Robert Patrick Casey Jr. (born April 13, 1960) is an American lawyer and politician who is the senior United States senator from Pennsylvania, a seat he has held since 2007. He is a member of the Democratic Party. Born in Scranton, Pennsylvania, Casey, Jr. is the son of Bob Casey Sr., a former governor of Pennsylvania. Raised Catholic, he attended the College of the Holy Cross, later receiving his Juris Doctor from the Catholic University of America. He practiced law in Scranton before beginning his political career as Pennsylvania Auditor General, a post to which he was elected in 1996 and re-elected in 2000, holding the post until 2005. In 2002, Casey ran for governor of Pennsylvania, but was defeated in the Democratic primary by Ed Rendell. After being term-limited out of his position as auditor general, Casey ran for treasurer in the 2004 election which he used as a launching pad to campaign in the 2006 U.S. Senate election in Pennsylvania defeating Republican incumbent Rick Santorum. He was reelected in 2012 and in 2018, becoming the first Democrat in Pennsylvania to win a third consecutive term in the Senate. Casey is running for reelection to a fourth term in the Senate in 2024. He is the current dean of Pennsylvania's congressional delegation.