Senate race with 17.8%. Taking into account how undecided voters would lean, McCormick’s lead in the poll increased to 27.2%.

While McCormick led in the WHTM poll, he fell to second, coming in behind Oz in other recent polls. In the Trafalgar Group poll, McCormick came in second with 19.7% of the voters’ support, and in the poll conducted by Franklin & Marshall, McCormick received 15% of the votes, just 1% behind Oz.

As the CEO of the world’s largest hedge fund, McCormick reported that he earned more than $22 million last year. After quitting the position to run for Senate, McCormick raised $11.3 million since his campaign started.

Similar to Oz, McCormick has been criticized for not recently living in Pennsylvania. In an interview with abc27’s Dennis Owens, McCormick responded by highlighting his background as a “seventh-generation Pennsylvanian.”

In the tight race between Oz and McCormick, the lead-up to the primary has grown increasingly tense and personal.

As previously reported by TheHill, Oz has thrown barbs McCormick’s way over his former hedge fund’s ties to China, a top boogeyman in U.S. politics, and released ads highlighting past comments praising Beijing.

McCormick and his allies have deflected the charge, claiming the business experience makes him better able to tackle issues surrounding Beijing, and ramped up his criticism of China.

On his campaign website, McCormick says, if elected, he will lower taxes on working-class Americans, bring manufacturing jobs back to the United States, support mining coal and promote policies to cultivate natural gas production, finish building “The Wall” to secure the border, and work to ensure Pennsylvania has Voter ID requirements.

His name was officially added to the ballot for the May primary on March 14.

To learn more about McCormick, visit his campaign website by clicking here.

Carla Sands

When she announced her candidacy in July 2021, former President Trump’s Danish Ambassador, Carla Sands, said “The race is getting real. Others are in the race as well but I told [former President Donald Trump] I’m the only one that’s not a RINO but can also get elected.”

Recently, in response to not receiving Trump’s endorsement, the Cumberland Valley High School graduate said, “I don’t think the President is getting very good advice. If you don’t want to send a RINO to represent us, I hope you’ll choose me, I’ll never let you down.”

In the WHTM/Emerson College Polling/The Hill Pennsylvania primary poll, Sands came in fifth amongst the candidates debating on Monday. She received 7.7% of the voters’ support. She also received the fifth-highest percentage of voters in the Franklin & Marshall poll, coming in behind candidate Jeff Bartos with 5%.

Her percentage of support did increase in the Trafalgar Group poll. She moved into fourth with 11.2%, pushing Bartos into the fifth-place spot.

According to Q1 financial filings with the Federal Election Commission, Sands raised the third-highest amount behind McCormick and Fetterman with $103,193.13 in the first three months of 2022 and $4,625,022.26 since her campaign started.

Democrats have painted Sands as a carpetbagging Trump surrogate who’s out of touch with the working class and likely to vote against their interests. Sands has vowed to fight what she calls the radical Biden-Harris agenda.

“We see open borders, gas up more than a dollar a gallon just since they came into office. We see cancel culture critical race theory where our kids are being indoctrinated not educated,” Sands said.

On her campaign website, Sands says, if elected, she wants to be “Pennsylvania unwavering energy Senator” and will utilize an “America First Platform.”

Sands’ candidate status was approved and her name was added to the ballot on March 11.

To learn more about Sands, visit her campaign website by clicking here.

Jeff Bartos

Not too far behind Sands, Jeff Bartos announced his candidacy in March 2021. He was the second Republican candidate to enter the race.

In the 2018 campaign cycle, Bartos was the Republican nominee for Pennsylvania lieutenant governor. Outside of politics, he owns a contracting company and several real estate acquisition and developing companies in the Greater Philadelphia market.

Despite recently undergoing surgery to remove his thyroid after a routine doctor’s appointment located a nodule, Bartos was at the debate Monday night.

Bartos came in behind Barnette, receiving 8.9% of voters’ support in the WHTM/Emerson College Polling/The Hill Pennsylvania poll. However, when adding in the undecided voters who said they are leaning toward Bartos, he surpassed Barnette with 17.1% of the voters’ support.

According to Kimball, Bartos is the leading Republican candidate among female voters, receiving 20% of their support. In the Trafalgar Group poll, Bartos came in fifth with 7.7% of the voters, and in Franklin & Marshall’s poll he came in fourth with 6% of the voters’ support.

As previously reported by WTAJ, at a dinner in Blair County, Bartos said he’s running on the actions he’s already taken to help Pennsylvanians. Bartos established the 30 Day Fund, a nonprofit that provides forgivable loans to small businesses that were struggling during the pandemic. It’s an idea that he says was born in Blair County.

“During the pandemic while others were living in Colorado or Connecticut or other places…I had my sleeves rolled up on main streets across all 67 counties,” Bartos said. “Raising money and getting it out the door to save small businesses.”

Bartos did not outline his issues on his campaign website. Tune in on Monday night to learn more about where he stands.

Bartos’ name was added to the growing list of Republican candidates on March 10.

To learn more about Bartos, visit his campaign website by clicking here.

George Bochetto

The Philadelphia attorney launched his campaign for Senate at the beginning of January 2022. Last year, George Bochetto helped prevent a 144-year-old statue of Christopher Columbus from being torn down in Philadelphia, according to the Associated Press.

In the WHTM/Emerson College Polling/The Hill Pennsylvania primary poll, Bochetto received 3.8% of voters’ support. With undecided voters’ and in which way they lean taken into account, his support increased to 4.6%.

According to Q1 financial filings, Bochetto had $192,213 contribute in the first three months of 2022 and reported $45,284.54 in cash on hand.

Bochetto’s name was added to the ballot on March 14, just a day before the deadline.

To learn more about Bochetto, visit his campaign website by clicking here.

Mehmet Oz

Once the host of “The Dr. Oz Show” and attending…