Dave McCormick says GOP earned ‘pretty good’ report card on economy, but agrees gas prices are too high
Asked how his party can regain voters' trust on economic issues, McCormick touted the GOP's "law and order" accomplishments while acknowledging high healthcare and gas prices.
Though there’s work ahead, President Donald Trump and the Republican Party have earned a “pretty good” report card of economic accomplishments in the last two years, U.S. Sen. Dave McCormick contended just weeks ahead of the Nov. 3 election.
But he also acknowledged that his party hasn’t aced every test.
“I’d acknowledge the thing that I think we all know, which is that gas prices are too high, and healthcare costs are still too high,” McCormick said.
Republicans are expected to lose seats in the Nov. 3 election in large because of voters’ frustration with President Donald Trump on economic issues, especially gas prices.
A September poll from The Inquirer, New York Times and Siena University found almost two-thirds of likely voters in the state disapproved of Trump’s handling of the economy and roughly three-quarters disapproved of his handling of the cost of living and gas prices.
McCormick addressed the issue Thursday when he hosted a discussion at Temple University on government regulation and its effect on business growth called “The Red Tape Dialogues.”
He was asked how he’d make the case to voters that they can trust Trump and other Republicans on the economy, given the president’s poor poll numbers on the issue.
“I would just go back to the promises made during the campaign,” McCormick said, referring to the 2024 election when Trump won the presidency and McCormick defeated three-term Democratic incumbent Bob Casey Jr.
McCormick listed the promises he believes have been kept — mostly on “law and order” issues as opposed to the economy.
“Energy dominance, secure the border, reduce the flow of fentanyl,” McCormick said. He added that fentanyl deaths are down 60% in Pennsylvania, and “violent crime is at an-time low in the commonwealth. And poverty is at all time lows.”
Government figures indicate that U.S. border encounters and illegal crossings are at historic lows.
During a roundtable with FBI Director Kash Patel in April, McCormick’s office reported that overdose deaths in Pennsylvania averaged around 4,000 between 2020 and 2023, then dropped 30% each of the next two years, reducing the number 1,400 last year.
In 2025 in Philadelphia, 222 people were killed — the fewest since 1966, when there were a fraction of as many guns in circulation and 178 homicides.
McCormick said Congress still has “work to do” on housing, but he touted the passage of the bipartisan 21st Century ROAD to Housing Act.
It bans large institutional investors who already own 350 or more single-family homes from purchasing additional single-family residential properties, a policy McCormick said help with affordability.
“So,” McCormick added, “here’s the report card. It’s an honest report card.”
Contrast that with what Democrats are doing, he argued, and the differences for voters should be clear, especially this year when the Democratic party is following a “socialist agenda.”
Several democratic socialists are expected to join Congress next year, including State Rep. Chris Rabb, who is highly favored to win in the general election for Philadelphia’s 3rd Congressional District.
“I never imagined when I was a soldier at the end of the Cold War that I’d be 40 years later standing in front of 25-year-olds, trying to explain to them socialism is going to be bad for their future opportunities, and bad for America.”
He said that when he talks to voters, he gives them a set of choices between what the Democrats and the Republicans have to offer.
“And when I go that well,” he added, “People respond.”
