County officials perform a ballot recount on June 2, 2022 in West Chester, Pennsylvania, for the Republican primary between Dr. Mehmet Oz and David McCormick. On Friday, the recount of this year’s U.S. Senate results for McCormick and incumbent Democratic Sen. Bob Casey was stopped after Casey conceded. (Photo by Mark Makela/Getty Images)
Secretary of the Commonwealth Al Schmidt has told counties to end their Senate race recounts after U.S. Sen. Bob Casey (D-Pa.) conceded to Republican Dave McCormick.
“Continuing the recount would not be in the best interest of taxpayers,” Schmidt said in a statement on Friday.
The recount was estimated to cost Pennsylvania taxpayers around $1 million. Casey conceded on Thursday evening after facing criticism, primarily from Republicans, over forcing the recount.
The Associated Press called the race on Nov. 7, but Casey refused to concede. When the recount was ordered on Nov. 13, the candidates were separated by a roughly 0.43% margin, close enough to trigger Pennsylvania’s automatic recount rules. However, McCormick had a wide enough lead that any significant change to the results was unlikely.
Multiple lawsuits have been filed since the recount began over how and whether to count mail-in and provisional ballots with errors like missing signatures. It is unclear at the moment what will happen to the ongoing legal challenges.
Schmidt said that while county-by-county recounts in the Senate race will end, two election audits will continue. Those are intended to ensure accuracy and security of the election and include counting randomly-selected batches of ballots. When the audits are complete, counties will have until Nov. 25 to certify the results of the election.
Casey was first elected in 2006 and is the longest-serving Democratic senator in Pennsylvania’s history. McCormick, a hedge fund manager, painted him as a do-nothing senator who had been in Washington too long. Casey ran on a pro-labor platform, touting his support of unions. Ultimately, however, Pennsylvania, like much of the country, swung conservative. Republicans won every statewide race in Pennsylvania, including president-elect Donald Trump.
McCormick first sought election to the U.S. Senate seat in 2022, but lost in the Pennsylvania Republican primary to Dr. Mehmet Oz, who was backed by Trump. This year, McCormick was uncontested in the primary, and earned the endorsement of Trump and other notable Republicans. He’ll be sworn in on Jan. 3, 2025.
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