Exclusive — David McCormick: PA Race Perhaps the ‘Most Significant Senate Race in American History’

David McCormick, the apparent frontrunner in the Pennsylvania Republican primary race for Senate, told Breitbart News Saturday that he is the real tried and true America First candidate, deeply committed to the American dream, American exceptionalism, and the forgotten men and women of the nation.

Days ahead of the primary election, McCormick — the current frontrunner in the tight Senate race — defended himself as the true America First candidate, explaining that he has been putting America first since he was 18, attending West Point and ultimately serving in the 82nd Airborne Division.

McCormick praised Trump’s America First agenda, explaining that the president “put his finger on what was happening in America” recognizing “millions of forgotten Americans” who have been “screwed by a system that wasn’t taken care of them, and leaders in Washington” who were not taking care of them.

“He said, ‘Hey, that’s problem. We’ve got to have America First policies — pro-growth economic policies, fair trade, energy dominance, [and] a secure border'” to help these ‘forgotten’ Americans,” McCormick said.

“I embraced that agenda 100 percent,” he said, adding that his job as a senator would be to “unlock the opportunity for all Pennsylvanians to make sure they have the opportunity to live the American dream that I’ve lived.”

“For most of them, or many of them, that’s not available anymore. And to fight against this terrible set of weak leaders and woke policy that’s taken our country over a cliff,” he said, making it clear that he has lived his life as someone “deeply committed to the exceptionalism of America, deeply committed to making sure that the American dream is available for all Americans.”

Trump, McCormick said, “crystalized that” agenda.

While he supports Trump’s America First agenda, he did not receive the president’s endorsement. However, he did receive endorsements from other key figures — from the National Border Patrol Council to former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo — which he said speaks volumes.

“I think serious people, serious conservatives like Mike Pompeo, like Bob Lighthizer, like Ted Cruz, like Mike Huckabee or like Rick Santorum … are basically saying, ‘Who can be a force in Pennsylvania and in the Senate?'” McCormick said, explaining that these individuals know he is a “true conservative, that I say what I believe and I will do what I say. You won’t have to wonder what I’ll do when I get the office because I’ve said it, and I’ve got an entire life and career of acting on the principles that I believe are the most important conservative principles.”

And ultimately, the Senate hopeful said, they know that he is a conservative who can win the general election, emphasizing that it is a “critically important question” to ask.

The Pennsylvania Senate election, he continued, might be the “most significant Senate race in American history, certainly in terms of attention and resources [that] are going to be focused on it.”

Not only do you have to select someone who can win, he said, but Americans want someone who can deal with the “complexity of our current crisis.”

“Most serious people” are getting behind his campaign, he added, because they see the country slipping away and view him as a person who can tackle the tough issues, from China to economic policy, while maintaining conservative values.

He also slammed Congress for focusing on $40 billion in aid to Ukraine when America is facing its own issues, including a border crisis.

“The thing that offended me about that was not only the way it was being decided, which seems like such an example of the swamp where people aren’t really accountable. We don’t know the money is going to go to the right place. But beyond that, the fact that it was given such urgency and priority when there are so many urgent challenges for Americans that aren’t being addressed,” he said, adding that Washington has “lost touch.”

Americans, therefore, need to elect lawmakers that have a “clarity of principle” and devotion to none other than the American people.

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As for the state of the race, McCormick said the stakes are high and the race is very close.

“This Senate seat, it’s gonna send Chuck Schumer home if we win this seat, and that’s why Chuck Schumer is going to put every bit of money he can and they’re going to fight, and you’ve got to be resilient, you gotta be able to build a great team, you’ve got to be able to marshal the resources, because this is gonna be a major, major fight and the future of the country’s at stake,” he said, adding that the next senator cannot learn on the job, but must be prepared.

“I’ll be able to start the job in the U.S. Senate on day one as someone who can contribute and lead at the highest levels to take our country back in the right direction,” he said.

“And if I compared that picture, that story, to my opponents, in Mehmet Oz’s case, there’s so many reasons to believe that he doesn’t line up with the conservative values of Pennsylvania primary voters because of everything he’s said and done over his entire lifetime,” he added, pointing to Oz’s “anti-Second Amendment positions, his pro-abortion positions, his approach [to] transitions for kids positions, his pro-Obamacare positions, [and his] anti-fracking position.”

“Those are unexplainable,” McCormick said, emphasizing his own love for the state and the country.