‘The Feistiest I’ve Ever Seen Him’: Inside Bob Casey’s Final Days in the Senate

Bob Casey has been known for incremental change, working within the system, reaching across the aisle. As he left office, he seemed to be wondering whether that approach had a place in the U.S. Senate anymore.

Bob Casey

Sen. Bob Casey speaks during the Democratic National Convention. Paul Sancya/AP

It was Dec. 13, a few weeks before Bob Casey’s final day as a senator, but the mild mannered Democrat that Pennsylvanians had known for so long already seemed to have left office.

In his place was a man tired of appealing to the GOP — even if he was speaking to a room full of Republicans in rural Pennsylvania, packed into an 18th-century inn for what would be his last official event as a U.S. senator for the state.

The election was long over. Casey had conceded the tight race. And instead of touting his ability to work with Republicans — as he did for much of his reelection campaign — Casey was shaming Republicans for their collective inability to work with Democrats.