Pennsylvania’s hotly contested Senate race remains in the balance nearly a week after Election Day, with Republicans declaring victory and Democrats hoping the remaining ballots will allow them to close the gap.
NBC News has not yet predicted the winner of the contest between Democrat Sen. Bob Casey and Republican Dave McCormick. who are leaving by Just over 40,000 won with 98% of the expected votes. About 122,000 ballots have yet to be counted.
McCormick announced his victory Thursday after The Associated Press called the race in his favor. Since then, he and GOP allies in Washington have stepped up pressure to concede Casey, arguing that he has no path to victory.
“The AP called this race a few days ago because mathematically there’s no way Sen. Casey is going to win,” McCormick said in an interview with Fox News on Sunday.
“Ultimately, Senator Casey will have to decide when he is willing to admit that,” he added.
The Casey campaign argued that the remaining number of provisional ballots expected, particularly from places like Philadelphia and surrounding areas, could tip the scales in its favor.
Maddy McDaniel, a spokeswoman for Casey, who is in his third term, said in a statement Saturday that precincts are “confirming that there are more ballots that need to be counted” each day.
“Pennsylvanians deserve to have their voices heard, and as state officials have made clear, counties in Pennsylvania need more time to count the remaining votes,” he said.
A McCormick victory will be even more pad Republicans gained a new majority in the Senatethey will occupy at least 52 seats after the election. The size of the majority could play a significant role in how far President-elect Donald Trump’s agenda passes. how many of his candidates will be confirmed.
But even before the new Congress is sworn in next January, the outcome of the Pennsylvania race could have consequences. Senate leadership elections Wednesday.
Three Republicans are vying to replace Sen. Mitch McConnell of Kentucky as party leader, and senators-elect can vote.
While a clear winner in Pennsylvania has yet to be determined, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., expects to invite either McCormick or Casey to Congress this week for orientation and a vote on Wednesday — a move that has angered Republicans.
Sen. John Thune of South Dakota, who is running for GOP leader X said “The idea that Schumer will not allow him to attend the Senate orientation is unacceptable.”
Sen. Tom Cotton, R-Ark., called Schumer’s move to stop inviting McCormick a “shameful, election-defying decision.” post about X.
Schumer’s spokesman defended the decision, pointing to the number of ballots not yet counted in Pennsylvania.
“With more than 100,000 ballots left to be counted in Pennsylvania, the race is undecided,” Alex Nguyen said. “According to custom, we will invite the winner after the votes are counted.”
Similarly, Arizona Democratic Senate candidate Ruben Gallego was not invited to the orientation because his race against Republican Kari Lake is too close to call. According to an NBC News projection. He is ahead by 2 percentage points with 91% of the expected vote.
Provisional ballots were a controversial issue in Pennsylvania even before Election Day. Pennsylvanians can cast provisional ballots when officials are unclear about eligibility or when there are problems with returned mail-in ballots. In the days after the election, officials try to determine whether such voters are eligible to vote, and if so, their votes will be counted.
Election day is a few days away the U.S. Ssupreme court It decided to allow Pennsylvania voters who sent mail-in ballots marked as potentially defective to submit separate provisional in-person ballots, rejecting a Republican claim.
McCormick’s campaign filed two lawsuits Friday in Philadelphia over about 15,000 to 20,000 provisional ballots that may have problems, such as missing signatures. Philadelphia is a deep blue region, and the results in the county so far have been overwhelmingly in Casey’s favor.
The court has dismissed the matter for now.
As of Sunday, the Casey campaign still expressed optimism about overcoming the deficit, with approx 76% of provisional ballots In 2022, he favored Democrat John Fetterman over Republican Mehmet Oz.
“We don’t believe we need to reach Fetterman’s percentage to win. Plus, thousands of ballots supporting Casey are being processed,” said a person close to the Casey campaign, referring to the processing process. such as eliminating minor errors in newsletters signature issues.
At the presidential level, NBC News predicted it Trump won Pennsylvania. He leads Vice President Kamala Harris by about 2 percentage points.