HARRISBURG, Pa. (WHTM) - Republican businessman Dave McCormick has defeated three-term incumbent U.S. Senator Bob Casey in Pennsylvania's hotly contested U.S. Senate race, according to a projection by the Associated Press.
In Pennsylvania, an automatic recount can be triggered if the race falls within 0.5%.
Casey's campaign did not concede on Thursday afternoon when the race was called, noting "there are tens of thousands of ballots across the Commonwealth still to count."
Previously on Wednesday morning a Casey spokesperson said the campaign was "confident" he would be re-elected once all the votes were counted. Overseas and military ballots can also arrive as late as November 12 at 5 p.m.
McCormick is a West Point graduate who served in the Middle East during the First Gulf War before returning to Pennsylvania to begin his business career. McCormick became the CEO of FreeMarkets and went on to serve as Under Secretary of Treasury, Under Secretary of Commerce for Industry and Security, and Deputy National Security Advisor to President George W. Bush.
In 2009, McCormick was named president of Bridgewater Associates, the world’s largest hedge fund, and became CEO of the Connecticut-based firm in 2020. He resigned in 2022 and ran in the Republican primary for the U.S. Senate in 2022, losing to television personality Mehmet Oz by less than 1,000 votes. Oz had been endorsed by former President Donald Trump; the former president endorsed McCormick in 2024.
McCormick blamed Casey and Democratic lawmakers for recent inflation and has pledged to “rein in government spending, oppose tax increases, and exercise fiscal responsibility to lessen the burden on the people of the commonwealth.”
McCormick also pledged to not support a national abortion ban, but emphasized his pro-life beliefs and support for exceptions in cases of rape, incest, and the life of the mother.
Both candidates were largely unopposed in the spring primary and attacked each other relentlessly on the campaign trail and on the airwaves.
The son of former Pennsylvania governor Bob Casey Sr., Senator Casey won his last re-election bid against Lou Barletta by 13 points in 2018 and is the longest-serving Democratic U.S. Senator in Pennsylvania history. Arlen Specter holds the record as Pennsylvania's longest-serving Senator at 30 years. Specter was elected to the U.S. Senate five times as a Republican and briefly changed his party affiliation to Democrat for the 2010 election; however, he failed to win the primary.
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Prior to serving in the U.S. Senate, Casey practiced law in Scranton and went on to serve as Pennsylvania’s Auditor General and Treasurer.
On the campaign trail and in the Senate, Casey highlighted the issues of corporations allegedly targeting consumers through greedflation by raising prices despite having record profits. He’s also accused companies, particularly food manufacturers, of shrinking their packages or products but charging the same price as the original size.
The 199th United States Congress will convene on January 3, 2025, and will vote to certify the 2024 Presidential Election on January 6, 2025.
