Outside of Panos' Restaurant, Pennsylvania U.S. Senate candidate, Dave McCormick returned to Erie and held a press conference to talk about some of the biggest issues facing not only Erie County voters but voters throughout the Commonwealth.

"Sky-high inflation is hurting working families and killing people who are on fixed income all due to the radical spending of Biden, Harris and Bob Casey who votes with them 99% of the time," McCormick said.

McCormick was joined by local leaders, including Jennie Hagerty, the executive director of the Mercy Center for Women, who spoke about homelessness, the opioid crisis and domestic violence affecting our area.

"Whether you are an elected official or soon to be one, that individuals understand the need and the causes that affect women, men or children, so I was speaking on behalf of people who are like myself boots on the ground," Hagerty said.

Evan Lagace, general manager of Panos' explained he typically does not draw political lines between parties but he sees a key issue that needs to be fixed.

"This inflation problem is massive, a lot of people are just drifting through life right now not paying attention to it and for the sake that it was emphasized the way that it was today I am grateful for him and his team to come and talk about this and to address this for our community because it is something that is going to slap us in the face in the future unless it is solved, immediately," Lagace said.

"When you are a guy that has been in public office for 30 years, you are like a hammer looking for a nail, you think government is the answer to everything.

The best answer to growing our economy is to give people their own money, reduce taxes for working families and help small businesses succeed, reduce the regulatory burden, stop this terrible inflation that is killing small businesses, let Americans prosper," McCormick said.

Emma Mustion, spokesperson from the Bob Casey for Senate campaign, provided Erie News Now with a comment:

"Senator Casey is leading the fight to hold big corporations accountable for ripping off working people and working to put more money in Pennsylvanians’ pockets. David McCormick is fighting to enrich himself and his billionaire backers, defending these big corporations and supporting a corporate tax giveaway that raised taxes on more than 375,000 Pennsylvanians and added $2 trillion to the deficit.”