Dave McCormick blasts Harris over past support for banning fracking

Republican Senate contender Dave McCormick, who is running against Sen. Bob Casey (D-PA), attacked Vice President Kamala Harris for changing her position on fracking after becoming the Democratic presidential nominee.

Harris, who President Joe Biden endorsed after bowing out of the race last month, has reversed course on a number of issues since launching her campaign. Harris was one of the most liberal contenders for president back in 2020 and has since backtracked on some major issues recently.

McCormick said on Fox News’s Sunday Morning Futures that this election is “a contrast between strength and weakness.” He said that both Harris and Casey, who he is facing in the Senate race, have “an extreme liberal agenda.”

“And nowhere is that more clear than in energy,” he said. “Kamala Harris has said she wants to ban fracking, transition energy workers, she’s having a change of heart now that she’s running for president.”

Harris’s campaign told the Hill that she would not seek to ban fracking if she were elected. That was after previously telling CNN while running for president in 2019, “There’s no question I’m in favor of banning fracking.”

McCormick, a graduate of the U.S. Military Academy and a combat veteran who has made a major name for himself in the world of business and finance, also tied Harris to the nearly four years of high inflation that the country has experienced. He also emphasized how fracking is an important economic driver for Pennsylvania.

“And listen, these are the same people — Casey, Harris — that said President Biden was OK until he wasn’t OK; they said excessive spending wouldn’t drive inflation,” McCormick said. “Energy is critical to Pennsylvania; we’ve got the fourth-largest natural gas reserves in the world, and this creates wonderful job opportunity for decades to come for Pennsylvanians.”

In another policy-position change that was first reported by the Washington Examiner, Harris’s campaign spokesperson said she no longer supports a federal job guarantee, an idea championed by some on the Left and Green New Deal proponents.

Rolling back energy-related regulations would be a major boost for the state, McCormick said during an interview about his economic vision a few months back.

“Dealing with all the environmental restrictions, all the liabilities that are associated with drilling and transferring energy, liquid gas in particular, that is really key to our economic renewal,” McCormick told the Washington Examiner.