U.S. Senate candidate Dave McCormick was mocked by his political opponents Wednesday after his campaign confused Philadelphia, Mississippi for the Pennsylvania city in a social media post.
On X, formerly Twitter, the Republican's campaign shared a report from a Mississippi news station that referenced a shooting in Philadelphia that allegedly was carried out by a gang member from El Salvador.
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McCormick's post read: "MS-13 gang members are terrorizing Philadelphians because of (Kamala) Harris & (Bob) Casey's radical open border policies." McCormick is running against incumbent Sen. Bob Casey (D-Pa.).
The post was quickly deleted, but not before Casey's campaign took a screenshot of the error.
Wrote Maddy McDaniel, communications director for Casey, in an X post: "Dave, this story is from Philadelphia, Mississippi — not Philadelphia, PA."
Dave, this story is from Philadelphia, Mississippi — not Philadelphia, PA. #PASen pic.twitter.com/woRGWUH2bs
— Maddy McDaniel (@maddymcdaniel14) August 28, 2024
In another post, McDaniel shared an image of a Philadelphia police car, writing: "Philly cop cars look like this — hope this helps!"
Casey's campaign also sarcastically posted images of maps showing the locations of Philadelphia, Mississippi and Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
We're big fans of maps on Team Casey – here are a few for @DaveMcCormickPA: pic.twitter.com/5iaeKXxfeb
— Team Casey (@BobCaseyHQ) August 28, 2024
U.S. Sen. John Fetterman (D-Pa.), joined in on the mockery, writing on X: "Things like this tend to happen for people who live in Connecticut but run for the Senate in Pennsylvania."
Fetterman's post referenced McCormick's residency in Connecticut, though he also owns a home in Pittsburgh.
In response to the criticism, McCormick acknowledged the mistake but stuck with his criticism of Casey.
"We made a mistake on our tweet, and that's not nearly as bad as Bob Casey making a mistake leaving the border wide open," McCormick wrote in an X post that included screenshots of news headlines.
Polling data from RealClearPolling shows McCormick trails Casey by 7.6 points.
