‘Blessed’: Casey recounts his Senate career in final floor speech

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Bob Casey delivered his last official speech on the floor of the U.S. Senate on Wednesday. The outgoing incumbent was joined by his wife, four daughters, Democratic colleagues and current and former staff.

In his speech, Casey said that he had been “blessed” by the opportunity to perform public service and highlighted what he recounted as key successes throughout his career.

“When I was growing up in Scranton, Pennsylvania, my mother Ellen Harding Casey would often say to my brothers and sisters and me, ‘Count your blessings,’” he said. “She would say that over and over again. So today I seek to do so here on the floor of the United States Senate.”

One of the proudest achievements he shared was passing the ABLE Act, which enabled people with disabilities to hold savings accounts while still receiving benefits.

“Before ABLE, people with disabilities could not save more than $2,000 without risking access to their federal benefits, forcing many people with disabilities into a permanent state of poverty,” Casey told the chamber.

His Campus Sexual Violence Elimination (Campus SaVE) Act required college campuses to report incidents of sexual violence and to protect the anonymity of the victims. The Pregnant Workers Fairness Act (PWFA) was modeled after the Americans With Disabilities Act and required employers to provide “reasonable accommodation” to their pregnant employees.

In 2013, Casey introduced the Saracini Aviation Safety Act, which requires commercial airlines to install a second barrier to prevent unauthorized access to the flight deck of an aircraft. That law was named after Victor Saracini, a Bucks County resident and pilot who flew United Flight 175 when it was hijacked during the terror attacks of Sept. 11, 2001.

Casey said that legislation “will help prevent future terrorist attacks.”

“I’m proud of the work we’ve done together on behalf of the people of Pennsylvania to fight for our children, our seniors, people with disabilities, our veterans and our workers,” he told the chamber.

Casey also took time to name and thank “the men and women who work behind the scenes every day” who “keep the business of the Senate running seamlessly every day.”

“Many of you will never get the credit you deserve, but the work you do is vital and is a great service to our nation,” he said.

Several of Casey’s colleagues in the Senate spoke after him, characterizing him as a “fighter” and a “friend.”

Amy Klobuchar of Minnesota said Casey embodied the moral compass of Hubert Humphrey, who represented her state in the Senate before serving as vice president. In his final speech as vice president in 1977, Humphrey said, “The moral test of government is how that government treats those who are in the dawn of life, the children; those who are in the twilight of life, the elderly; and those who are in the shadows of life — the sick, the needy, and the handicapped.”

“From the moment Bob Casey got to this place, he saw that as his job, always looking out for people who didn’t have a voice, always looking out for people who couldn’t afford to hire a lobbyist, always looking out for people when no one else was listening,” Klobuchar said.

Pennsylvania’s junior senator, John Fetterman, audibly choked up when he recounted how Casey helped him during his own campaign.

“When I had a stroke, he lent me his voice when I was speaking again,” Fetterman said. “I never forgot that. And when I got to the Senate two years ago, he became a mentor to me. In a difficult time in my life, he stuck by me. Because that’s who Bob is, a friend.”

Casey is Pennsylvania’s longest-serving Democratic senator in history. The Scranton native was born into a Pennsylvania political legacy — his father, Bob Casey Sr., served as governor for two terms.

The younger Casey attended College of the Holy Cross, graduating in 1982, and attended law school at Catholic University of America in Washington, D.C., before returning to Scranton to practice law. He later helped his father when the senior Casey ran for governor.

In 1997, the younger Casey followed his father into politics, running and winning a race for auditor general. In 2002, he ran for governor, but lost the Democratic nomination to Ed Rendell, who went on to win the general election. Two years later, Casey ran for state treasurer and won, but then challenged U.S. Sen. Rick Santorum, beating the Republican incumbent by a near-20-point margin.

The Irish Catholic was at odds with his own party over the issue of abortion and has called himself a “pro-life Democrat.” His father had opposed abortion rights as governor and signed legislation that restricted abortion. A challenge to that law led to the landmark 1992 U.S. Supreme Court case Planned Parenthood v. Casey that reaffirmed Roe v. Wade’s protection of abortion rights.

Casey, however, gradually moved ideologically closer to his party, and during the 2024 election, said that he believed in the tenets of Roe v. Wade.

In this most recent race, Casey was challenged by David McCormick, a former hedge fund manager who accused Casey of being weak and characterized him as being a do-nothing, career politician. McCormick was buoyed by Donald Trump’s race for president and managed to eke out an extremely narrow win with a gap of just 16,000 votes, sending the race into automatic recount and leading to several protracted lawsuits over the count in several counties.