Pat Toomey

KING OF PRUSSIA — Republican U.S. Sen. Pat Toomey is preparing to face what could be his biggest political test yet as he runs for another term in 2016, a presidential election year, when Democrats tend to have more success getting elected in the primarily Democratic state.

Toomey’s announcement Sunday at a suburban Philadelphia hotel that he is running for a second term was a formality. His campaign has been up and running for months, raising millions of dollars and airing a TV ad to tout his work on legislation to make it more difficult for would-be child predators to get jobs in schools.

The event, with endorsements from people in law enforcement, business and child protection advocacy, gave a look at how Toomey will characterize his four and a half years in office. As a campaign video played at the event put it, Toomey is “getting things done for Pennsylvania” and often working with Democrats to do it.

Toomey told a crowd of more than 100 people in the hotel ballroom about his experience in the Senate, saying he’s learned it’s difficult to get things done in Washington partly because of a polarized political environment.

“It’s a challenging environment for all of us,” he said. “But I’ve learned that it is possible to get things done if you’re willing to stick to your principles but look for common ground at the same time.”

Accomplishments, according to the campaign, include working with Democrats on a package of 2012 legislation that relaxed regulations on small- and medium-size businesses to help them grow.

Toomey, 53, is popular with business, anti-tax and free-market advocacy groups. He’s framing his fiscal conservatism as a populist and bipartisan fight against wasteful spending of tax dollars and corporate welfare.