Trump-endorsed Republican candidate Dave McCormick claimed victory 12 days ago in Pennsylvania’s Senate race against Democratic incumbent Sen. Bob Casey. But Casey, who has not conceded, is holding out for a recount.
“I’m not going to try to guess what will happen,” Casey told NOTUS this week. “But we’ll see what the vote count is.”
Republicans have been quick to weaponize the situation.
Newly elected Senate Republican Leader John Thune called on Casey to concede Sunday on X, adding, “This is a blatant attempt by the Democrats to violate the rule of the law and undermine the electoral process.” The National Republican Senatorial Committee said in a statement that Casey should “stop undermining faith in our elections and concede.” Sen. Marco Rubio echoed the NRSC on X: “What happened to all the demands that our leaders accept the outcome of the elections?”
Casey chuckled when NOTUS asked what he had to say to Republicans making the case that he’s undermining faith in elections. “We’re counting votes,” Casey said. “We’ll see what the recount shows.”
Casey’s decision to stay in the race is a far cry from the rhetoric Republicans have often engaged in around elections — he is not casting doubt on the accuracy of the vote counts, refusing to accept the eventual results or threatening violence.
Other Senate Democrats voiced support for Casey and criticized Republicans for politicizing his refusal to concede.
Sen. Sherrod Brown laughed as well. “[Republicans] really said that after what they’ve done?” Brown told NOTUS. “I’ve got nothing to say if they’re that hypocritical.”
Sen. Richard Blumenthal told NOTUS that he hasn’t seen the Republican narrative take hold and that the issue is not preoccupying Democrats.
“Republicans are hardly in a good moral high ground to be making accusations of misusing the electoral process,” Blumenthal said.
Sen. John Fetterman raised his hands to his head in frustration when NOTUS asked about Republicans’ characterizations of Casey.
“It’s outrageous,” he said. “And I guarantee you if McCormick was in that same situation, he would be probably accusing all kinds of things.”
The Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee has taken pains to point out Republicans’ history of casting doubt on election results.
“The NRSC and the Senate Republican caucus have a long history of standing on the side of election deniers — and now they are once again trying to silence the voices of tens of thousands of Pennsylvania voters who have the right to have their votes counted,” David Bergstein, the DSCC communications director, said in a statement to NOTUS.
The Associated Press called the race for McCormick on Nov. 7, when the outlet estimated 91,000 ballots were still uncounted. But vote totals narrowed within the 0.5% margin needed to trigger a recount in Pennsylvania.
Pennsylvania’s Secretary of the Commonwealth Al Schmidt announced a legally required statewide recount last week, though the results won’t be published until Nov. 27.
“As state officials have made clear, counties across Pennsylvania are still processing ballots and need time to tabulate remaining votes,” Maddy McDaniel, a spokesperson for Bob Casey for Senate, said in a statement at the start of last week. “Pennsylvanians deserve to have their voices heard, and the process of tabulating votes will continue in the coming days.”
Legal battles ensued last week over mail ballots in Pennsylvania — specifically those left undated or incorrectly dated — which the Pennsylvania Supreme Court ruled Monday must not be counted despite the dates not serving a consequential purpose.
McCormick and GOP groups filed lawsuits against several counties in Pennsylvania for counting those mail-in ballots. Casey’s campaign and the DSCC announced Friday they filed a motion to intervene in the Supreme Court and oppose McCormick’s lawsuit.
McCormick’s campaign did not respond to a request for comment. But Senate Republicans were feeling good this week about the odds that McCormick would make it through the recount.
Sen. Josh Hawley told NOTUS he has “total confidence” McCormick has already won, and Sen. John Kennedy agreed.
“I know there’s some people on the other side disappointed, but I think Bob should concede and let us go on with the Senate’s business,” Kennedy said.
Sen. James Lankford echoed other Republicans on the Hill, telling NOTUS he thinks McCormick will pull through in the recount.
“I would fully expect Dave McCormick to be seated here January the third,” Lankford said.
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Em Luetkemeyer is a NOTUS reporter and an Allbritton Journalism Institute fellow. Emily Kennard and Riley Rogerson contributed reporting.