Florida Sen. Marco Rubio, Pa. Republicans rally in Allentown for Senate hopeful Dave McCormick

ALLENTOWN, Pa. — When it comes to elections, Pennsylvania is what Florida used to be, Marco Rubio said Monday.

“Remember the country used to come down to Florida, which direction Florida is going to go, for the control of the Senate, for the control of the House, for the presidency?” the Republican senator from Florida asked the crowd of dozens. “ … But, now, this is the bellwether.

“This is the place that decides the future of our country.”

Rubio was one of a handful of speakers Monday afternoon at the Americus Hotel, 555 Hamilton St., campaigning for Dave McCormick, who is challenging three-term U.S. Sen. Bob Casey, D-Pa., in the Nov. 5 election.

Organized by Hispanos Con McCormick, local and state Republican Party leaders spoke about the importance of voting early and encouraging others to vote, as well as supporting all Republicans on the ballot.

Previously a hedge fund CEO and combat veteran, McCormick, 59, spoke last, standing in the corner of a raised portion of the hotel’s lobby.

“I think we're at a moment. I think it's why you're all here,” McCormick said. “And people have been saying this forever. We've all heard it every election cycle.

“But, I think we are at a time when this is the most important election of our lives.”

‘Support every single Republican’

Before McCormick took the mic, a handful of Republican leaders, both at the local and state level, spoke to the crowd.

Jacqueline Rivera, secretary of the Lehigh County Republican Committee, shared her mother’s journey immigrating from Honduras to “pursue her American dream.”

“She embraced the values of faith, family and opportunity,” Rivera said. “And those values are not only Hispanic values, those are American values that align deeply with the Republican Party, and we understand the value of hard work — that we can do anything that we can achieve, and that's through the values of the Republican Party.”

Family values are the bedrock of the community, she said.

“Right here in Allentown, it's 56% Hispanic,” she said. “Across Lehigh County, it is 29%. And we've been working very hard in our committee to reach out to the Hispanic community — that their values are our values.”

Of the city’s current leadership, she said “they raise taxes, they do policies that keep our community behind, especially Hispanic Americans.”

Last week, city Mayor Matt Tuerk announced he wouldn’t seek any property tax increases in the 2025 budget. Last year, city council rejected proposed increases of 6.9%, 4.57% and 2% before passing a budget in mid-December with no increase.

“It's important that we get Republicans across the finish line, that we support every single Republican candidate in this election to actually change all of that,” she said. “And that's a track record.

"What's going on in Allentown, Democrat-run communities, those are the policies across our nation, and we have to keep fighting.”

Other speakers included Lehigh County Commissioner Antonio A. Pineda; Tina Ayala, a candidate for state representative in the 158th House District; Christopher Landau, former U.S. ambassador to Mexico; and Bernadette “Bernie” Comfort, vice chair of the state Republican Party.

Rubio took the stage second-to-last, walking around the corner to the opening notes of "Thunderstruck” by AC/DC.

Rubio, who was on presidential candidate and former President Donald Trump’s VP shortlist before announcing his running mate JD Vance at the Republican National Convention, shared his experiences as the son of hard-working Cuban immigrants.

“At the end of their life, they knew their life mattered and had a purpose, because they left all four of their children better off than themselves and the chance to do the things they never could,” he said. “That is what we are at risk of losing.

"That's what we're at risk of losing right now, today, in this economy, in the economy that's been created, frankly, by mistakes made by both parties, but accelerated under the Democrats and the left.”

While Trump and Rubio faced each other in the 2016 Republican race for president, the latter has since endorsed the Republican nominee in this year’s presidential election.

‘Never been more worried about our country’

McCormick, who served as under secretary of Treasury and deputy national security adviser during President George W. Bush’s administration, said the U.S. is “spiritually, economically challenged.”

“If you believe America is the greatest country in the world for opportunity, for bringing people out of poverty, for personal, individual freedom, for religious freedom, a shining light on the hill — for all the problems we have, still the greatest country in the world,” he said. “If you believe that you've been blessed by America, which I know most of you do — I certainly do, my wife does — and you believe the America you love is in trouble, which I think it is.

“ … If you believe those things, you got to do it, you got to run, you got to get in the ring. You got to be in the arena to make sure the America we love is available for our children and their children. That's what this election is about.”

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Lehigh County Republican Committee

McCormick, who has also been endorsed by Trump and the Pennsylvania Fraternal Order of Police, said college students protesting U.S. involvement in the conflict in Gaza “don't know the difference between right and wrong and good and evil.”

He mentioned the conflict at least twice during his speech, noting the anniversary of the Oct. 7, 2023, attacks by Hamas, a political organization in the West Bank that's widely regarded as a terrorist organization in the West and in Israel.

“I was in the first wave of troops into Iraq in the Gulf War,” McCormick said. “I was in the Treasury Department when we thought we were running the Great Depression.

“I've never been more worried about our country from forces outside our country, but also forces within that are going to destroy the America that we all love for our children.”

He called the current administration’s economic policies “crazy,” describing “a war on fossil fuels.”

“Gas prices are up 50%. Groceries are up 20%. Rent’s up 22%. Electricity prices are up 35%,” McCormick said. “If you're living paycheck to paycheck, man, you're getting squeezed. Your income is not keeping up. It's getting harder and harder.

“ … This economy is not working due to the policies of Biden-Harris and Bob Casey.”

McCormick and Casey faced off earlier this month in Harrisburg during a debate that touched on border security and economic policy.

Monday was the latest of McCormick’s campaign stops in the Lehigh Valley ahead of the election.

In April, he and U.S. Rep. Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, rallied conservatives ahead of the May primary in North Whitehall Township. Then, in May, he backed school voucher programs with former U.S. Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos during a trip to Nazareth.

Last month, McCormick held a meet and greet at the Syrian Arab American Charity Association’s food bank, where he spoke about the conflict in Gaza, as well as his plans for the future of Social Security, securing the Southern U.S. border by building a wall and tamping down inflation.