In 1996 Casey won the position of Pennsylvania's auditor general and was reelected in 2000. In 2002, he ran for governor as a culturally conservative Democrat, like his father, who had ruffled Democratic feathers in the Clinton-era as a staunch opponent of abortion. Casey lost the Democratic primary to former Philadelphia mayor (and current governor) Ed Rendell.

Bouncing back, Casey won the race for state treasurer in 2004 with 3.4 million votes, enough to attract the attention of the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee, which needed a candidate to challenge incumbent Republican Senator Rick Santorum.

Santorum was vulnerable in Pennsylvania although he had held the seat since 1995. Casey attacked Santorum for having close ties to unpopular President George W. Bush and to special interests. Democrats "also questioned whether Santorum's residence in Virginia disqualified him from voting in Penn Hills, a Pittsburgh suburb where Santorum owned a home and was registered to vote," the National Journal reported. As a pro-life Democrat running against a por-life Republican, Casey was able to make inroads with culturally conservative voters and led Santorum by double digits in the polls as early as 2005. Pennsylvania had voted for the Democrat in the four previous presidential elections, and Rendell, a Democrat, had won the governorship easily.

Santorum spent $8 million more than Casey, but Casey won by 59 to 41 percent with huge support from the state's metropolitan areas. Casey became the first Pennsylvania Democrat elected to a full Senate term since 1962.

In the Senate, Casey sits on the Committees on Foreign Relations; Agriculture, Nutrition and Forestry; Health, Education, Labor and Pensions; the Special Committee on Aging, and the Joint Economic Committee.

Casey and his wife Terese live in Scranton with their four daughters.

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