Incumbent United States Sen. Bob Casey (D-Pa.) is yet to concede a week after the Associated Press called the race for Republican Dave McCormick, citing the potential for the Commonwealth's outstanding votes to deliver him victory.
The Associated Press called the race for McCormick — who has openly criticized Penn and its approach to antisemitism on campus — on Nov. 7, projecting that he would defeat Casey by less than 30,000 votes. Casey, however, has continued to argue that the call was premature and that his campaign has a path to victory, citing remaining votes in Philadelphia and its suburbs.
While the AP has called the race for Casey, other major news networks — including NBC, CBS, ABC, CNN, and The New York Times — have not yet projected McCormick to emerge victorious. After the AP's call, they increased their estimate of remaining uncounted ballots by nearly 20,000, according to a PBS reporter.
"As state officials have made clear, counties across Pennsylvania are still processing ballots and need time to tabulate remaining votes," Casey campaign spokesperson Maddy McDaniel wrote in a statement on Monday. "There are more than 100,000 ballots left to be counted — including tens of thousands of provisional ballots in counties favorable to Senator Casey — and just yesterday, officials reaffirmed that tens of thousands of mail ballots remain."
While Casey's campaign is encouraging patience, McCormick and his campaign have already declared victory. McCormick first declared victory on Nov. 7 after the AP call, with Communications Director Elizabeth Gregory writing at the time, "While votes continue to be counted, any way you slice it, Dave McCormick will be the next United States Senator from Pennsylvania."
The next day, McCormick delivered a victory speech in Pittsburgh in which he expressed gratitude to Pennsylvanians for electing him to represent the Commonwealth.
"My promise is to represent: I don't care who voted for me and didn't vote for me," McCormick said. "Today I turn the page. I am focused on serving every single Pennsylvanian with all my energy [and] everything I've got."
On his X — formerly known as Twitter — profile, McCormick has posted several newspaper headlines that echo the AP's call.
"There is no mathematical path for Senator Casey winning," McCormick said in a Fox News interview on Thursday.
After initially not being invited to the U.S. Senate orientation this week, along with Sen.-elect Ruben Gallego (D-Ariz.) due to contention over uncounted ballots, Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) eventually invited McCormick and Gallego by Tuesday morning.
McCormick also recently filed two lawsuits against Philadelphia elections last week over the validity of provisional ballots — potentially affecting ballots submitted by Penn students. The legal battle could impact 20,000 ballots in the City of Philadelphia — a significant number due to the incredibly slim margin between the two candidates.
Penn Political Science professor Marc Meredith and Political Science assistant professor Michael Morse wrote in NBC News last week that the dispute around counting these ballots is caused by two main issues: whether voters who submitted ballots without their secrecy envelopes could cast provisional ballots on Election Day, and whether undated or misdated ballots should be rejected.
"Our county election officials will finish counting those votes, just like they do in every election," Casey said in a statement on Tuesday. "The American democratic process was born in Pennsylvania and that process will play out."
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