David McCormick won an unopposed Republican primary for Senate in Pennsylvania on Tuesday, according to The Associated Press, securing the party’s nomination two years after former President Donald J. Trump torpedoed his first Senate run by backing his primary rival, the celebrity physician Dr. Mehmet Oz.
Mr. McCormick will face Senator Bob Casey in the November election. Mr. Casey, the Democratic incumbent, also won his uncontested primary on Tuesday, The A.P. reported.
The Senate race in Pennsylvania, a key battleground state, represents the best chance yet for Republicans to unseat Mr. Casey, an 18-year incumbent who has previously sailed to re-election — he defeated his Republican opponent in 2018 by 13 points.
Mr. McCormick, the former chief executive of Bridgewater Associates, one of the world’s largest hedge funds, is part of a roster of wealthy Republican Senate candidates recruited to run in 2024. He and his wife, Dina Powell McCormick, a former Trump administration official, reported assets in 2022 worth $116 million to $290 million.
Mr. Casey, the son of former Gov. Robert P. Casey, was catapulted onto the national political stage in 2006, when he defeated Rick Santorum, then one of the most powerful conservatives in the Senate, in a closely watched campaign.
Mr. Casey has moved considerably to the left during his Senate career. He once called for the overturning of the constitutional right to an abortion enshrined in Roe v. Wade. After the Supreme Court dismantled Roe in 2022, Mr. Casey supported bills aimed at ensuring access to abortion. Mr. Casey was also once an opponent of many gun control measures, but he re-evaluated his position after the mass shooting in 2012 at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Conn., less than 100 miles from the Pennsylvania border.
