PHILADELPHIA (KYW Newsradio) — Sen. Bob Casey on Thursday conceded Pennsylvania’s U.S. Senate race to his Republican rival Dave McCormick after the first count of ballots was completed.
“I just called Dave McCormick to congratulate him on his election to represent Pennsylvania in the United States Senate,” the senator wrote in a statement released Thursday evening.
Casey posted a video to social media:
McCormick responded on social media in a kind tone, largely absent from his rhetoric on the campaign trail:
“Senator Bob Casey dedicated his career to bettering our commonwealth. Dina and I want to extend our sincere gratitude to Senator Casey, Terese, and their family for their decades of service, hard work, and personal sacrifice," he wrote.
“I am so honored to represent every single citizen in Pennsylvania in the United States Senate and will fight for you every day. Thank you!”
Casey’s concession comes more than two weeks after Election Day, as a grindingly slow ballot-counting process became a spectacle of hours-long election board meetings, social media outrage, lawsuits and accusations that some county officials were openly flouting the law.
Republicans had been claiming that Democrats were trying to steal McCormick’s seat by counting “illegal votes.” Casey’s campaign had accused Republicans of trying to block enough votes to prevent him from pulling ahead and winning.
“As the first count of ballots is completed, Pennsylvanians can move forward with the knowledge that their voices were heard, whether their vote was the first to be counted or the last," Casey said.
The Associated Press called the race for McCormick on Nov. 7, concluding that not enough ballots remained to be counted in areas Casey was winning for him to take the lead.
As of Thursday, McCormick led by about 16,000 votes out of almost 7 million ballots counted.
That was well within the 0.5% margin threshold to trigger an automatic statewide recount under Pennsylvania law.
“This race was one of the closest in our Commonwealth’s history, decided by less than a quarter of a point. 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,” Casey went on to say.
“When a Pennsylvanian takes the time to cast a legal vote, often waiting in long lines and taking time away from their work and family, they deserve to know that their vote will count. That’s democracy.”
No election official expected a recount to change more than a couple hundred votes or so, and Pennsylvania's highest court dealt him a blow when it refused entreaties to allow counties to count mail-in ballots that lacked a correct handwritten date on the return envelope.
Republicans will have a 53-47 majority next year in the U.S. Senate.
Stay with KYW Newsradio for more as this story develops.