Sen. Bob Casey’s (D-PA) cozy relationship with China is taking center stage in Pennsylvania’s Senate race against Republican Senate candidate Dave McCormick.
Casey, who first ran for the United States Senate in 2006, has served as a Pennsylvania senator since 2007. As Breitbart News has previously reported, Casey ran on a “wave of reform” and vowed to “end a culture of scandal and self-dealing” in Washington, DC.
While the Pennsylvania senator has recently gone after Trump-backed McCormick in a recent advertisement claiming that the Republican candidate “got rich” through investments “in China,” several reports show that Casey has been weak on China, has reportedly taken thousands of dollars from Chinese-linked business groups, and oversaw a large investment of state workers pensions into a firm backed by the CCP, among other things.
In August 2022, Casey was among the Democrat senators who had voted against S. Amdt. 5265, which would “provide for certain conditions” to be imposed on exports of crude oil to China released from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve.
The amendment would have made it so that the Secretary of Energy would have had to “require, as a condition of any such sale, that in the case of a bid submitted by a bidder that intends to export the crude oil to the People’s Republic of China, the bid will not be considered by the Secretary to be a valid bid unless the bidder has submitted a bid 10 times higher than the next highest bid received,” according to the text of the amendment.
Casey has also been reported to have taken thousands of dollars from lobbyists for companies with ties to China, including some that have reportedly been linked to the Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP) military.
Donation records for 2023, show that Robert Van Heuvelen, a lobbyist for the Vogel Group donated $1,000 to Casey, according to Open Secrets. The Vogel Group represents Autel Automotive Intelligence USA, which is a subsidiary of the China-based company, Autel Intelligent Technology Corp. Autel Intelligent Technology Corp. is also the parent company of Autel Robotics, a drone manufacturer in China.
Data from the Federal Election Commission (FEC) also shows that Van Heuvelen donated $1,000 to Casey so far this year, according to Open Secrets.
Casey also received $1,000 from lobbyist Keith Castaldo in 2023, and $1,000 so far in 2024, according to Open Secrets. Castaldo, who is a lobbyist with Team Subject Matter, represents companies such as DJI Technology, Goldman Sachs, and Instacart.
In October 2022, the Department of Defense (DOD) added DJI Technology to the blacklist of Chinese companies that are ineligible to partner with the United States Military due to having ties with China’s military, according to Fox News.
FEC data showed that Steven Elmendorf, another lobbyist with Team Subject Matter donated $4,320 to Casey during 2023, according to Open Secrets. Casey also received $1,000 in 2023 from lobbyist Barry LaSala.
A Pennsylvania report from 2007 found that while serving as the treasurer for the state, Casey oversaw a $31,386,930 investment from the pensions of state workers into a China Mobile Ltd., a CCP-backed firm, according to the New York Post.
The outlet noted that China Mobile Ltd. was “designated a national security threat”:
China Mobile has since been designated a national security threat, with the Department of Defense in June 2020 noting the company was part of the Chinese Communist Party’s “military-civil fusion national strategy.”
In December 2023, McCormick criticized Casey for appearing to be weak on China,
“The Senator has proven for two decades, he won’t stand firm against the CCP or stand up for a strong and resilient America,” McCormick said. “He has dithered while China has moved aggressively. He has failed and he should be replaced.”