BUTLER TWP — Dave McCormick, a Pittsburgh native, said he had been content living the American dream last year when President Joe Biden withdrew American troops from Afghanistan.

He believed the withdrawal showed weakness and a lack of leadership and led him to enter the race to replace U.S. Sen. Pat Toomey, R-Pa., who is not running for reelection.

A military combat veteran and former official in President George W. Bush’s administration, McCormick is seeking the Republican nomination to run for Toomey’s Senate seat.

“I want to make a difference,” McCormick said, responding to a question at a meet-and-greet event Tuesday at Mac’s Route 8 Cafe.

If elected, he said he would serve no more than two six-year terms.

“If you can’t make a difference in 12 years, good God,” McCormick said. “I’m running to make a difference. I will go fight. When I go to Washington, I’m renting. I’m not buying.”

McCormick was born in Pittsburgh but was raised on a farm in Bloomsburg. After graduating high school, he attended the U.S. Military Academy at West Point, where he graduated with a degree in mechanical engineering.

Commissioned as a second lieutenant, McCormick graduated from Airborne and Ranger schools and was assigned to the 82nd Airborne Division, where he was in the first wave of troops in Iraq during the Persian Gulf War in 1991. He was awarded the Bronze Star and served 13 years in the military.

He went on to receive a doctoral degree in international affairs from Princeton University in 1996 before returning to Pittsburgh, where he joined and became a leader at FreeMarkets.

In 2005, McCormick was named Under Secretary of Commerce for Industry and Security before becoming Deputy National Security Adviser for International Economic Policy. From 2007-09, he served as Under Secretary of the Treasury for International Affairs.

He moved on to join Bridgewater Associates, an investment management company, where he eventually became co-CEO and then the sole CEO in 2020.

During his campaign, McCormick said people are telling him they don’t like the direction in which the country is moving.

“The country is slipping away. We all agree,’ McCormick said.

In addition to the Afghanistan withdrawal, inflation in the United States is at a 40-year high, gasoline prices are high, illegal immigration is mounting and illegal drug use is increasing, he said.

McCormick said he would support pro-growth economic policies, using the country’s energy resources and securing the nation’s borders.

“We’re standing on riches,” he said about natural gas deposits in the state.

While Pennsylvania’s gas production has increased 70% over the years, greenhouse gas emissions have decreased 40%, he said.

McCormick said he believes the climate is changing, but environmental concerns over gas production are overblown. He said the country can have a healthy environment while producing natural gas.

“Europe should be using our natural gas, not Russia’s,” McCormick said.

The Senate seat he is seeking could determine which political party will have the majority.

“It takes a couple people in the right spots to make a difference,” McCormick said.

He said he understands that many voters lost confidence in the election system after the 2020 primary, but reforms must be made at the state level.

McCormick said he would push for legislation that bars elected officials from financially benefiting from their positions and imposes penalties on those who do. He said his assets would be placed in a blind trust if he is elected.

He also criticized Biden’s response to Russian President Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine, but said the United States should not send troops to the conflict.

“Putin is a bully. We need to show strength. We haven’t done that,” he said.

Spending in Washington has to be reined in, he said. Biden’s spending as well as overspending by elected officials, including Republicans, has led to a $30 trillion deficit, he said.

McCormick, whose campaign headquarters is in the Shady Side neighborhood of Pittsburgh, is making campaign stops in Washington County on Thursday, Somerset County on Friday and Erie County on Saturday.