On Wednesday’s broadcast of NPR’s “Morning Edition,” Sen. Bob Casey (D-PA) responded to a question on how he would rate 2024 Democratic presidential candidate Vice President Kamala Harris’ performance on immigration by stating, “I’m not going to be a referee or an analyst about rating other candidates. I’m just going to tell you what my record is,” but his Republican opponent, Dave McCormick, has “been blowing a lot of hot air about immigration and the border, and he’s done nothing to make our community safer.” And Harris is a good fit for Pennsylvania voters who’s “ready to be commander-in-chief.”
Co-host Steve Inskeep asked, [relevant exchange begins around 1:05] “Voters link her with Biden’s record on the border. If they know one thing about Harris, it’s that, that she had something to do with Biden’s effort at the border. How can she and how can Democrats defend that record in Pennsylvania?”
Casey responded, “Well, I’ll tell you what — I’m a candidate, so I’ll tell you what I’m doing. I want to make sure the people of our state know that I’ve voted, repeatedly, 25 times, to invest in border security, and that goes back years. I voted for the two toughest border provisions in American history in 2013 and in 2024. That bipartisan bill that I supported and my opponent opposes aggressively would give the president the authority to shut down the border. And, if it were passed months ago when Republicans blocked it after initially supporting it until their presidential candidate told them not to, we would be months into a much better circumstance at the border. So, I think that’s going to be the difference. But also, I’ve got an opponent who, when he was a hedge fund manager, actually invested millions in China’s largest producer of fentanyl. So, that’s going to be a big issue in this race, because we’ve lost too many Pennsylvanians to the poison of fentanyl.”
Inskeep then followed up, “How would you rate Harris’ work as Vice President on immigration?”
Casey responded, “Well, Steve, I’m not going to be a referee or an analyst about rating other candidates. I’m just going to tell you what my record is, contrary to what my opponent has been talking about on the campaign trail. He’s been blowing a lot of hot air about immigration and the border, and he’s done nothing to make our community safer. In fact, he made — those investments he made as a hedge fund manager made him — helped to make him rich.”
Inskeep then asked, “Do you think that she is a good fit for the voters of Pennsylvania?”
Casey answered, “I think she is. And part of that is her background as a prosecutor. She was both a D.A., as well as an attorney general, and I think she’s ready to be commander-in-chief. And one of the reasons she’s ready is because she has a strong law enforcement background.”
Follow Ian Hanchett on Twitter @IanHanchett
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