The CEO of Bridgewater Associates has stepped down from his post to mull launching a bid for a U.S. Senate seat, the company said Monday.
David McCormick, 59, “has made the decision to leave Bridgewater in order to consider running for the open Senate seat in his home state of Pennsylvania,” the hedge fund said in a memorandum from its top remaining executives.
McCormick was CEO for nearly five years and at Bridgewater for 12 total after spending time in the George W. Bush administration and the military.
The Connecticut-based Bridgewater made deputy CEO Nir Bar Dea and co-chair of the operating board of directors Mark Bertolini co-CEOs to replace McCormick.
“While we will miss him, we are also joyous for his opportunity to pursue his hero’s journey in service to our country, and we are especially grateful for the gifts he left us,” executives said in the memo.
McCormick has not formally launched a campaign for the Senate seat, which is held by retiring Sen. Pat Toomey (R-Pa.), but he did release an advertisement last month that signaled he was preparing to jump into the race.
“He’s a salt of the earth guy who served his country and worked hard,” Pat Deon, a fundraiser, told The Associated Press recently. “He can relate to someone who wears a hard hat or sits in a boardroom.”
Toomey’s decision not to run for re-election has triggered a rush, with Republican candidates including Dr. Mehmet Oz, former ambassador Carla Sands, and businessman Jeff Bartos.
A number of prominent Democrats, including Rep. Conor Lamb (D-Pa.) and Pennsylvania Lt. Gov. John Fetterman, are also vying for the seat.
The primary elections are scheduled to take place on May 17, before a general election in November.
Republicans are angling to hold on to every seat they can while trying to flip others as the party seeks to wrest control of both congressional chambers from Democrats.
The Senate is currently divided 50–50 but Democrats can ram some packages through thanks to the tiebreaking vote Vice President Kamala Harris can cast as president of the upper chamber.
Democrats hold nine more seats than Republicans in the lower chamber after Devin Nunes officially retired Monday to run a media company started by former President Donald Trump.
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