Updated: 7:45 p.m. Thursday Nov 7 (See ***)
The Associated Press announced Republican Dave McCormick has wrestled the seat away from Democrat Sen Bob Casey in Tuesday night’s election about one hour ago.
With votes still being counted, McCormick has maintained a 31,000 votes lead over Casey coming into Thursday, according to current totals.
Republican strategists told AP, President Elect Donald Trump’s win in the commonwealth over vice president Harris by about two points is what pushed the former hedge fund manager across the finish line for the win. In 2022, McCormick couldn’t get past Dr Oz in the Republican primary who lost to now Senator John Fetterman.
Casey, who is serving out his third -term in the Senate, through his campaign said, he is not conceding, saying there are “tens of thousands of ballots …still to count.”
“As the Pennsylvania Secretary of State said this afternoon, there are tens of thousands of ballots across the Commonwealth still to count, which includes provisional ballots, military and overseas ballots, and mail ballots. This race is within half a point and cannot be called while the votes of thousands of Pennsylvanians are still being counted. We will make sure every Pennsylvanian’s voice is heard,” spokesperson Maddy McDaniel said.
Credit: Jeff Bohen, Lower Bucks Source
In explaining why they called the race, AP said, they declared McCormick the winner, because he had a lead of almost 31,000 votes with nearly all ballots counted. Turnout was up in areas that supported McCormick, including central and northeastern Pennsylvania, more than in areas where Casey did best. In fact, Casey performed worse in every region of the state than he did when winning election six years ago.
Shortly after publishing the above story Sen Casey released the following additional statement about the ongoing vote count:
***“I have dedicated my life to making sure Pennsylvanians’ voices are heard, whether on the floor of the Senate or in a free and fair election. It has been made clear there are more than 100,000 votes still to be counted. Pennsylvania is where our democratic process was born. We must allow that process to play out and ensure that every vote that is eligible to be counted will be counted. That is what Pennsylvania deserves.”
The Associated Press has been reporting and calling election races since 1848 since there is no official federal office that is tasked with that responsibility. The media organization boasts a 99.9 percent accuracy rate for voting/election calls. To read more about AP’s role in elections, how they call races and additional trend data about the electorate please click here.