Pennsylvania Senate race between Bob Casey, Dave McCormick too close to project winner
Days after the 2024 election, the race for one of Pennsylvania's two U.S. Senate seats still has yet to be decided.
Sen. Bob Casey is vying for a fourth term against challenger and businessman Dave McCormick in what has become an extremely close race.
As of Saturday, votes are still being counted in the race. The CBS News projection shows the race is leaning Republican.
"CBS News right now rates this as lean Republican, lean McCormick," Anthony Salvanto, CBS News' director of elections and surveys, said. "There are still a lot of votes outstanding, so we want to get a look at those."
"Yesterday, the vote margin shrunk by 50,000 votes and this race is now within half a point, the threshold for automatic recounts in Pennsylvania," a spokesperson for Casey's Senate campaign said Thursday. "With tens of thousands more votes to be counted, we are committed to ensuring every Pennsylvanian's vote is heard and confident that at the end of that process, Senator Casey will be re-elected."
Casey's campaign followed up with another statement Saturday.
"Each day, counties across the Commonwealth are confirming there are more ballots that need to be counted. We know there are more than 100,000 ballots left to be counted including tens of thousands of provisional ballots in counties favorable to Senator Casey," a spokesperson for the campaign wrote.
The Casey campaign reiterated a similar message Monday adding that "just yesterday, officials reaffirmed that tens of thousands of mail ballots remain. Pennsylvanians deserve to have their voices heard, and the process of tabulating votes will continue in the coming days."
Philadelphia and Allegheny counties lead that group of counties with thousands of provisional ballots still being counted.
Meanwhile, McCormick's campaign remains confident he will be elected.
"McCormick is up 30,679 votes with more to come, as ruby red Cambria County is still outstanding. While votes continue to be counted, any way you slice it, Dave McCormick will be the next United States Senator from Pennsylvania," Elizabeth Gregory, McCormick's communications director, said on Thursday.
McCormick gave a victory speech Friday morning after the Associated Press projected him winning the race. CBS News has not projected a winner in the race. He addressed a lawsuit his campaign filed challenging provisional ballots in Philadelphia that are still being counted. The state Supreme Court earlier this year ruled that provisional ballots are a valid way to correct mistakes on mail-in ballots that have errors on them such as no signature or no secrecy envelope.
"If you look at all the math, and the reason the AP called the race is there's no path to Senator Casey overcoming my lead, which is more than 32,000 votes. But there are ballots that will continue to be counted. And that lawsuit is just to make sure that there is an adequate number of observers that are overseeing that counting process," McCormick said Friday.
That challenge was later denied in court.
"The McCormick campaign raised issues concerning both the number of observers allowed to watch the canvass of provisional ballots and the process by which challenges to provisional ballots would be considered," Philadelphia City Commissioners said in a statement. "In a hearing earlier today, the court denied the campaign's motion for an emergency injunction regarding observers, and the campaign later withdrew its second motion."
McCormick also acknowledged Casey for his service to the commonwealth.
"We are feeling very blessed," McCormick said. "The Casey family has served this great commonwealth for more than 50 years. My dad worked for Gov. Casey, Senator Casey's father. We obviously had an incredibly hard-fought race, but there's no doubt that this is a family and in Senator Casey a man who has served this great commonwealth with honor."
McCormick said his campaign put 100,000 miles on the campaign bus visiting towns across the state.
"The one message we heard over and over again is we need change...we need leadership to get our economy back on track, to get this horrific inflation under control, we need leadership to secure the border, to stop this heartbreaking scourge of fentanyl," McCormick said.
According to the Pennsylvania Department of State, unofficial results between two candidates in a statewide contest between 0.5% triggers an automatic recount.
Pennsylvania's Secretary of State Al Schmidt said on X Thursday around 5 p.m. that "there are at least 100,000 ballots remaining to be adjudicated, including provisional, military, overseas, and Election Day votes."
He did not mention any specific races but urged patience as workers continue to count votes, "especially in contests where the margins are very close."
A statement from Secretary Al Schmidt:⁰⁰Throughout the day, the Department has communicated with counties who continue to conduct a secure election where every eligible vote is counted.⁰⁰We estimate there are at least 100,000 ballots remaining to be adjudicated, including…
— PA Department of State (@PAStateDept) November 7, 2024
In a statement Thursday around 7:15 p.m., Casey said, "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."
At an election night party in Pittsburgh, McCormick told supporters "It looks like we're headed in a very good direction." Early results had McCormick with a slight lead over Casey the morning after Election Day.
This is McCormick's second run for the Senate after losing to Dr. Mehmet Oz in the 2022 Republican primary. Oz lost the general election to U.S. Sen. John Fetterman, Pennsylvania's other senator.
McCormick, who was born in Washington, Pennsylvania, and raised in Bloomsburg, was CEO of Bridgewater Associates, the world's largest hedge fund, sat on former President Donald Trump's Defense Advisory Board and served in top positions under President George W. Bush.
Casey, who has been in the Senate since 2007, is a Scranton native, a former state auditor general and treasurer.
In their final debate, the candidates disagreed on clean energy policy, gun laws and abortion rights and sparred over their respective records. They did agree on one topic — U.S. support for Israel, with both saying Israel is in the best position to decide how to confront its adversaries.
Throughout the campaign, Casey focused on "greedflation" — the idea that corporations raise prices faster than inflation to maximize profits — and reproductive rights.
McCormick, meanwhile, accused Casey of flip-flopping on his stance on abortion and being a career politician who is closely aligned with other Democratic politicians. McCormick said he believes abortion should be left to voters in each state and wants to rein in government spending and crack down on illegal immigration.
Follow rolling coverage of the 2024 election from CBS News Philadelphia here.
The Associated Press contributed to the report.