We hope readers found our recent series, based on video-recorded interviews with Sen. Bob Casey, D-Scranton and Dave McCormick, combat veteran, former under secretary of the Department of the Treasury and Republican nominee for Casey’s seat, to be informative.

While we do not pretend that McCormick’s remarks on President Joe Biden or Casey’s remarks on President Donald Trump to have addressed their most pressing concerns, we still believe they were valuable moments.

We agree with both of the broader points raised by McCormick and Biden and by Casey and Trump.

The U.S. has for generations committed itself to the cause of world leadership and deterrence of world-wide threats. It was under these auspices, as McCormick noted, that Ukraine agreed to nuclear disarmament. The U.S., even were it to shift its foreign policy in other directions, has a moral obligation not to violate its own commitments or abruptly abandon its allies and its historical role.

Likewise, American workers have frequently borne the brunt of the trade-offs associated with decades of trade policy. As Casey noted, the Trump administration was correct to place the American workforce at the center of negotiations about international trade.

While we are certain there are details and nuances regarding both issues with which we would disagree, we also do not wish to miss the larger point: Despite the acrimony and division that besets our two-party system, there are times — particularly in regard to international affairs — when it is heartening to see bipartisanship.

Our system of compromise and transparent debate requires bipartisanship. Often, when confronted with challenges from beyond our borders, our system requires unity. And, if we as a society or an electorate are even going to lower the fevered temperature of our discourse, it will require magnanimity. An opportunity for both candidates to show that unity, bipartisanship and magnanimity was, again, in our view, of value.

In these two cases, we applaud Dave McCormick and we applaud Bob Casey for answering all of our questions and the spirit of their answers on that final question.