Smiling and speaking with a familiar Texas twang, Sen. Ted Cruz (R) used his political star power to help launch Senate candidate David McCormick’s campaign to win retiring Pat Toomey’s soon-to-be vacated Senate seat. Cruz spoke to an enthusiastic and energized crowd of several hundred supporters at a rally at the Lehigh Valley Sporting Clays in Coplay Jan. 25.

Speaking after McCormick, Cruz emphasized the crucial role that Pennsylvania will play in the mid-term elections.

“I gotta say that Pennsylvania could very well decide this entire election,” Cruz said. “The Senate is in the balance.”

Cruz spoke with a sense of urgency and conviction about the need to elect a highly qualified candidate to the Senate who would defend American values, the Constitution and the American free enterprise system.

“I want someone who understands the miracle of our free enterprise system and who will stand up to the socialist left that wants to tear it down,” Cruz said. “Let me tell you the characteristic that I want more than anything else: backbone.”

Cruz said senators from both parties want to do good when they first get elected, but often fail because they end up making too many compromises.

Referencing his long friendship with the candidate, Cruz voiced his confidence in McCormick’s ability to avoid compromise and fend off corrupt political influences.

“I believe that he (McCormick) will have the guts to say, ‘No, I work for the people of Pennsylvania, not the corrupt lobbyists of Washington,’” Cruz said.

McCormick, 56, moved from Connecticut to Pittsburgh upon deciding to run for the Senate. On Jan. 3, McCormick resigned from his position as CEO of Bridgewater Associates, the world’s largest hedge fund with more than $140 billion in assets. McCormick served as Bridgewater CEO from 2020 to 2022 after holding other positions at the Connecticut-based firm beginning in 2009.

While McCormick spent much of his adult life in Connecticut, he was born and raised in Pennsylvania. McCormick hails from Bloomsburg,where his parents owned a Christmas tree farm.

A graduate of West Point and the Army Ranger School, McCormick won a Bronze Star while serving in the first Gulf War. He went on to earn a Ph.D. from Princeton’s School of Public and International Affairs, and then worked at two Pittsburgh-based firms: McKinsey & Co, a consulting company, and at FreeMarkets, a global software and services provider.

In addition to his work in the private sector, McCormick also has significant government experience. He served in senior positions at the Treasury Department during President George W. Bush’s administration.

McCormick will face tough competition from as many as 10 other Senate candidates in the Republican primary on May 17. TV personality, Dr. Mehmet Oz, is the best known of these candidates. Others include: Carla Sands, who served on former President Trump’s Economic Advisory Council and as ambassador to Denmark in 2017; Jeff Bartos, a Berks County businessman who started a nonprofit, the Pennsylvania 30-Day Fund, that gave forgivable loans to businesses affected by COVID-19; Kathy Barnette, a veteran, former professor and conservative political commentator. If elected, Barnette would be Pennsylvania’s first Black female senator.