SCRANTON, LACKAWANNA COUNTY (WBRE/WYOU) — The race for Pennsylvania's US Senate seat is still too close to call.
Incumbent Democrat Bob Casey and Republican Dave McCormick are separated by just tens of thousands of votes. More specifically, the two are separated by about 30,000 votes.
Senator Bob Casey said he knew that this was going to be the toughest reelection campaign of his career.
At this hour there is still no declared winner.
On Wednesday morning the Bob Casey for Senate campaign put out the following statement.
There are more votes that need to be counted in areas like Philadelphia and it's important that every legal ballot will be counted. When that happens we are confident the senator will be re-elected.
Spokesperson for Bob Casey for Senate
Casey did not make a public appearance at his watch party last night in a room filled with his supporters.
We were originally told Casey and his family would join them and watch the returns come in, but that did not happen.
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Casey is the incumbent who has served Pennsylvania in the US Senate for nearly 20 years. He seemed optimistic when I spoke with him on election day with his family at Scranton High School.
While he never took the stage last night to address supporters, Scranton Mayor Paige Cognetti did.
"They're going to keep counting across the commonwealth, and then tomorrow, we'll hopefully get a result. But we need to set expectations that this could take a couple of days. We saw that take a couple of days in 2020. We need to make sure that we, you know, set expectations that it might be a little bit here," said Mayor Cognetti.
Dave McCormick did take the stage at his watch party in Pittsburgh late last night. The mood was much different there since the Republicans were leading the race.
McCormick has positioned himself as a businessman and political outsider, he seemed optimistic as he spoke to his supporters.
"In the coming days, the election results will be finalized and when they are. We will look forward to a new agenda, a new America," McCormick stated.
In Pennsylvania, a recount is automatically triggered for a statewide race if the margin of victory lies within half a percent.
The state and counties pay for that effort. Again, it is still too close to call.
Regardless of the outcome, the GOP now wins back majority control of the Senate.
