Dave McCormick

photo McCormick was born in Washington, Pennsylvania, and raised in the Pittsburgh area. He attended high school in Bloomsburg. McCormick graduated from West Point in 1987 with a Bachelor of Science degree in mechanical engineering. He was a four-time letterman on the Army wrestling team and the team's co-captain his senior year. He was a two-time Eastern runner-up at 167 pounds. Two years later, he published a book, The Downsized Warrior, based on his doctoral thesis about the downsizing of the U.S. Army at the end of the Cold War. ==Military career==

After graduating from West Point, McCormick went to United States Army Airborne School and to Ranger School; he was named the Honor Graduate of Ranger School. He joined the 82nd Airborne Division at Fort Bragg, North Carolina, in 1987. McCormick was part of the first wave of U.S. troops deployed to Iraq during the Gulf War in 1991 and received the Bronze Star for his actions. ==Private sector career==

From 1996 to 1999, McCormick worked as a consultant at McKinsey & Co. based in Pittsburgh. McCormick was promoted to president of FreeMarkets in 2001 and was named chief executive officer in 2002. He sold FreeMarkets to Ariba in 2004 for approximately $500 million and then remained at Ariba as president for the next 18 months until he was asked to join the Bush administration. Bridgewater Associates McCormick joined Bridgewater Associates in 2009 as its president. and was responsible for overseeing the firm's management and liaising with institutional investors. In December 2019, it was announced that McCormick would become the sole CEO of Bridgewater in 2020, marking the end of a 10-year management transition of the firm. In late 2021, while McCormick was mulling a run for a United States Senate seat in Pennsylvania, he began to distance himself from Bridgewater founder Ray Dalio and his defenses of China's human rights policies, openly rebuking him during company calls. McCormick left Bridgewater on January 3, 2022, and was replaced by Mark Bertolini and Nir Bar Dea as co-CEOs. ==Career in government==

Bush administration McCormick's career in government began in 2005, when he was nominated and confirmed as the Commerce Department's Under Secretary of Commerce for Industry and Security. In this role, he oversaw export controls and was part of negotiations that led to the India–United States Civil Nuclear Agreement. McCormick was Under Secretary of the Treasury for International Affairs from 2007 to 2009, serving as the United States' leading international economic diplomat. In this role, he was the principal adviser to Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson on international economic issues and oversaw policies in the areas of international finance, trade in financial services, investment, economic development and international debt policy. McCormick coordinated financial market policy with the Group of Seven (G7) industrialized countries and the Group of Twenty (G20) global economies, working with finance ministers and their deputies. He served as Paulson's point person on the international response to the 2008 financial crisis. McCormick was credited with using his relationships with top executives and policy makers around the world to help coordinate the Treasury Department's response. Consideration for roles in the Trump administration When Donald Trump became president-elect in 2016, he considered naming McCormick the U.S. Secretary of Treasury, but instead offered him the position of U.S. Deputy Secretary of Defense. McCormick declined this position because he was happy with his role at Bridgewater. In early 2019, the Trump administration considered McCormick for U.S. Secretary of Defense. Political donations and endorsements Since 2009, McCormick has donated more than $300,000 to politicians, political parties, and political action committees. He donated to the campaigns of Senators John McCain and Mitch McConnell and the congressional campaign of Mike Pompeo. McCormick supported Jeb Bush's 2016 presidential campaign. McCormick did not donate to Trump's 2016 or 2020 presidential campaigns. ==U.S. Senate==

Elections 2022 In December 2021, according to reports, Republicans began recruiting McCormick to run for the United States Senate seat in Pennsylvania then held by Pat Toomey, who chose to not seek reelection in 2022. On November 22, 2021, Sean Parnell—who had been endorsed by Trump and was regarded as a front-runner in the Senate race—withdrew from the race amid accusations of domestic violence from his estranged wife. McCormick announced his candidacy for the Senate on January 13, 2022. McCormick's Republican primary opponents criticized him for recently being a resident of Connecticut and for leading a hedge fund that invested in China. In response to Oz, McCormick demanded Oz renounce his dual citizenship with Turkey. In February 2022, McCormick ran a 30-second commercial during Super Bowl LVI highlighting the rising inflation rate and the withdrawal of troops from Afghanistan against the audio background of crowds chanting "Let's go Brandon", a coded insult to Joe Biden. Trump endorsed Oz on April 10, 2022, citing the popularity of his television show and perceived appeal to female voters. McCormick had sought Trump's endorsement, but according to McCormick, Trump told him he would need to say the 2020 presidential election was stolen in order to earn Trump's endorsement. McCormick lost the primary election to Oz, 31.2% to 31.1%. An automatic recount was triggered because Oz's margin of victory was less than 0.5%. The recount did not help McCormick, whose campaign launched a court case to have undated mail-in ballots counted with the rest of the votes. (The mail-in ballots were seen as potentially helping McCormick should they be included.) Oz's margin of victory was less than 1,000 votes. On June 3, McCormick conceded to Oz. During the primary, McCormick released campaign televised advertisements questioning Oz's stances on issues such as abortion and gun rights, calling Oz a "Hollywood liberal" and a "RINO" (Republican In Name Only). According to Politico, those ads hurt Oz during his general election campaign against Democratic nominee John Fetterman, who defeated Oz. 2024 in 2024.|200x200px On September 21, 2023, McCormick announced his second Senate campaign for Pennsylvania's Class 1 Senate seat. Soon after announcing his candidacy, he was endorsed by the Pennsylvania Republican Party and by Trump. He was already seen as the party's favorite and had the support of many Republican officials before he announced. McCormick had a clear path to the Republican nomination after two minor candidates who filed to run against him were disqualified. McCormick was present at the July 2024 Pennsylvania rally where an attempted assassination of Donald Trump in Pennsylvania took place. He was in the front row of the rally, to Trump's right, when shots rang out. McCormick has said that shortly before the shooting, Trump invited McCormick on stage, but changed his mind and requested that McCormick instead wait till later in the rally. Fox News called the race for McCormick by November 7, and the Associated Press did so by November 12. ABC, CBS, NBC and CNN projected the race for McCormick after Casey conceded on November 21. McCormick's win was seen as an upset. Tenure McCormick took office on January 3, 2025. On January 9, he attended Jimmy Carter's state funeral. He has voted to confirm all of Trump's cabinet nominees, including Pete Hegseth as secretary of defense. Committee assignments For the 119th Congress: • Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs • Subcommittee on Housing, Transportation, and Community Development • Subcommittee on National Security and International Trade and Finance • Subcommittee on Digital Assets • Committee on Energy and Natural Resources • Subcommittee on Energy (chairman) • Subcommittee on Water and Power • Committee on Foreign Relations • Subcommittee on East Asia, The Pacific, and International Cybersecurity Policy • Subcommittee on Multilateral International Development, Multilateral Institutions, and International Economic, Energy and Environmental Policy • Subcommittee on Near East, South Asia, Central Asia, and Counterterrorism (chairman) • Special Committee on Aging • Joint Economic Committee ==Political positions==

2021 U.S. Capitol attack McCormick expressed regret over the 2021 attack at the U.S. Capitol. He said the attack marks "a dark chapter in American history" and "puts a highlight on the responsibility of leaders to be able to create a dialogue where people are understood." He also said, "I think [Trump] has some responsibility, a lot of responsibility for [the attack], and I think that this last dark chapter at the Capitol...history will look very unfavorably on that and all the people that were involved in that." As of January 2025, McCormick did not have a public position on President Trump's pardons of those who participated in the insurrection and attack at the Capitol. Free trade McCormick has highlighted the benefits of free trade, stating in 2008 that "the key to remaining competitive in today's changing world is embracing openness to trade and to investment and to people". Foreign policy McCormick has championed the role of a strong United States on the world stage and has advocated for the idea that the United States can focus on addressing domestic issues while also leading efforts to promote human rights. McCormick does not support Ukraine joining NATO. China In 2007, McCormick spoke as a member of the George W. Bush administration in Beijing, China, where he said that "When China succeeds, the United States succeeds" and that the U.S. owes "much of the strength and vitality of our economic relationship today to the remarkable success of China's economic development over the last three decades". As a member of the Bush administration, McCormick pushed China to raise the value of its currency. He later praised President Trump's administration for measures to counter China. LGBTQ rights In 2013, McCormick joined 131 other Republicans in signing an amicus brief filed at the United States Supreme Court supporting the legalization of gay marriage prior to Obergefell v. Hodges. During McCormick's tenure as CEO of Bridgewater Associates, the company's policy was to fully pay for gender transition surgery. During his campaign for Senate, McCormick stated that he opposes federal funding towards gender transition surgeries and transgender girls participating in girls' competitive sports. ==Personal life==

In 2019, McCormick married Dina Powell, an executive at Goldman Sachs who was Deputy National Security Advisor in the first Trump administration. Until 2015 he was married to Amy Richardson, with whom he has four children. He also has two stepdaughters from his marriage to Powell. After their divorce in 2015, Richardson received ownership of the couple's former primary residence in Westport, while McCormick retained ownership of a house in Southport, Connecticut, and 70 acres of central Pennsylvania farmland. In 2009, McCormick taught at Carnegie Mellon University's Heinz College, on its Washington, D.C. campus; he held the title of Distinguished Service Professor of Information Technology, Public Policy and Management. He was elected to a three-year term on CMU's board of trustees in 2011. McCormick is on the board of both the United Service Organizations (USO) and the Hospital for Special Surgery (HSS). ==Electoral history==

• ''The Downsized Warrior: America's Army in Transition'' (1998) • Superpower in Peril: A Battle Plan to Renew America (2023) • Who Believed in You?: How Purposeful Mentorship Changes the World (2025) ==Notes==