() Sen. Bob Casey Jr. falsely insisted Thursday that he hadn’t lost his reelection bid just yet, despite outlets like the Associated Press having already declared Republican David McCormick the winner.
In a statement posted to social media, the two-term senator said 100,000 provisional and overseas ballots remained uncounted—a detail supported by the Pennsylvania State Department on Thursday.
Given McCormick’s 31,000-vote lead, the AP’s decision to call the race in his favor was premature, Casey maintained.
“Pennsylvania is where our democratic process was born,” he said on X.
“We must allow that process to play out and ensure that every vote that is eligible to be counted will be counted,” he added. “That is what Pennsylvania deserves.”
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…
— Bob Casey Jr. (@Bob_Casey) November 8, 2024
AP reporter Mike Catalini defended its methodology for calling the race.
“[T]hough there were an estimated 91,000 votes still outstanding [when the AP declared McCormick the winner], there were not enough in areas supporting Casey for him to make up the difference,” Catalini said.
Like President-elect Donald Trump, McCormick cut into Casey’s margins in purple counties and Democratic bastions across the state.
As of Friday morning, state returns showed the candidates just 0.45 percentage points apart.
Far-left Secretary of State Al Schmidt must order a recount for any races that come in at or below the 0.5 threshold by Thursday of next week, unless the defeated candidate opts out. That recount must be completed by noon on Nov. 19.
The Pentagon was slammed prior to the election for its failure to provide sufficient absentee ballots to troops abroad, many of whom traditionally tend to break in favor of Republican candidates.
It is unclear whether that failure contributed to the uncounted ballots. State law required that all absentee ballots be received by no later than 8 p.m. on Election Day.
The flip pads the Republican majority in the U.S. Senate to 53-45, with races in Arizona and Nevada still to be called, according tothe AP.
