𝐒𝐇𝐀𝐏𝐈𝐑𝐎 𝐒𝐀𝐈𝐃 𝐍𝐎 𝐏𝐄𝐍𝐍𝐒𝐘𝐋𝐕𝐀𝐍𝐈𝐀 𝐁𝐎𝐎𝐓𝐇 𝐅𝐎𝐑 𝐀𝐌𝐄𝐑𝐈𝐂𝐀’𝐒 𝟐𝟓𝟎𝐓𝐇 — 𝐒𝐎 𝐅𝐄𝐓𝐓𝐄𝐑𝐌𝐀𝐍 𝐀𝐍𝐃 𝐌𝐂𝐂𝐎𝐑𝐌𝐈𝐂𝐊 𝐁𝐔𝐈𝐋𝐓 𝐎𝐍𝐄 𝐓𝐇𝐄𝐌𝐒𝐄𝐋𝐕𝐄𝐒
Pennsylvania Gov. 𝐉𝐨𝐬𝐡 𝐒𝐡𝐚𝐩𝐢𝐫𝐨 told his own administration the state wouldn’t take part in the “Great American State Fair” on the National Mall, saying no businesses were willing to sponsor the roughly $700,000 pavilion and that the money was better spent on the NFL Draft, the PGA Championship and other events already on the calendar. Sen. 𝐃𝐚𝐯𝐞 𝐌𝐜𝐂𝐨𝐫𝐦𝐢𝐜𝐤 (R) wasn’t having it. “𝘓𝘢𝘴𝘵 𝘚𝘢𝘵𝘶𝘳𝘥𝘢𝘺, 𝘐 𝘸𝘰𝘬𝘦 𝘶𝘱 𝘪𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘮𝘰𝘳𝘯𝘪𝘯𝘨. 𝘐 𝘸𝘢𝘴 𝘭𝘰𝘰𝘬𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘢𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘯𝘦𝘸𝘴, 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘪𝘵 𝘴𝘢𝘪𝘥 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘗𝘦𝘯𝘯𝘴𝘺𝘭𝘷𝘢𝘯𝘪𝘢 𝘸𝘢𝘴𝘯'𝘵 𝘨𝘰𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘵𝘰 𝘱𝘢𝘳𝘵𝘪𝘤𝘪𝘱𝘢𝘵𝘦. 𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘨𝘰𝘷𝘦𝘳𝘯𝘰𝘳 𝘩𝘢𝘥 𝘴𝘢𝘪𝘥 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘩𝘦 𝘥𝘪𝘥𝘯'𝘵 𝘸𝘢𝘯𝘵 𝘵𝘰 𝘶𝘴𝘦 𝘵𝘢𝘹𝘱𝘢𝘺𝘦𝘳 𝘥𝘰𝘭𝘭𝘢𝘳𝘴, 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘩𝘦 𝘤𝘰𝘶𝘭𝘥𝘯'𝘵 𝘧𝘪𝘯𝘥 𝘢𝘯𝘺 𝘣𝘶𝘴𝘪𝘯𝘦𝘴𝘴𝘦𝘴 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘸𝘦𝘳𝘦 𝘸𝘪𝘭𝘭𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘵𝘰 𝘴𝘶𝘱𝘱𝘰𝘳𝘵 𝘪𝘵. 𝘛𝘩𝘢𝘵'𝘴 𝘤𝘳𝘢𝘻𝘺.”
McCormick called Democrat Sen. 𝐉𝐨𝐡𝐧 𝐅𝐞𝐭𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐦𝐚𝐧 that same day. “𝘐 𝘴𝘢𝘪𝘥, 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘤𝘢𝘯'𝘵 𝘴𝘵𝘢𝘯𝘥. 𝘛𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘪𝘴 𝘗𝘦𝘯𝘯𝘴𝘺𝘭𝘷𝘢𝘯𝘪𝘢. 𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘩𝘪𝘴𝘵𝘰𝘳𝘺 𝘰𝘧 𝘈𝘮𝘦𝘳𝘪𝘤𝘢 𝘳𝘶𝘯𝘴 𝘳𝘪𝘨𝘩𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘳𝘰𝘶𝘨𝘩 𝘗𝘦𝘯𝘯𝘴𝘺𝘭𝘷𝘢𝘯𝘪𝘢. 𝘐𝘵'𝘴 𝘸𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘤𝘰𝘶𝘯𝘵𝘳𝘺 𝘸𝘢𝘴 𝘣𝘰𝘳𝘯, 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘩𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘰𝘸𝘦𝘥 𝘧𝘪𝘦𝘭𝘥𝘴 𝘰𝘧 𝘎𝘦𝘵𝘵𝘺𝘴𝘣𝘶𝘳𝘨, 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘢𝘳𝘴𝘦𝘯𝘢𝘭 𝘰𝘧 𝘥𝘦𝘮𝘰𝘤𝘳𝘢𝘤𝘺.” Fetterman signed on immediately.
Within days the two senators had lined up a coalition of private sponsors — the 𝐏𝐞𝐧𝐧𝐬𝐲𝐥𝐯𝐚𝐧𝐢𝐚 𝐌𝐚𝐧𝐮𝐟𝐚𝐜𝐭𝐮𝐫𝐞𝐫𝐬’ Association, the state Farm Bureau, and the state Chamber of Business and Industry — funding the booth entirely without taxpayer money. The pavilion now stands on the National Mall, stocked with Pennsylvania chips, a Christmas tree and a Liberty Bell display. Asked directly whether Shapiro’s office ever reached out to businesses at all, McCormick said: “𝘐'𝘮 𝘯𝘰𝘵 𝘴𝘶𝘳𝘦 𝘸𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘩𝘢𝘱𝘱𝘦𝘯𝘦𝘥, 𝘩𝘰𝘯𝘦𝘴𝘵𝘭𝘺. 𝘉𝘶𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘺 𝘸𝘦𝘳𝘦 𝘢𝘣𝘴𝘰𝘭𝘶𝘵𝘦𝘭𝘺 𝘦𝘯𝘵𝘩𝘶𝘴𝘪𝘢𝘴𝘵𝘪𝘤 𝘢𝘣𝘰𝘶𝘵 𝘨𝘦𝘵𝘵𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘣𝘦𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘥 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘴.”
McCormick’s closing line cut across the aisle: “𝘉𝘦𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘢 𝘱𝘢𝘵𝘳𝘪𝘰𝘵 𝘪𝘴𝘯'𝘵 𝘢 𝘙𝘦𝘱𝘶𝘣𝘭𝘪𝘤𝘢𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘨. 𝘐𝘵'𝘴 𝘯𝘰𝘵 𝘢 𝘋𝘦𝘮𝘰𝘤𝘳𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘤 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘨. 𝘞𝘦'𝘷𝘦 𝘸𝘢𝘪𝘵𝘦𝘥 250 𝘺𝘦𝘢𝘳𝘴 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘴.”
𝐀 𝐃𝐞𝐦𝐨𝐜𝐫𝐚𝐭 𝐠𝐨𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐧𝐨𝐫 𝐩𝐚𝐬𝐬𝐞𝐝. 𝐀 𝐛𝐢𝐩𝐚𝐫𝐭𝐢𝐬𝐚𝐧 𝐩𝐚𝐢𝐫 𝐠𝐨𝐭 𝐢𝐭 𝐝𝐨𝐧𝐞 𝐚𝐧𝐲𝐰𝐚𝐲.