Philadelphia Inquirer: “[McCormick] Told Supporters […] That He Was Going to ‘Live on the Bus’ […] He Flew Back To Connecticut Later That Evening”
PENNSYLVANIA — Connecticut mega-millionaire David McCormick is facing more scrutiny over his Connecticut residency this week. A new report from The Philadelphia Inquirer raises questions about McCormick’s Connecticut residency, private plane travel, and voting record.
ICYMI: Philadelphia Inquirer: Dave McCormick might live part-time in Connecticut but he’s campaigning all over Pa.
- As Dave McCormick launched his 67-county campaign bus tour on a Saturday afternoon in Lititz, he told supporters gathered that he was going to “live on the bus,” through November.
- He flew back to Connecticut later that evening.
- McCormick is a candidate straddling two worlds — his small town Northeast Pennsylvania upbringing, which he’s trying to highlight, and his career as a mega-successful former hedgefund CEO who is friends with some of the country’s wealthiest and most influential people. Like several other GOP Senate candidates running this year, he faces vulnerabilities around his residency and investments but also has the funding to compete in an expensive race.
- Exactly how much time he spends in Pittsburgh now is the question that has dogged him on the trail. He bought a $2.8 million home in the Squirrel Hill neighborhood ahead of his unsuccessful 2022 run in the GOP Senate primary, but he also rents a $16 million mansion in Westport, Conn., near where his youngest daughter lives with his ex-wife.
- …He doesn’t have a homestead exemption on his Pittsburgh home, which typically indicates a primary residence. He also bought the house through an LLC originally registered in Delaware…
- He’s used his Connecticut address on car registrations and campaign donation paperwork, and last year he did several media interviews from Connecticut. He voted in a Pennsylvania election for the first time in 16 years during the 2022 Republican primary, when he was on the ballot, voting records show. McCormick reported on his campaign finance filing that he spent $37,000 on private flights from September through December.
- They’re the kind of details, that taken together with gaffes like mispronouncing Yuengling or admitting to a lot of time spent with donors, have led to more general carpetbagger attacks, which can stick in parochial Pennsylvania.
- Sipping coffee with veterans in Palmerton, a former Marine brought up the high cost of gas. “Dina’s on the board of Exxon,” McCormick noted, gesturing to his wife.
###