Casey Concedes PA U.S. Senate Race To McCormick

PENNSYLVANIA — Sen. Bob Casey on Thursday conceded the Pennsylvania Senate race to Dave McCormick as a statewide recount of votes cast in the Nov. 5 election was showing little sign of closing the gap between the two.

In a statement Thursday, Casey said he had called McCormick to congratulate him on his victory.

“This race was one of the closest in our Commonwealth’s history, decided by less than a quarter of a point,” he said. “I am grateful to the thousands of people who worked to make sure every eligible vote cast could be counted, including election officials in all 67 counties.”

According to the Department of State website, as of Friday morning McCormick had 3,398,462 votes to Casey's 3,382,113 votes. That gives McCormick 48.83 percent of the vote to Casey's 48.59 percent, well within the o.5 percent margin threshold to trigger an automatic recount under state law.

Casey's concession came three days after the Pennsylvania Supreme Court essentially dealt his campaign a lethal blow by ordering counties not to count mail-in ballots lacking a correct handwritten date on the return envelope. Casey's campaign saw those votes as a possible path to victory.

Casey, 64, won his U.S. Senate seat in 2006. He served as state treasurer and auditor general prior to that. His father, Robert Casey, served as Pennsylvania governor in the late 1980s and early 1990s.

McCcormick, 59, who headed the Bridgewater Capital hedge fund from 2017-22, was victorious in his second bid for a Senate seat. He ran in 2022, but was defeated in the Republican primary by celebrity physician Mehmet Oz. John Fetterman bested Oz in the general election to grab the seat.

McCormick's win widens the Republican majority in the Senate. The GOP will hold 53 of the 100 seats in the upper chamber of Congress next year.