PART TWO of The Freshmen Four Horsemen:Sen. McCormick
With A Head Start of Government-Subsidized Higher Education at West Point, McCormick Likely Amassed Most of His Wealth On Wall Street.
EDITORIAL DISCLOSURE: The author of this edition was previously “employed” by Sen. Bob Casey as an unpaid intern in his Pittsburgh regional office in the summer of 2009 and briefly in 2011. The “internships” ending up costing him money due to parking & fuel costs, and the author never received any money from the United States Senate whether that be a stipend, per diem or salary.
The second wealthiest of the Freshmen Four Horsemen, Republican David McCormick defeated Democrat Bob Casey in 2024 to take his U.S. Senate seat representing Pennsylvania on his second attempt for a seat in the world’s greatest deliberative body.
So, what is in this edition? Let’s dive into the Pennsylvania-native David McCormick’s background and his personal finances.
Pipeline from Washington to West Point to Wall Street to Washington
Sen. McCormick was born in Washington — wait for it — Pennsylvania in 1965 and graduated from high school in Bloomsburg before matriculating to the United State Military Academy at West Point. He later picked up advanced degrees from Princeton University while serving in the U.S. Army. He worked in President George W. Bush’s administration in a few cabinet agencies.
I’ll defend McCormick’s choice to move around the country as someone else who moved away from Pennsylvania to attend college in an adjacent state although I didn’t decide to run for a public office to represent my fellow Yinzers and Jabronis when I moved back into the state for a few years.
So drop the “carpetbagging” allegations of McCormick but feel free to question his Pennsylvania residency claims especially when he’s on the record in March 2023 with a quote like this one from the Associated Press trashing Mehmet Oz after Oz defeated McCormick in the 2022 primary:
“People want to know that the person that they’re voting for ‘gets it,’” McCormick, who narrowly lost to Oz in a GOP primary, said in March when asked to offer a postmortem of the general election defeat. “And part of ‘getting it’ is understanding that you just didn’t come in yesterday.”
Let’s Talk Money!
Ok, enough about McCormick’s background. Let’s get into the fun stuff — where’s a hedge fund guy like McCormick invest his money to earn between $8 million and $25 million in asset-driven income in one year!
In Pennsylvania, the median household income is $76,081. We’ll do the math for you — the typical Pennsylvania household would need 113 years to earn what McCormick received from his investments in one year.
McCormick disclosed his “principal residence” in Pittsburgh, PA was worth between $1 million and $5 million as well as a “working farm [and] residence” in Danville, PA worth the same amount. The farm has reportedly been in his family for “generations” according to a spokeswoman’s statement to WESA:
She said, "While he maintains a residence in Connecticut as his daughters finish high school, Dave’s home is in Pittsburgh and for the last 10 years he has owned a working farm in his hometown of Bloomsburg, which has been in the family for decades.”
He also owns two other major real estate assets including a ranch in Colorado worth at least $25 million — jointly-owned with his wife — and a Dallas rental property worth at least $5 million. Note: McCormick sold his Connecticut home in 2022 but still rented another one in the state where his children attended school according to the Associated Press.
Unlike the wealthiest Index member Jim Justice who had a negligible rate of return, McCormick’s calculated minimum return on his portfolio was 6.65%. (This is simply a conservative calculation of the amount of income generated divided by the minimum value of his assets).
McCormick’s largest asset in his $130 million portfolio, his Bridgewater Associates account is worth at least $50 million and generated at least $5 million in dividends for McCormick in one year. Bridgewater is a private equity firm only open to high net worth individuals, institutional investors and family offices and McCormick previously served as chief executive officer of the company.
He collectively holds at least $63 million in corporate assets mainly via hedge funds and private equity and sold his only directly-held corporate investment worth at least one million — a Rumble holding — after being sworn into office in January 2025.
Since becoming a senator, McCormick also purchased McDonald’s, Occidental Petroleum Corporation and Phillips 66 corporate bonds each worth at least $250k.
McCormick sits on the Senate’s Energy and Natural Resources and Banking committees which have jurisdiction over policies relevant to his largest and most recently purchased assets.
Dina Powell: McCormick’s Second Wife
A childhood immigrant who was born in Egypt, Dina Powell, married David McCormick in 2019. They were both previously married and have children from their first marriages. She was previously deputy national security advisor under President Donald Trump’s first administration and served in multiple roles in the George W. Bush administration.
As reported, Powell McCormick was employed by Goldman Sachs Group in New York City although she left her partner position in 2023 to join a new banking venture to private family offices called BDT & MSD Partners. She was elected to ExxonMobil’s Board of Directors in November 2023.
McCormick reported $9.1 million of his family’s assets were owned by his wife. Due to reporting rules, that total is likely very undervalued as two assets, [Goldman Sachs] restricted stock units and a Goldman Sachs fund (GSKPX) were both in the largest, open-ended “over $1 million” category.
Why Does It Matter?
Please be informed of your politicians’ personal financial information.
That’s our mission at the Hunter Index. An informed voter or — at least — constituent makes for a better community and better neighbor. Should your representative be similar to you? We just present that information and let you factor that into the numerous decisions that hopefully you make before casting a ballot.
Knowing how your elected officials invest their money is important. Would you make a policy or governing decision that negatively affects the financial security of your immediate family?
In one of his earliest press releases, Sen. McCormick stated:
“Federal, state, and local regulations are hindering new housing development. McCormick is eager to work with President Trump and Scott Turner to eliminate red tape and make housing more affordable for all Pennsylvanians.”
Institutional investors and private equity firms (which make up a significant percentage of McCormick’s wealth and professional experience) have been purchasing up housing stock more rapidly in recent years.
Housing price factors are complicated, but these corporate purchases are arguably driving up home prices making it more expensive for renters as well as individual home buyers who are trying to use mortgages rather than cash offers for home purchases.
Research has shown that large corporate landlords like these investors usually have higher rental rates, higher evictions rates and more fees than comparable properties owned by smaller firms or individual landlords.
If interested, I’d recommend reading this University of Pittsburgh research on how institutional investors are expanding their reach in single-family homes in Allegheny County, PA and the outsized impact on racially diverse communities like Penn Hills Township.
Recently, McCormick announced the Inaugural Pennsylvania Energy and Innovation Summit saying “American energy dominance is good for the economy, good for the environment, and good for national security.”
Just a reminder, Dina Powell McCormick is a current member of ExxonMobil’s board, and McCormick purchased Occidental Petroleum Corporation and Phillips 66 company bonds 12 days before announcing the summit although neither company invests heavily in Pennsylvania.
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