BETHLEHEM, Pa. — Republican Dave McCormick showed three-term Democratic Sen. Bob Casey the door in the Keystone State’s high-stakes Senate race, bringing a Pennsylvania political dynasty to an end — and securing the 53rd seat in the GOP’s 2025 Senate majority.
McCormick, an Army veteran and former hedge-fund executive, beat Casey by just over 30,000 votes, netting 49% of votes to the Democrat’s 48.5%, with 99% of votes counted, the Associated Press reports.
The minuscule margin could trigger an automatic recount, as Pennsylvania law dictates for any race decided by 0.5 percentage points or less.
Such a recount would have to begin by Nov. 14 and be completed by Nov. 26.
The Republican declared victory just after 1 p.m. Thursday, three hours hours before AP finally made the call, with McCormick campaign communications director Elizabeth Gregory tweeting: “Any way you slice it, David McCormick will be the next United States Senator from Pennsylvania.”
While McCormick declared victory, Casey is refusing to concede the race, even after AP’s call.
Casey spokeswoman Maddy McDaniel made it clear the campaign’s still clinging to hope.
“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,” McDaniel tweeted almost half an hour after AP announced Casey lost.
“This race is within half a point and cannot be called while the votes of thousands of Pennsylvanians are still being counted,” she continued. “We will make sure every Pennsylvanian’s voice is heard.”
McCormick’s win marks the culmination of his two-year quest to represent Pennsylvania in the Senate. He lost the 2022 GOP primary to Donald Trump-endorsed Mehmet Oz by fewer than 1,000 votes but ran unopposed in the primary this year, stumping with the former president at campaign rallies across the commonwealth.
McCormick, 59, painted Casey as a stale and weak candidate who achieved little for Pennsylvania in his nearly 18 years in Washington, and ran on a message of bringing change and conservative representation to the swing state.
Throughout his campaign he promised to deregulate the oil and gas industry, extend the Trump tax cuts and authorize US military force against Mexican cartels to stop fentanyl trafficking at the southern border.
McCormick has also pledged to counter China and continue military aid to both Ukraine and Israel.
Casey, 64, campaigned on tackling corporate greed while repeatedly framing McCormick as an out-of-touch elitist with dubious ties to Pennsylvania — a strategy that worked well for Sen. John Fetterman (D-Pa.) against Mehmet Oz two years ago.
The senator also attempted to distance himself from President Joe Biden‘s position on fracking to save himself the oil-rich commonwealth, despite decades of close-knit friendship and parallel positions in their respective Senate careers.
Last month Casey even tried to align himself with Republican nominee Donald Trump on trade and border policy in eleventh-hour campaign ads.
That wasn’t enough to stop the bleeding from his Democratic coalition this cycle — Trump took home Pennsylvania’s 19 electoral votes by a 2-point margin, giving a boost to McCormick below him on the ticket.
Pennsylvania’s Senate race was the second-most expensive in the 2024 campaign cycle, spending $344 million in ad buys.
