Pennsylvania Sen. David McCormick struck a conciliatory tone Friday in his victory speech in Pittsburgh, calling out now-retired Democratic Sen. Bob Casey Jr. and his family's decades of public service to the Commonwealth. expressed his gratitude.
McCormick said Casey and his namesake father, a pro-life moderate who served as governor in the 1980s and 1990s, deserve great respect for having “served with honor.” The younger Mr. Casey has served three terms since defeating conservative Sen. Rick Santorum in 2006.
“I want to start with a message of absolute gratitude. I'm grateful to stand on this beautiful day in a city that means so much to my family. My father attended college at Pitt; we… We spent our most formative years here. Three of our girls were born here,” McCormick said.
“…I want to thank the people of Pennsylvania for giving me the honor of serving at a critical time for this country. Thank you to my incredible campaign team.”
Philadelphia Fire Union backs McCormick on '5-alarm fire' to Democrats
Senator Bob Casey Jr., Senator David McCormick (Getty Images)
The hedge fund executive was born near Washington, Pennsylvania, and grew up on the other side of the commonwealth in Columbia County, where his father was president of Bloomsburg University.
Cardiothoracic surgeon Dr. Mehmet Oz narrowly defeated Casey in the 2022 primary to replace retiring Republican Sen. Pat Toomey. I joked that I knew what it was like.
McCormick said he has already met with President-elect Donald Trump and is ready to get serious about advancing the mogul's agenda in the Senate.
“We heard a common refrain. One of the messages we heard over and over again is that change is needed. This country is headed in the wrong direction. Get this terrible inflation under control. We need leadership to get the economy back on track,” McCormick said. Said.
“We need leadership to secure our borders to stop this scourge of fentanyl. The most heartbreaking thing we encountered was a parent who lost a child to fentanyl. We have learned over and over again that the path to Pennsylvania's future is: Energy.”
McCormick once again nodded at his narrow victory, vowing to be a senator for all Pennsylvanians, saying, “I don't care who voted for me or who didn't.”
He also faces Gov. Josh Shapiro, whose name has already been mentioned in the media as a potential 2028 Democratic presidential candidate, as well as the state Senate, which has a Republican majority, and the state House, which is reportedly held by Democrats with one member. also offered support. .
Pennsylvania political realignment
bob casey jr. (Mark Makera/Getty)
However, Casey's campaign has not yet conceded the race, and the Associated Press is seeking support for McCormick. In a statement shortly before McCormick took the stage, Casey's campaign highlighted two lawsuits filed in Philadelphia by McCormick's team challenging about 15,000 provisional ballots.
According to the newspaper, McCormick's campaign has invalidated some provisional ballots from voters who cast mail-in ballots that are currently being rejected due to “procedural flaws,” mismatched signatures, and missing secrecy envelopes. They wanted to be separated from the voters who had been arrested. Philadelphia Investigator.
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Dave McCormick speaks at Donald Trump's campaign rally at the Butler Farm Show on July 13, 2024 in Butler, Pennsylvania. (Getty Images)
As of Thursday night, deep red Cambria County was the only county with the bulk of the outstanding votes. But the only state House race yet to be called in East Taylor favors Democrats. This could give Mr. Casey a slight advantage based on historical election patterns.
Just as McCormick took the stage, the Johnstown Tribune-Democrat reported that Democratic state Rep. Frank Burns would defend his seat.
After his presentation, Mr. McCormick took several questions, including one about the lawsuit.
“Basically, if you look at all the math and why the Associated Press called the race, there's no way for Sen. Casey to overturn my lead. … But there are still more ballots to be counted. , [the] lawsuit [are] Just to make sure we have the right number of observers to monitor that tabulation process,” he said.
McCormick currently leads by about 30,000 votes, but within the 0.5 percentage point difference that would qualify for an automatic statewide recount.
