Implementing vision
Dave McCormick’s new chief of staff is ready to help the senator elect hit the ground running
If Pennsylvania Senator-elect David McCormick wanted to send the message that he was interested in getting to work immediately after he’s sworn into the Senate, he could have done worse than selecting Mark Isakowitz as his chief of staff.
Isakowitz served as Sen. Rob. Portman’s chief of staff during Donald Trump’s first term in office and is currently Google’s vice president of government affairs and public policy for the U.S. and Canada. He’s spent time as a lobbyist and even worked with the American Jewish Committee.
McCormick’s new chief of staff said he was humbled by the opportunity and anxious to help the senator-elect accomplish his goals for the office.
“Dave believes that the opportunity to make an impact for Pennsylvania, for the country, is precious,” Isakowitz said.
He said that he hopes his experience working in the Senate and some of its more arcane procedures—unanimous consent, the filibuster and cloture—can help McCormick realize his vision.
Isakowitz is the son of Holocaust survivors; his father was born in what is now Western Ukraine but was then Czechoslovakia and lost most of his family in Auschwitz. His mother, also from Czechoslovakia, survived as a hidden child living under a false name and emigrated to Cleveland, Ohio. Isakowitz is deeply committed to fighting antisemitism and believes that McCormick is as well.
He said he was impressed when McCormick and his wife visited Israel and stopped in Kfar Aza to meet with families of hostages held by Hamas in January 2024.
“I was impressed, not just in his support for Israel but his support for Jewish people everywhere,” Isakowitz said. “It’s sad that it’s become so necessary but he’s willing to step up and provide that leadership, and that had a big impact on me.”
McCormick made significant inroads with the Pittsburgh Jewish community, Isakowitz said, acknowledging the senator-elect’s outreach to the community during the campaign.
“Since I accepted the position, I’ve heard from people in the community who have said, ‘You know, we really wanted him to win and we tried to help,” he said. “They weren’t always who I would call traditional Republican voters, but people responded to Dave’s outreach.”
And while he’s unable to predict what the Senate may or may not do to address the uptick in antisemitism across the country, he said, he feels confident that McCormick will continue to be a “fighter on the issue.”
McCormick hasn’t set a first 100 days in office plan that’s being shared with the public. Isakowitz said he’s committed to doing the things he said during the campaign, ranging from boosting Pennsylvania’ economy to creating opportunities with the state’s energy resources and resetting American leadership in things like economics.
“I think he can hit the ground running,” Isakowitz said, “because he knows these policy issues. He’s thought about them, and he has been a public servant before.”
The pair’s time in the private sector, he said, plus McCormick’s economic public policy background will put him in a good position to advocate for the state.
“I think he has a really unique perspective about how you attract investment and how you follow through on it and how you set the right policies to attract jobs,” Isakowitz said.
As to his day-to-day routine, Isakowitz said he’ll be helping McCormick implement his vision for Pennsylvania.
“Some days may be helping to build a great team; some days may be organizing some of the visits we’ll do in the state when he’s not in D.C. Some days will be doing research the legislative team will have to do when Dave has a flurry of votes happening on the Senate floor,” he said. “The chief of staff’s job is to help the senator have a good day every day and to help implement his agenda.”
Isakowitz grew up in what he called a “traditional” Jewish home.
“My parents were fixed up on their first date in Cleveland, Ohio, and were married there. We went to the Green Road Synagogue,” he said. “That’s where I was bar mitzvahed.”
While in D.C., Isakowitz spends time at Kesher Israel synagogue. The shul’s membership included the late Sen. Joe Lieberman, and he said it’s filled weekly with “fascinating people,” including those involved in public policy in the Senate and House and visiting ambassadors.
He and his wife Melissa have three children, and he said the family is “proudly Jewish.”
As he readies for his new role, Isakowitz said his parents would be proud and excited about his experience in the government and his new role with McCormick.
“When my parents got off the boat, if you would have told them that they would have had an opportunity to visit the capital, it would have been hard for them to imagine, given what they had been through,” he said. “If you would have told them one of their kids would work there, I don’t know how seriously they would have taken that.”
Sounding very much like someone who’s learned his Talmud, Isakowitz said you may not have an obligation to finish the work of repairing the world, but you have to do your part, something he learned from his immigrant parents.
“If you have an opportunity to help create a better society for people you have an obligation to do it,” he said. “Growing up in an immigrant household, there’s a special love for the United States that gives you a unique perspective.” PJC
David Rullo can be reached at drullo@pittsburghjewishchronicle.org.
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