(WHTM) – After weeks of speculation, Republican Dave McCormick has officially announced his second bid to represent Pennsylvania in the U.S. Senate.

McCormick formally announced the launch of his campaign in Pittsburgh on Thursday evening.

The former hedge fund CEO is the first Republican to enter the spring primary, potentially setting up a general election race against incumbent Democrat Bob Casey.

During the 2022 Senate campaign, McCormick was endorsed by several national Republicans including Senator Ted Cruz and former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo in the crowded primary.

However, McCormick failed to get the endorsement of former President Donald Trump and lost to Trump’s endorsed candidate, former television doctor Mehmet Oz, by less than 1,000 votes.

Oz would go on to lose the November general election to Democrat John Fetterman by more than 260,000 votes.

Questions that plagued Oz (who lived in New Jersey) and may surface for McCormick is his residency. According to the Associated Press, while McCormick owns a home in Pittsburgh, public records indicate McCormick “still lives on Connecticut’s “Gold Coast.”

“Dave has called Pennsylvania home for 30 years and served our country outside of Pennsylvania for an additional 13,” Elizabeth Gregory, a spokeswoman for McCormick, told the Associated Press. “It’s the place he mailed letters back to when he served in Iraq and the place where three of his daughters were born.”

Gregory added, “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.”Dave McCormick “seriously considering” Senate run after Mastriano opts out

Prior to running for U.S. Senate in 2022 and serving as CEO of Bridgewater Associates, McCormick was an officer in the Gulf War and served in President George W. Bush’s administration with the Treasury Department.

Republican State Senator and former gubernatorial nominee Doug Mastriano opted not to run for U.S. Senate earlier this year. Kathy Barnette, who finished third in the 2022 Republican Senate primary, has already said she does not plan to run. No Democrats have formally announced intentions to run against Casey, a three-term incumbent.