While U.S. Sen. Bob Casey, D-Scranton, and Republican Senate nominee David McCormick offered strong contrasts on most policies and principles, there were areas where each was able to praise efforts by presidents from the other party.

Casey praised the Trump administration’s trade initiatives and trade representative, saying he “focused on, if we’re going to have a trade deal with another country, we’re going to make sure that protections for our workers, for American workers, are not just a priority but such a priority that it will be in the base agreement.”

He said Democrats worked with Trump’s White House on labor and environmental protections so the American workforce would not be at a competitive disadvantage.

I think the Trump administration was pursuing some good work there,” Casey said. “On a number of fronts I could point to, we were working on some of the same economic policies.”

McCormick, while offering a number of caveats, praised the Biden administration’s efforts to support Ukraine.

“I believe Russia attacked Ukraine because of the weakness President Biden showed,” McCormick said, adding that Biden’s handling of aid to Ukraine has been “deeply flawed.”

He noted Biden’s handling of the withdrawal from Afghanistan specifically as a signal of weakness.

“That’s one of the reasons I got into the race in 2022,” McCormick said, referring to his experience as a combat veteran. “That sent a signal to the world, to the bad guys.”

McCormick said he supports military aid for Ukraine, while agreeing with former President Trump and his running mate, U.S. Sen. JD Vance, R-Ohio, that Germany and France should “pay for their fair share.”

“I believe we should support Ukraine with military aid because we said we would when they gave up their nuclear weapons in the 90s,” he said.

McCormick also said abandoning Ukraine would embolden both further Russian aggression and future Chinese aggression.

“We’re not doing this as a favor,” he said.

“We need to give strong military support to Ukraine,” McCormick said. “That’s one area where President Biden’s instincts to give military aid were right.”