Senator Dave McCormick says he will not run for POTUS

HARRISBURG, Pa. (WHTM) — Pennsylvania Senator Dave McCormick (R-PA) just announced he will not be running for President of the United States.

During a live interview with POLITICO earlier today, Sen. Dave McCormick shared that he does not plan on making a run for the Presidency.

Politics Bureau Chief and Senior Political Columnist, Jonathan Martin, noted during the interview that Sen. McCormick is “still a pretty young man” and asked if he was open to running for President in the upcoming 2028 and 2032 election cycles.

“Yeah, no,” McCormick responded with a chuckle. “If my wife was here, she would say ‘hell no.’ Listen, where we are in our life, we have six daughters, I’m sixty years old, had a great, great private sector career, so this was the penultimate chapter. The ability to make a difference.”

McCormick noted that his children were opposed to his run for the Senate both times, including the 2022 Republican Primary election he lost against Mehmet Oz and his successful run against former Senator Bob Casey in 2024.

The Pennsylvania Senator goes on to explain how losing his 2022 primary race ultimately helped him win back in November.

“It was excruciatingly hard to lose because I lost by 900 votes, so that was hard,” Sen. McCormick explained. “And you [think], ‘What could I have done different, where are all the mistakes?’ But it created a true gut check. Do I really want to do this? Why am I doing it? Is this really where I think I can make the biggest difference? Is this ego, or is there something deeper here?”

Sen. McCormick says that after he asked himself the hard-hitting questions, he learned from his previous losses to help him move forward.

“Second thing, I just got a lot better [after the loss],” Sen. McCormick continued. “I tell my kids that everybody suffers failures—failure is the thing that happens before success. It’s the part of the journey towards success.”

Emerson College Polling released a survey in June that showed Vice President JD Vance recieved 46% support for becoming the 2028 Republican presidential nominee.

Other names listed in this poll include Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, and former UN Ambassador Nikki Haley.