Casey, McCormick locked in tight contest for Pa.'s U.S. Senate race

Republican David McCormick held a slight edge over Democratic incumbent U.S. Sen. Bob Casey early Wednesday morning, but the rivals remain locked in a tight battle, and the race for the hotly contested seat remained up for grabs.

With more than 95% of the ballots tallied in nearly every Pennsylvania county, McCormick led Casey by just over 62,000 votes as of 7:30 a.m. Wednesday, according to unofficial results.

McCormick had collected 49.19% of the votes counted compared to 48.26% for Casey, the tallies showed.

McCormick, a former hedge fund CEO, took the stage at a campaign event at the Fairmont hotel in Downtown Pittsburgh at 1 a.m. Wednesday. Despite exuding confidence, McCormick wasn’t ready to officially declare victory.

“This election is not quite over … and it looks like we are heading in a very good direction,” McCormick told more than 100 supporters gathered in a ballroom. “In the coming days the election results will be finalized, and when they are, we will look forward to a new agenda.”

Maddy McDaniel, a Casey campaign spokesperson, said Casey is not conceding.

“We are confident in our path, and we are going to count every vote,” she said.

McCormick is attempting to gain his first public office, while Casey is seeking his fourth term in the U.S. Senate.

Casey received more of the mail-in vote, which skews Democratic, but McCormick steadily gained ground as the in-person vote trickled in.

The vote count could extend into the next few days.

Polls had shown Casey with a slight edge throughout much of the race, but McCormick closed much of the gap in polls closer to Election Day.

Casey and McCormick were joined on the ballot by three third-party candidates: Pike County resident Leila Hazou of the Green Party; Marty Selker, a truck driver from Blair County representing the Constitution Party; and John Thomas, a Libertarian and an educator from Armstrong County.

Third-party candidates had received less than 3% of the vote so far combined.

Both McCormick and Casey ran busy and well-funded campaigns, with hundreds of millions of dollars spent between them in television ads.

The two squared off in the nation’s most expensive Senate race. According to federal data and the website OpenSecrets, more than $252 million has been spent by the candidates and outside political action committees.

Casey and McCormick sparred over border security, abortion, the economy, the future of democracy and who has taken a harder line on China.

Casey, 64, has served in the Senate since 2007 and is the son of former Pennsylvania Gov. Bob Casey Sr. He has leaned on his close alliance with labor unions, particularly the building trades in Pittsburgh.

McCormick, 59, of Pittsburgh, contributed over $1 million to his own race and touted endorsements by police unions, energy companies and former President Donald Trump.

The Bloomsburg native sought to paint Casey as a career politician who was out of touch with everyday Pennsylvanians.

In response, Casey attacked McCormick for residency issues throughout the race, saying that McCormick’s primary residence remains in Connecticut despite the Republican’s claims he is a native Pennsylvanian who now lives in Pittsburgh.

McCormick campaigned hard to remind Pennsylvanians that he was born in Washington County, grew up in Central Pennsylvania and worked in Pittsburgh before moving to Connecticut.

He moved back to Pittsburgh in 2021, before his first run for U.S. Senate. He was defeated in 2022 in the Republican primary by television personality Mehmet Oz, who went on to lose to U.S. Sen. John Fetterman.