A recount is underway for the 2024 Pennsylvania Senate race which saw Democratic Senator Bob Casey face off against Republican challenger Dave McCormick.
An initial count placed McCormick narrowly ahead by 0.2 percent of the vote, with the Republican on 48.8 percent against 48.6 percent for the incumbent. This led The Associated Press (AP) to call the race for McCormick, who the news agency reported received 3,398,627 votes against 3,382,260 for Casey. McCormick declared victory but Casey has not conceded, and a recount mandated by the state for contests within 0.5 percent of the vote began on Wednesday.
The November 5 elections saw the Republicans take control of the Senate, winning 53 seats including the battleground contest in Pennsylvania, according to the AP. By comparison, the news agency has called 47 Senate races for Democratic or Democratic affiliated candidates. The GOP also retained control of the House, making it significantly easier for incoming President Donald Trump to get legislation passed.
According to CBS News as of 4 p.m. ET on Wednesday, McCormick had taken a lead over Casey in the recount of 29,000 votes across all 67 counties of the Commonwealth. Each county is required to complete the recount by noon on November 27, with the results due to be announced the following day.
Local network WJET-TV reports that according to McCormick's team, several counties have already completed their recounts, with only six out of 50,000 votes having changed overall. This has not been independently confirmed by Newsweek.
The campaigns of both Senator Bob Casey and Dave McCormick were contacted for comment by Newsweek via email on Thursday outside of regular office hours.
On Wednesday, in a post on X, Elizabeth Gregory, McCormick's spokesperson, commented: "Senator-elect McCormick's lead is too big for this charade to make any difference, but Senator Casey is forcing Pennsylvanians to spend more taxpayer money on a recount anyway."
Speaking to WJET-TV about the recount, Dauphin County Commissioner George Hartwick said: "We have a legal requirement to run all of the ballots through different scanners, high-speed scanners, than they were run through on election night."
Referring to election workers, Hartwick added: "They didn't anticipate being here yet again, strapped to a recount. But the dedicated public servants are oftentimes the ones who are most criticized."
Over the past couple of weeks, Trump has begun announcing his cabinet nominees, including former Representative Matt Gaetz as attorney general, Fox News host Pete Hegseth as defense secretary and Robert F. Kennedy Jr. as health and human services secretary. Senate confirmation hearings will take place for each nominee who requires a simple majority to be approved for their position.
However, Alaska GOP Senator Lisa Murkowski has already expressed skepticism about the selection of Gaetz, commenting: "I don't think it's a serious nomination for the attorney general. We need to have a serious attorney general. And I'm looking forward to the opportunity to consider somebody that is serious."
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