Sen. Joe Manchin (I, W.Va.) continues to deny the election results after Republican Sen.-elect Dave McCormick defeated incumbent Sen. Bob Casey (D-Pennsylvania). He conceded that he had defeated Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) and Casey.
The Associated Press called off Mr. McCormick's campaign on Thursday, saying the few remaining votes did not show Mr. Casey a path to victory.
Mr. McCormick leads by about 40,000 votes, but he will be the first member of Mr. Schumer's Democratic caucus to acknowledge that Mr. Manchin is inevitable.
“While we are losing a good man and colleague in Sen. Bob Casey, I believe the Senate is gaining a new good man in Sen.-elect David McCormick,” Manchin said. tweeted Sunday.
“Senator-elect McCormick was committed to putting our country first, working in a bipartisan manner, and most importantly, maintaining the filibuster threshold of 60 votes.”
By denying McCormick's victory, Schumer is denying the incoming senator the ability to participate in Senate orientation. Senate orientation is a valuable time for new senators to learn how to best serve the state and get to know their future colleagues.
Republicans on Sunday criticized Schumer for not allowing McCormick to attend his Senate orientation.
Sen. Tom Cotton (R-Arkansas) tweeted, “Senator-elect Dave McCormick won.” “Chuck Schumer's shameful, election-denying decision to block Mr. McCormick from Senate orientation shows Schumer's true character.”
Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Florida) did not acknowledge the fact of the election and pointed out the hypocrisy of the Democratic Party.
“What happened to all the demands for our leaders to accept the election results?” he tweeted.
Sen. Mike Lee (R-Utah) even tweeted that he would “personally escort McCormick to the Capitol” so he could attend the session.
Manchin, a lifelong Democrat, switched his party affiliation to independent earlier this year — reportedly to preserve the option of running for president as an independent candidate — but has not yet caucused with Senate Democrats. Continuing.
Bradley Jay is Breitbart News' Capitol Hill correspondent. Follow him on X/Twitter. @BradleyAJay.
