November 15, 2018
Joe Santoliquito/For PhillyVoice
U.S. Sen. Bob Casey, D-Pa., at the Democratic National Convention at the Wells Fargo Center in Philadelphia.
The 2020 election is still nearly two years off, but reports of potential Democratic candidates for president are starting to bubble up as we near the new year.
A rough speculative list right now might include Elizabeth Warren, Kamala Harris, Joe Biden, Bernie Sanders, Cory Booker, Deval Patrick, Joe Kennedy — and now Bob Casey?
The Pennsylvania senator was asked, point-blank, by NBC News in an interview Thursday whether he’s considering running for president in 2020.
He didn’t say yes, but Casey also didn’t say no.
“I’ve got a lot of work in the Senate,” Casey initially said when asked if he’s considering a presidential bid.
When he was met with a “that’s not a no” from the reporter, Casey went a little more in-depth on what he thinks of the prospective field, and offered a couple cryptic “we’ll see” answers as well:
“We’ve got a lot of work to do here. But I — look, we’ll see what happens. I think there are an awful lot of candidates who are going to be running, not just from the Senate, but governors, former governors, we’ve got mayors, I think it's a long list. House members are going to be running. So it’s going to be a multi-candidate field, and that’s probably the biggest understatement. There will be a lot of variety in that field, so we’ll have to see what happens.”
Casey, who ran away with Pennsylvania’s Senate race in his midterm election against Republican Lou Barletta, acknowledged the Keystone State is a crucial battleground state in any presidential race.
“For our side, you have to win Pennsylvania to be elected president,” Casey told NBC News.
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