Senate Majority Chuck Schumer faced a growing outcry Sunday after refusing to allow Pennsylvania Sen.-elect Dave McCormick to attend a Senate orientation this week even though the Associated Press has already called the close race for the Republican.
Schumer, the top Democrat in Congress, is withholding the invite from the Republican, because he doesn’t consider the race between McCormick and incumbent Democratic Sen. Bob Casey to be over, according to Schumer’s office.
Casey has yet to concede the race despite the AP projecting his opponent as the winner.
The decision has led to a chorus of criticism from Republican senators with one GOP member calling the move “disgusting.”
“Dave McCormick is the senator-elect & @SenSchumer’s move to not allow him to participate in orientation this week is disgusting,” Sen. Rick Scott (R-Florida) said in a tweet. “They did the same to me after I beat a Democrat in 2018. We have to fight this! AP called it. Dave won, Casey must concede NOW.”
“What happened to all the demands that our leaders accept the outcome of the elections,” Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Florida) wrote on social media.
Sen. John Thune (R-South Dakota) also expressed outrage directed at Schumer.
“Dave McCormick is the new senator for Pennsylvania. The idea that Schumer would not allow him to participate in Senate orientation is beyond unacceptable,” Thune tweeted.
“The voters of Pennsylvania have spoken. Looking forward to having Dave’s strong voice in the Senate Republican Conference.”
Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas) called the move “just pettiness.”
A spokesperson for Schumer defended the majority leader’s decision in a statement to The Post Sunday night.
“With over 100,000 ballots left to be counted in Pennsylvania, the race has not been decided,” the spokesperson said. “As is custom, we will invite the winner once the votes are counted.”
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McCormick told Fox News host Maria Bartiromo on Sunday he doesn’t see how Casey, who has served in the US Senate since 2007, can surpass his lead.
“Mathematically, there’s no path for Senator Casey to win,” McCormick said.
“Currently, I’m up by something like 40,000 votes, which is a very significant margin. And ultimately, Senator Casey’s going to have to decide when he’s willing to acknowledge that.”
McCormick is not the only likely winner of his race not to get an invite to orientation.
House Rep. Ruben Gallego, a Democrat who is beating GOP opponent Kari Lake in a hotly contested Arizona senate race, was also not invited to DC this week.
But unlike McCormick’s race, the AP has yet to project Gallego as a winner in that race, though he leads with about 48,000 votes, according to Politico.
While it was mostly Republicans who made noise over the lack of an invite, one renegade Democrat voiced support for both McCormick and Gallego.
“In 2018 my race wasn’t called for 6 days. I jumped on a redeye to DC to make senate orientation – I learned so much & made lasting relationships that week,” outgoing Sen. Kyrsten Sinema (D-Arizona) wrote on social media.
“Dave McCormick & Ruben Gallego will be Senators for PA & AZ. They should be invited to orientation & start learning the job.”
