Republican U.S. Senate candidate Dave McCormick greets potential voters in Murrysville

David Painter pushed back from his table at North Park Lounge in Murrysville satisfied.

He had just spent about an hour listening to Republican U.S. Senate candidate Dave McCormick as he addressed several dozen people in a private room, talking about his qualifications and what separates him from the rest of the crowded primary field.

“He convinced me,” said Painter, of Ligonier. “He convinced me his campaign is about more than just the popular issues.”

McCormick, who spent five years in the Army, talked about those “popular issues,” among them energy independence and Ukraine.

But he also addressed the Second Amendment, immigration, trade, abortion and China and other conservative talking points.

Painter, who operates a naval nuclear supplier, said he feels like some of the other candidates in the race to fill Pat Toomey’s seat don’t have the same breadth of experience as McCormick, particularly in international business.

“He has the knowledge, the understanding and the broadness of a campaign to be able to do an adequate job in the Senate,” Painter said.

McCormick told the crowd he is a seventh-generation Pennsylvanian who wrestled and played football at Bloomsburg High School before going on to the U.S. Military Academy at West Point. After graduation, he attended Airborne School and Ranger School and was assigned to the 82nd Airborne Division in Iraq during the Gulf War.

Most recently, he served as CEO for Bridgewater Associates, a hedge fund based in Connecticut.

McCormick spoke briefly about his background before introducing his wife, Dina Powell McCormick, who served in the Trump administration as the deputy national security adviser for strategy.

During Saturday’s event, McCormick was asked what current political figures he most closely aligns with. He named Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas; former Trump press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders, who is running for governor in Arkansas; and former Trump Secretary of State Mike Pompeo.

McCormick took frequent shots at the Biden administration as he spoke, specifically noting what he called Biden’s “socialist economic policies,” the influx of fentanyl across American borders, inflation and the number of illegal immigrants entering the country.

“It’s not the America I know. It’s not the America I’ve served and loved,” McCormick said. “I believe it in my bones that if we don’t do something, the country we love is going to slip away.”

He also touched on reducing America’s dependence on China and continuing Trump policies for fair trade.

“Leadership matters,” he said. “It matters who you pick. This Senate seat could not be more important.”

McCormick told the crowd gathered in Murrysville that his mission now is to introduce himself to voters, particularly given that one of his competitors on the Republican slate, Dr. Mehmet Oz, has automatic name recognition.

“My challenge is, two months ago, no one knew who the hell I was,” McCormick said.

After he finished speaking, he greeted dozens of people, posing for pictures and shaking hands. He said there is no way to be successful in a campaign without doing that.

“You know you have the most important issues front and center,” McCormick said. It also helps, he continued, to validate whether he has the right answers.

Sandy Vargo of Scottdale and her two sons, Tucker, 9, and Enzo, 12, were among those to stop and talk to the candidate.

The boys are home-schooled, Vargo said, and they have been learning about history and citizenship. As part of those lessons, she has taken them to as many election events as she can.

“We can teach them in a textbook, or we can come out and see,” she said. “We want to see what they say and see if they’re representing us.

”These are our future voters.”