Republican U.S. Senate candidate David McCormick (R) on Oct. 09, 2024. Photo by Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images

By Jacob Kornbluh October 20, 2024

David McCormick, Pennsylvania’s Republican nominee for Senate, praised a self-described Christian nationalist who has trafficked in antisemitic tropes and attended the Jan. 6 Capitol riot, as a role model for demonstrating “moral courage,” according to audio obtained by the Forward.

“We need leaders who have moral courage, who are going to stand up to support Israel abroad and support the fight against antisemitism at home,” McCormick said during a Thursday Zoom event with Pennsylvania State Sen. Doug Mastriano, the Christian nationalist who ran unsuccessfully for governor in 2022. “And this is about strength and courage, which, you know, is one of the things I admire about Senator Mastriano. He’s got strength and moral courage. And that’s the kind of senator I’ll be as well — someone who fights for what he believes is right.”

Mastriano, a Republican, was criticized for his divisive rhetoric and association with antisemites and conspiracy theorists during his 2022 campaign against now-Gov. Josh Shapiro, who he attacked for sending his kids to a “privileged, exclusive, elite” Jewish day school.

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Mastriano briefly flirted with a run for Senate, and endorsed McCormick last month. “The good thing is that we are aligned,” McCormick said at the start of the 22-minute conversation, which was promoted on the Facebook page of Doug Mastriano Fighting for Freedom. “The stakes are so high here that being aligned matters.” 

“I fully endorse and support Dave McCormick for US Senate. Our nation hangs in the balance and this is no time for the party to be divided. Rebbie and I spent time getting to know Dave and his wife, Dina and believe they love our country and have served it with honor. Dave will… pic.twitter.com/XS9isC8ALA

— Doug Mastriano (@dougmastriano) September 2, 2024

McCormick, a former hedge fund CEO, is running against Sen. Bob Casey, a Democrat and a three-term incumbent. Recent polls show Casey with an eight-point lead over McCormick. Other polls show a closer race. 

The issue of support for Israel and countering rising antisemitism across the U.S. has become a potent one in the monthslong contest between the two candidates. On the call, McCormick discussed the impact of the Oct. 7 Hamas attack and criticized Casey for endorsing Democratic Rep. Summer Lee, who voiced early opposition to the war in Gaza and whom McCormick described “as an antisemite.” 

Earlier this year, Casey and Jewish elected officials charged McCormick with profiting off his investment in Rumble, a video platform that has amplified far-right antisemitism and Holocaust denial.

A similar charge dogged Mastriano in 2022, in which he welcomed support from the founder of Gab, a social media platform hosting far-right extremists and an echo chamber for antisemitism. Mastriano offended many Jews when he launched his gubernatorial campaign with the blowing of a shofar and closed it with a prayer from a Messianic rabbi. At a later Mastriano rally, a singer who identified herself as a “follower of Yeshua (Jesus) the Messiah” played a tribute to the tune of “If I Were a Rich Man” from Fiddler on the Roof.

In the past, Mastriano likened Democratic gun-control proposals to Nazi policies, referred to abortion as a “barbaric holocaust” and appeared in a 2019 movie, Operation Resist, which depicts him fighting Nazis to promote a conservative agenda. In March, Mastriano introduced a bill to promote Holocaust education in Pennsylvania public schools with a Hasidic rabbi who blamed Zionism for the Holocaust.

McCormick called Mastriano a friend in April. 

On Thursday’s call, McCormick doubled down on his support for Mastriano. “I would oppose the strategy, absolutely, of attacking anybody, including Doug Mastriano,” he said. “I’ve never said a bad word about Doug Mastriano, and he knows that.”

🎧 WITH AUDIO: GOP nominee for #PASen Dave McCormick says Doug Mastriano, the Christian nationalist State Sen. who trafficked in antisemitism and was a leader in the ‘Stop the Steal’ campaign, has “strength and moral courage.”

Read more ⬇️https://t.co/hPsYIjUnAu pic.twitter.com/sjs110Pjx5

— Jacob N. Kornbluh (@jacobkornbluh) October 21, 2024

Kate Smart, a Casey campaign spokesperson, criticized McCormick for embracing an individual “who was called out by the Anti-Defamation League for his extremism and bigotry” rather than disavowing Mastriano “and his antisemitic ties.” 

McCormick’s “position as a voice for moral clarity is indisputable,” said Elizabeth Gregory, a McCormick campaign spokesperson. “He has and will continue to forcefully condemn violent rhetoric.”

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